INDIANAPOLIS — There is palpable emotion when American leaders approach the Ukrainian border these days. It’s what is to be expected when they meet with some of the 4 million people who have fled Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war that has sent 50% of this nation’s children into refugee status, with most of their fathers and many of their mothers returning to fight the Russians.
President Joe Biden was so moved after visiting the Polish/Ukraine border last weekend, he said that Putin "cannot remain in power," evoking President Ronald Reagan's calling out of the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" a generation ago.
“The fact of the matter is...I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing and the actions of this man, which is just brutality,” Biden said. It was "the kind of behavior that makes the whole world say, 'My God, what is this man doing?'"
Gov. Eric Holcomb met with Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia on Monday.
"The inspiring observation I’ve made is Ukrainians are made of steel," Holcomb told me in a Zoom interview on Wednesday. "Their resolve is second to none, and I just want to export this Hoosier hospitality that we’re known for and provide resources as we have the capacity to do so. They are living through their greatest hour of need."
"The world is taking note on who is lining up behind whom," Holcomb added. "I just want to make sure that it’s as blunt as this: Ukrainian blood cannot be worth less than Russian oil and perpetuate the Russian war machine. One thing is clear today: the bear is not hibernating any longer. The bear is out, gobbling up, engulfing and devouring, and needs to be stopped."
The bulwark of civilization beyond President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the tens of thousands of Ukrainian patriot soldiers is NATO. Holcomb was in Slovakia with Indiana National Guard Adjutant Gen. Dale Lyles renewing ties with that nation's armed forces. There have been ties between these two militaries since 1994. "We are on first name basis with leaders there," Holcomb said. "So when I had the opportunity to talk to the prime minister and the defense secretary, foreign minister, the general in charge of the troops inside Slovakia, I can tell you it puts wind in their sails."
How important is NATO right now?
"I don’t think it can be overstated how vital both the European Union is and NATO because of that question of what’s next," Holcomb said. "If we do not address this, contained in Ukraine, what will be next?"
The contrast comes with former president Donald Trump, who called Putin a "savvy genius" before the Russian despot sent in 190,000 "peacekeepers" into Ukraine, as Trump called them.
Had Trump won a second term in 2020, or is returned to power in 2025 — and he is the de facto leader of the Republican Party and the favorite for the 2024 nomination — the future of NATO becomes murky. A number of Trump national security aides have said that he planned to pull the U.S. out of NATO. Former national security advisor John Bolton said in March, “In a second Trump term, I think he may well have withdrawn from NATO, and I think Putin was waiting for that.”
In a second Trump term, there would be no Mad Dog Mattis, John Bolton or Dan Coats. There would be the fringe D-team players and sycophants, the same MO that Putin has used to find himself in his current dire predicament, with a nuclear escalation one of his dwindling options.
While American leaders like Biden, Holcomb and former vice president Mike Pence have visited Ukrainian refugees, Trump stunned those paying attention this past week. At a MAGA rally in Georgia, he called Putin a "smart leader," adding, "They ask me, ‘Is Putin smart?’ Yes, Putin was smart. And I actually thought he was going to be negotiating. I said, ‘That’s a hell of a way to negotiate, put 200,000 soldiers on the border.”
On a Fox News show Tuesday, Trump asked Putin to help dig up dirt on Hunter Biden, the president's troubled son.
"I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it,” Trump said. “I think we should know that answer.”
Trump has busted through a number of taboo barriers frequently since he announced his presidential candidacy in 2015, but reaching out to a murderous dictator in the midst of a genocidal frenzy is a new, pathetic low.
Trump also revealed, once again, how scant his understanding of nuclear war is. Asked by Stuart Varney on Fox what he would do about the Russian invasion, Trump rattled his nuclear saber.
"We say, ‘Oh, he’s a nuclear power. But we’re a greater nuclear power," Trump said. "We have the greatest submarines in the world, the most powerful machines ever built … we’re going to send them over and we’ll be coasting back and forth, up and down your coast."
This from a man who didn't know what the concept of nuclear triad was. This from a candidate who got his foreign policy expertise by "watching the shows." This from a man who once asked about detonating a nuclear warhead into a powerful hurricane approaching the U.S.
The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at www.howeypolitics.com. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.
