Alaska’s news sites were buzzing last week after President Donald Trump announced he would be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin somewhere in the state on Friday. While expressing cautious optimism that they might reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, Sen. Dan Sullivan pointed to effort Trump has put into forging “peace in so many other areas of the world.”
But in America, Trump has condoned violence by his supporters while promoting intense hatred of his political opponents and immigrants who are in the country illegally.
During the interview on Alaska’s News Source, Sullivan mentioned the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He correctly noted that war has been going on for decades.
In typical fashion, Trump wanted all the credit for ending it.
“Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to ‘TRUMP,” he posted on social media.
But as a former Commander of U.S. Army Europe, Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) knows the history of that war and the efforts to end it. “Conflicts end because of patience, persistence, and luck — not one man’s showmanship,” he wrote on the Bulwark.
With the war in Ukraine, Trump has been all showman since before last year’s election. He repeatedly claimed Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine in 2022 if he was president then. And promised to end the war his first day in office.
A month after returning to the White House, he blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the war. Now he’s prepared to accuse Zelensky of not wanting peace because he rejected the land swaps that Trump expects to part of any agreement.
Sullivan understands any land swap would be like rewarding a violent criminal. Two years ago, he insisted it’s in America’s “interest to continue to support the Ukrainians to restore their territorial integrity.”
Here at home, Trump concocted a new definition of invasion to justify the “largest domestic deportation operation in America history.” In a flagrant lie, he accused the prior administration of letting in “647,572 migrant criminals … to rape, pillage, plunder and kill” Americans.
But most of the illegal immigrants who have been detained by ICE had no criminal record. When that triggered protests in Los Angeles, Trump grossly exaggerated the violence that occurred to justify sending in the National Guard and U.S. Marines.
This week, he ordered the National Guard to take control of law enforcement in Washington, D.C. Reading from a prepared statement, he claimed it’s “been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people.”
Nevermind that the crime rate is at a 30-year low. On his first day back in office, he pardoned several hundred of his supporters who violently attacked Capitol Police officers while Congress was certifying the 2020 election (which he still can’t admit he lost).
Trump rewarded Jared Wise, a former FBI agent, with a pardon and a senior adviser job in the Department of Justice. During his trial in January, bodycam footage shown to the jury revealed he yelled “Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!” after a police officer was knocked to the ground.
And while he hails the insurrectionists as “unbelievable patriots,” he’s referred to anyone not aligned with his divisive agenda as “communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs” who “lie and steal and cheat on elections.”
Four decades ago, President Ronald Reagan took the opposite approach to matters of peace at home and abroad.
Recognizing that millions of illegal immigrants were “productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force,” he worked with members of both parties to pass landmark immigration reform.
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a reminder of the Cold War conflict Reagan faced during his presidency. Unlike Trump, he countered Soviet aggression by strengthening our alliances. And led with the philosophy that “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means.”
Domestic tranquility relies on that same profound truth. But as former Secretary of Defense James Mattis said, Trump doesn’t “even pretend” he’s trying to unite Americans. He deliberately seeks to divide us.
That’s why Sullivan’s praise of Trump as a peacemaker rings hollow. And as long as he’s president, America will never be great.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
