Trump must step up to deliver promised peace through strength
On Jan.20, 2025, the American economy was strong, with low unemployment, manageable inflation and a near-record-high stock market.
American military prowess was strong and buttressed by NATO and a global network of allies and partners.American democracy was admired by much of the world.For more than 30 years, the United States had sustained a unique combination of hard and soft power, despite the failures of 9/11 and the blunders in Iraq and Afghanistan, which had brought billions out of poverty and prevented major war.We were the most powerful nation in the world.However, the United States faced a growing threat from a group of nations led by Russia, and including China, Iran and North Korea, determined to overturn the US-led rules-based international order on which American security and prosperity depended.Russia’s aggression in Ukraine had resulted in almost three years of intense warfare in which perhaps a million combatants and civilians had been killed or wounded, and threatened Europe, America’s largest trading partner and investor.But a new president was coming into office, a president who had campaigned on “peace through strength,” and who claimed a special relationship with Vladimir Putin.What could possibly go wrong?Unfortunately, President Trump’s second term has brought shocking developments virtually every day.
The risk of major war is actually increasing.It began with two nominees deeply unqualified for their jobs as director of national intelligence and secretary of defense.Loyalty was placed above experience and competence.Then the fits of revenge and politicization began.
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley was demonized; top service lawyers and inspectors general were dismissed; search-and-destroy missions were waged against any courses, library books or extracurricular activities that evoked any trace of “woke,” and more.Perhaps none of this actually cut into the hard power of the nation; strikes against the ...