How to Tell Decoys from Existential Danger
“Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” — Jonathan Swift
The most disappointing thing about last night’s Vice Presidential debate was not J.D. Vance’s spineless non-answer to the simple question, “Did he [Donald Trump] lose the 2020 election?” The most disappointing thing was the absence of a single question or mention of one of the most important and relevant foreign policy topics — continued support of our close ally Ukraine and their bloody fight for life, liberty, and democracy against Putin’s invaders. Search the entire transcript for “Ukraine” and you get a big fat “0/0.” CBS, Tim Walz, and J.D. Vance — you must do better — the future of the free world depends on it.
Putin and Russia were mentioned in the debates in a cartoonish way by Vance in a thinly veiled attempt at whataboutism — a childish “you do bad stuff too” debate tactic most often used when one has no good argument on the topic at hand and desperately wants to distract the audience. Vance tried to equivocate the big lie perpetrated by Trump and the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol, which resulted in injuries to 140 law enforcement officers and Federal crimes committed by nearly 2,000 Trump supporters, with Vance’s made-up version of Hillary Clinton’s claim of foreign election interference in 2016. Vance alleges, “Hillary Clinton in 2016 said that Donald Trump had the election stolen by Vladimir Putin because the Russians bought, like, $500,000 worth of Facebook ads.” This, my friends, is a decoy and a gift from Vance to Putin and Russian Intelligence. Vance is using a false equivalence to get us to believe that Clinton’s substantiated claims about Russian interference in the 2016 election are just as bad as Trump’s endless lies about the 2020 election being stolen from him, ostensibly by Americans, and the violent and seditious crimes that followed.
U.S. Senator Vance and former U.S. Marine Vance knows better than to side with our enemies. All Americans should agree that foreign interference in our elections, regardless of which candidate it helps, is wrong. It is wrong when Russia does it. It is wrong when Iran does it. It is wrong when China does it. It is wrong when a sitting President of the United States asks the President of a foreign ally to do it and threatens to withhold critical weapons and aid to that country if he refuses. It is also wrong when a sitting President of the United States asks a secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn the Presidential election results in that state and threatens him if he fails to do so. And finally, it is wrong when a sitting President of the United States publicly invites a foreign adversary to interfere in our elections and then sides with that country’s President and his lies instead of the consensus of our own U.S. intelligence agencies. There is an old saying that fits here, “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”
For the record, the Senate Intelligence Committee review found, “Russia’s targeting of the 2016 U.S. presidential election was part of a broader, sophisticated, and ongoing information warfare campaign designed to sow discord in American politics and society. Moreover, the Internet Research Agency [Russian intelligence operatives] conducted a vastly more complex and strategic assault on the United States than was initially understood. The IRA’s actions in 2016 represent only the latest installment in an increasingly brazen interference by the Kremlin on the citizens and democratic institutions of the United States.”
Before last night’s debate, I had a special opportunity to attend an amazing event with the Cultural Forces of Ukraine. These are men and women who have been fighting on the frontlines of the war against Putin’s invasion and have experienced some of the fiercest battles in the war. Some of them have been severely injured, all of them have lost loved ones and comrades in the war, and all of them are world class musicians and artists. They are on a 60-day gratitude tour of the United States where they are sharing their talents, stories, and appreciation for America’s friendship and support of Ukraine. The concert was deeply moving. Private First Class Olha Rukavishnikova, a female violinist, lost her left eye in the war and suffers from shrapnel in her body, yet she still plays the violin like a light-filled angel. Sergeant Yurii Ivaskevych, an opera singer, lost a leg in battle and yet he belted out a beautiful rendition of It’s a Wonderful World that would make Louis Armstrong proud. And Captain Sasha Boole, the current top pop singer in the Ukraine, shared his chart-topping country hit among other equally inspiring performances.
The contrast between these two events — a visceral, uncomfortable, and soul-searching look at what is going on in the global fight for freedom against tyranny and terrorism through the lens of music and poetry and the absolute dumpster fire of sophistry that is now American politics — couldn’t have been starker. Friends, there are real external dangers in this world to our way of life and our existence, and we are not talking about them enough. Instead, we are fighting each other and make-believe boogeymen — American against American — to declare which political party wants to destroy America more while our enemies cheer us on.
Let’s be clear — Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea pose a great threat to the United States, our allies, our interests abroad, and our way of life. Some of these countries funnel money and weapons to terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, ISIS, etc. and sometimes they even command their attacks. The intelligence agencies of these countries want nothing more badly than for Americans to turn on Americans, for the United States to abandon its allies like Ukraine, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan and for our system of freedom and prosperity to collapse. It is time for us to unite as a country against a common set of external enemies and the real threats to our country and to all our freedom-loving friends around the world who share the same values of self-determination, human rights, and democracy as us. The world badly needs this version of America right now. Let’s go!