Yesterday, President Trump sought to quash speculation that the United States was caving to Russia on critical issues and abandoning allies in Syria and Ukraine. President Trump explained his interactions with President Putin, culminating in a promise to resolve the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine:
Sanctions were not discussed at my meeting with President Putin. Nothing will be done until the Ukrainian & Syrian problems are solved!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2017
This reaffirmation of the president’s commitment to our allies follows U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley‘s recent condemnation of Russia. In her remarks last week, Ambassador Haley praised the president for pressing Vladimir Putin hard concerning hacking allegations. Since her appointment, Ambassador Haley has worked hard to help push back against unfair allegations of collusion between Trump and Russia, while working to repair the damage caused by years of American inaction.
At the same time, President Trump and Ambassador Haley appear to be trying to redirect the conversation from baseless media speculation to the important commitments Trump made in his speech to the people of Poland, which was harshly condemned by the left (See Jonah Goldberg’s criticism of leftist hatred for Western Civilization and Trump’s Poland speech here).
NATO, Western Civilization
Many ethnic nationalists, with the eager support of the mainstream media, have claimed Trump’s Polish speech as their own. While the inability of either group to distinguish between Western Civilization and white supremacy is telling, this focus misses the important foreign policy implications of Trump’s speech. Western Civilization draws from Judea, Egypt, and Northern Africa. In the present, it both draws from many cultures and includes people of every race.
