Republicans Must Now Choose - Appeasement Or Strength

(Cartoon image is by Shaun Yeo.)

I do not agree with Republicans on domestic policy. I think their economic policies have been a disaster for the United States -- favoring the rich to the detriment of all other Americans. And I'm not too crazy about the way they use military power to bully smaller nations into acquiescing to U.S. corporate powers.

But one thing they have always stood for is taking a strong stand against aggression by the Soviet Union, and then Russia. They have been strong defenders of Western democracies, and protecting those democracies (and others) against Russia. That was something I respected.

We have seen elected Republicans abandon past principles to support Donald Trump -- things like reducing the deficit or supporting free trade. Are they now going to abandon their support for our allies and strong stand against Russia?

If there was any doubt as to Trump's foreign policy, he made it very clear in the last few days. He thinks NATO is obsolete, the European Union is the "foe" of the U.S., the U.S. no longer needs our longest and strongest allies (Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, France, etc), Russia (Putin) is a friend of the U.S., and the United States is responsible for the poor relationship with Russia.

Trump is trying to upset the current world order. He wants to abandon our allies and appease our biggest enemy (Russia) -- even to the extent of allowing Russians into our investigation of Russian attacks on our democracy. Are Republican officials going to abandon their last remaining principle, and go along with Trump on this?

Trump's summit with Putin, and his appeasement of Putin at that summit, has pushed Republicans elected officials (especially in Congress) into a corner. Are they going to become appeasers of Russia, or are they going to stand up for our democracy by opposing Trump?

There's an election coming up, and the American people are going to want an answer to that question.