I read Victor Davis Hanson’s recent opinion piece, “Trump is slashing knots that bound Obama, Bush and Clinton,” and I was surprised that he made no mention of Russia. Yes, you can’t cover everything. However, if you are going to write an opinion piece praising President Donald Trump for being so tough, standing against other countries, shouldn’t you at least mention Russia? I mean, not only has Trump not stood tough against Russia, he does not even criticize Russia or its President Vladimir Putin in public, even though he has regularly condemned and insulted our allies. The only time Trump mentions Putin is to sing his praises.
Hanson should have condemned Trump for not speaking out against Russia, or he should have explained why it is a good thing for Trump to condemn and insult our allies at the same time that he follows a policy of almost appeasement concerning Russia.
Yes, I know, in recent weeks we have taken some measures against Russia for its 2016 presidential election meddling, its poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in England, etc., but that was in spite of Trump, certainly not because of him. Trump has ignored Congress when it has tried to take action against Russia. For a long time, he refused to even acknowledge that Russia interfered in our 2016 elections, and he still implies that it may have been someone other than Russia.
I can only speculate as to why Trump never criticizes Russia or Putin in public. Maybe he hopes to do business in Russia now and in the future. Maybe Putin has some dirt on him. Maybe Trump hopes to make the United States a satellite of Russia. Who knows?
I do know that if Hanson is going to argue that Trump is such a tough guy, he should realize something: If Trump were really tough, Trump would be tough enough to publicly criticize his boss, Vladimir Putin.
— Daniel Nolan, Chicago
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