Eric Brody
Two-time former candidate for Colorado Legislative District 39 in Douglas County
Today is the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Along with hundreds of others sporting the blue and yellow of the nation’s flag, yesterday I came out to the Colorado Capitol to express my support for Ukraine.
In the previous edition of this newsletter, I hailed a political thought leader among self-described Colorado conservatives, John Brackney. The occasion for that mention was the Presidents Day rally at the Colorado Capitol, which he and I both attended. Similarly, he too attended today. Here is some of what he said on social media, before and after the rally.
The illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine by Russia. This is not a close issue of moral relevance:
Russia is a brutal dictatorship and will go down in history as a failed nation state. Putin is a thug and a criminal and one of the world’s richest men. Weird how a KGB Agent can become that.
Ukraine is a fledgling Democracy, and has been at the receiving end of an illegal war of aggression.
The results have been dreadful, with unthinkable death and destruction within Ukraine.
Ukrainians have been protecting Europe and America for 3 years starting as of Monday.
We as Americans need to rediscover our values of peace and prosperity that have made us the beacon of Liberty and Hope for 249 years.
Yes, I’m going tomorrow Sunday February 23rd at Noon at the State Capitol for a Rally for Ukraine!
Palpable fear and sorrow. Also resolve. This crowd of close to 1000 strong and proud and scared. You could feel it in the air: People want to control their own destiny and not be controlled by government, especially a foreign dictatorship.
We as Americans and America must also resolve to stand with our European allies and NATO to remain the symbol and strength of a free world.
I heartily share these sentiments. However, under the administration of the 45th/47th president, official American support for Ukraine is evaporating. While individual Americans and organizations are providing moral and material support to Ukraine, our government has sided with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Consider this summary from Mona Charen in a February 20 essay titled “America Joins the Jackals” in which she referenced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensly, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance:
[V]iolating the understanding that Putin’s naked aggression made him a pariah among decent nations (he is an indicted war criminal), Trump engaged in a ninety-minute phone call with him (over Zelensky’s head), invited the dictator to visit the United States, and suggested that Russia be asked to rejoin the G7. All of these marks of favor were offered in exchange for Putin doing what? Promising to withdraw troops? Returning the kidnapped Ukrainian children? Agreeing to cease targeting hospitals and power plants? No. For chatting on the phone with the world’s most credulous narcissist.
Next, the out-of-his-depth weekend TV host–turned–secretary of defense offered two unilateral concessions to Putin by declaring that “the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” and that no U.S. troops would be part of any security guarantee to Ukraine.
Isolating Ukraine from Europe and keeping it out of NATO has been Russia’s aim for thirty years. While NATO membership was not offered, it was never entirely rebuffed either—until now. Though Hegseth attempted to walk back his comments in the face of criticism, the damage was done. Before a single water glass was filled at the negotiating table, the United States conceded some of Russia’s main aims. Besides, much worse damage was right around the corner, emanating from the vice president.
JD Vance delivered the most shameful address by an American leader to a European audience in living memory. Speaking to the Munich Security Conference, Vance said, “The threat I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s . . . the threat from within.”
Vance did not mention Russia’s continuing aggression against Ukraine at all.
[…]
All of that was prelude to Trump’s total betrayal of Ukraine—and with it, America’s global role. In a screed that mixed Kremlin talking points (Zelensky is a “dictator”) with Trumpian grotesqueries (alleging that Ukraine, not Russia, started the war, and that Zelensky was a “modestly successful comedian” who hoodwinked Biden into spending $350 billion on defending Ukraine when the true figure is $183 billion, which Republicans and Democrats approved), Trump has surrendered Ukraine to its tormentors without so much as a backward glance. On the contrary, he’s bursting with self-congratulation for this “negotiation to end the war with Russia” which “all admit only TRUMP . . . can do.”
In a departure from past strong support for Ukraine, Congressional Republicans have acquiesced to the 45th/47th president.
A year ago, nearly two dozen Republican senators defied Mr. Trump’s wishes and voted in favor of continuing to send tens of billions of dollars in military and other aid to Ukraine to fight off Russia. Few of those lawmakers have spoken out against his current stance, and those who have mostly offered carefully worded criticism aimed at Mr. Putin — but not Mr. Trump.
“Well, it sounds like that’s the direction they are headed,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said of the Trump administration’s push to reset diplomatic ties with Russia.
[…]
Now that Mr. Trump is in office, many Republicans have dropped their most hawkish positions on Russia and Mr. Putin to support Mr. Trump’s push to end the war.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, once called Mr. Putin a “thug” and a war criminal, saying he “needs to be dealt with.” But shortly after Mr. Trump announced that Mr. Putin had extended an invitation for the president to travel to Moscow, Mr. Graham changed his tune substantially.
“I don’t care if they meet Putin in Cleveland,” he said in recent days of plans to hold high-level talks between the White House and the Kremlin. “I don’t care if they talk, I don’t care if they go on vacation. It doesn’t matter to me what you do as long as you get it right.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Graham wrote on social media that Mr. Trump “is Ukraine’s best hope to end this war honorably and justly,” adding that he believes the president “will be successful and he will achieve this goal in the Trump way.”
I have no confidence whatsoever that this administration is inclined “to end this war honorably and justly.” I, John Brackney, and other lovers of liberty in the United States and around the world must do what we can to help Ukraine achieve this outcome.
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