Trump, Putin, and Us

Alexei Navalny died, or was killed, on Friday. It took Donald Trump until Sunday to respond. Remember, he is a former president and possibly a future president. When he did respond, he did not criticize the Putin dictatorship for its brutality or praise Navalny for his courage. Instead, on his “Truth Social” platform, he wrote this:

There are millions and millions of people who think this man is fit to be president — and not only fit but desirable as a president. I think it is a blow to America: to nominate this man for a third time.

Trump says that America is “A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION!” Perhaps his continuing political popularity is proof of this.

Character counts, in a leader. In 1999, William F. Buckley Jr. gave a speech at the Reagan Library. Its title: “When Character Counted: The Importance of Ronald Reagan.” Here is an excerpt:

I remember telling the Philadelphia Society that the most powerful man in the Free World is not powerful enough to do everything that needs to be done. Retrospectively, I have speculated on what I continue to believe was the conclusive factor in the matter of American security against any threat of Soviet aggression. It was the character of the occupant of the White House; the character of Ronald Reagan.

I have done some looking back myself. There are many things that are important to know — especially important to know — right now: about deterrence, about NATO, about Kremlin propaganda, about political prisoners, about character in office. These things were taught to me chiefly by conservatives — the conservatives of yore.

We also learned about the dangers of “moral equivalence” — a false equivalence between the United States and its enemies. These days, many, many people on the right are talking as Newt Gingrich is:

I say: Remember the conservatives of yore. They were right.