Many people close to President Donald Trump have criticized his foreign policy, particularly toward Russia. The concerned include Trump's first term national security adviser, John Bolton; his longtime political adviser, Steve Bannon; and two Senate Republicans who usually support him, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Now an expert argues that Trump's desire to be buddies with Russia's dictator, Vladimir Putin, has literally reversed America's victory in the Cold War (1945-1991).
"We were taught we won the Cold War," reported The Daily Beast's David Rothkopf on Monday. "But today, the president of the United States openly serves the interests of Russia. We have become, in fact, in crucial economic and security matters, a satellite of Moscow. The U.S. chief executive has publicly and repeatedly declared his loyalty to Russia’s head of state. For more than a decade he has openly and covertly been advancing Russian foreign policy, often at the expense of the national security of the United States, the laws of the United States, and the interests of the United States and our allies."
He continued, "It is such a shocking turn of events, so inconceivable to anyone who lived through the Cold War or its aftermath, that many Americans have been in denial about it for years. But the evidence is not only incontrovertible, but in recent days, the U.S. president has made the situation more explicit."
Rothkopf proceed to denounce Trump purchasing diesel from Russia, noting that it betrays America's pro-democracy values (which should have it siding with Ukraine, a free but small nation invaded by a hostile authoritarian power). He also spoke more broadly about Trump's obvious hostility toward Ukraine, such as coordinating to weaken their infrastructure by convincing Starlink CEO and informal adviser Elon Musk to (perhaps temporarily) deny that company's services to the Ukrainian military.
"This is not the post-Cold War 'end of history' world we were led to believe would be forthcoming back in the 90s or in the years since," Rothkopf wrote. "Russia has the upper hand when it comes to the current U.S. government. America’s standing is in rapid decline, and the country is riven with division in many of the ways that might have been dictated by a Russian intelligence operation. Our institutions are under attack from within. Our military readiness is compromised by bad leadership and decisions to fire those who were competent. The values we stood for and by which we distinguished ourselves from the Soviet world—democracy, freedom, the rule of law—are disavowed by Trump and those who work with him and undermined by them in practice."
He concluded, "There is no mistaking who is in the driver’s seat in this relationship: Putin. There is no mistaking who is taking orders from the Kremlin. There is no mistaking which country benefits and which pays the price."
Rothkopf's view is shared by seasoned foreign policy professionals. Michael McFaul, a foreign policy adviser to President Barack Obama who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, echoed those perspectives when speaking with this journalist for Salon about Trump's evident affection for Putin. That interview occurred in 2019, during Trump's first term.
"What I do know is that things that the president says serves Russia’s national interest, as defined by Putin," McFaul said. "I want to be very clear about that: as defined by Putin. Other Russians have a different definition of the national interest. When the president, for instance, refuses to acknowledge that we were attacked in 2016, as he’s done repeatedly for years now, that serves Putin’s interest, not America’s national interest."
He continued, "When he does so standing next to President Putin at a press conference in Helsinki, and when tossed up what should have been a softball question to say he supports his intelligence community, and he chooses not to, in my view that serves Putin’s interests. That does not serve America’s national interest."
He concluded, "That raises the question , 'Why is the president consistently siding with Putin on issues where I think it’s not in America’s national interest?' And I think that deserves further examination."