OPINION:
The United States today is beset by a host of problems, foreign and domestic, that threaten our national survival.
Readers of these pages are all too familiar with the grim specifics. Now, as in 1980, our nation cries out for a leader who will provide deliverance at a time of national peril. President Ronald Reagan was the instrument of our deliverance 40 years ago. His presidency restored America’s confidence, launched an economic boom that lasted, with brief interruptions, for 25 years, and employed a comprehensive strategy of programs and policies that brought about the collapse of the Soviet empire.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could be the Reagan of our time, although, in truth, the challenges he confronts may be more formidable than the ones Reagan faced.
Mr. DeSantis confronts a Republican Party that is more divided than it was in 1980, when Reagan was the obvious choice for the nomination. Former President Donald Trump maintains the undying loyalty of a large minority bloc within the party and will not be easily dislodged, for starters. Another problem is the growing division in Republican ranks over Ukraine. A number of conservative commentators and elected officials are protesting U.S. aid to the courageous people of that beleaguered nation by posing false choices, such as “why should the U.S. care about Ukraine’s borders while we allow millions of illegals and tons of deadly fentanyl to pour over our own southern border?” and “Why did President Biden visit Ukraine and promise economic aid to the Ukrainians when he doesn’t visit the people of East Palestine, Ohio, who have suffered an environmental catastrophe?”
But those are not either/or choices. Mr. Biden’s failure to enforce the law at the southern border is, in my view, an impeachable offense, but it has nothing to do with Ukraine.
The same goes for Mr. Biden’s indifference to the plight of the people of East Palestine, Ohio (a community about 30 minutes from the town in which I grew up).
The U.S. is aiding Ukraine because it is in our national interest to do so. Mr. Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, plus his seeming nonchalance about Russia’s invasion intentions (perhaps a “minor incursion” wouldn’t be so bad), were major inducements that, in my view, led Russia to invade Ukraine.
The ensuing carnage has been intensified by Mr. Biden’s vacillation, slow-walking of military assistance, and lack of an articulated strategy and endgame.
The predictable result of an apparently endless conflict has been the erosion of the American people’s support for Ukraine. We have seen this scenario play out before, most tragically in the Vietnam War, a conflict in which I served as a junior naval officer.
As I wrote in these pages (“The Vietnam War Was Winnable,” March 26, 2021), that conflict could have been won early on and with minimal U.S. casualties had the U.S. taken decisive action. The Kennedy and Johnson administrations refused to do this in large part because of fear that the Soviets would respond with nuclear weapons.
The result was that 58,000 of my fellow U.S. service personnel were killed, 150,000 others were wounded, the American public was plunged into a nightmare of recriminations, division, civil strife and isolationism that brought about a surge of Soviet aggression, the loss of a dozen countries to communism abroad and a loss of self-confidence at home.
A takeover of Ukraine by Russia (abetted by its allies China, Iran and North Korea) would result in a similar avalanche of bad consequences for the United States. China would be emboldened to conquer Taiwan, NATO would be fractured, and the perception abroad of American weakness would match the reality of America in decline.
Mr. DeSantis needs to understand these realities and take a stand for aid to Ukraine in its war of independence. He needs to press the Biden administration to declare a strategy for victory in the short term and for a decisive application of force by the U.S. and its allies to achieve this aim.
As a veteran who understands military realities, he needs to explain why this policy is in America’s best interests.
This will not be an easy task, but he has shown a willingness to take on other tough challenges head-on. His path to the Republican nomination for president and a successful presidency requires that he do so on Ukraine.
• James Roberts was executive director of the American Conservative Union from 1974 to 1978, served in the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1984, and is the founder of Radio America, a national conservative radio network with 630 affiliates.
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