The Dealmaker-in-Chief Just Sold Off America's National Security | Opinion

This may be a week historians take note of: the moment when a U.S. president officially surrendered to our nation's enemies with nary a shot fired.

That's not hyperbole. It is a simple recognition that in a few short days, our nation's interests have profoundly suffered, the damage may be permanent, and it's our own president who did us dirty.

For the past 100 years, we have seen clearly that our cherished "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" could not be protected by oceans alone. Our ideals—as well as our bodies—need to be guarded by a wall of allies that fight vigorously with us against any foe.

When that wall began to crumble in the face of imperial Germany's attack, the United States saw its interests threatened as well and entered World War I, the third deadliest war in American history. A quarter century later, despite the pro-Nazi bleating of the original "America First" movement, we entered World War II because we saw that if totalitarian forces overwhelmed Europe and Asia, it was America that would ultimately suffer. More than 407,000 U.S. military servicemembers died for our cause.

Then, for 45 years, the U.S. fought the Soviet Union in the Cold War out of the same basic belief that our vital national interests demanded protecting allies and potential allies, because the next domino to fall could be us.

We made missteps—sometimes horrible mistakes—as we fought the Soviets. But the strategy of containment ultimately worked: under the shield of our shared protection, the U.S. and its allies thrived, and the U.S. and Western Europe eventually so greatly outpaced the Soviet Union in prosperity that our adversaries crumbled.

But the fight did not end with the fall of the Warsaw Pact. It evolved. As the Soviet Union became the Russian Federation, the Cold War became the Deep War.

A 2018 minority report from the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations makes crystal clear what today's Deep War is: a deadly fight that is more covert, but no less threatening: "For years, Vladimir Putin's government has engaged in a relentless assault to undermine democracy and the rule of law in Europe and the United States. Mr. Putin's Kremlin employs an asymmetric arsenal that includes military invasions, cyberattacks, disinformation, support for fringe political groups, and the weaponization of energy resources, organized crime, and corruption...Mr. Putin has made it a priority of his regime to attack the democracies of Europe and the United States and undermine the transatlantic alliance upon which Europe's peace and prosperity have depended for over 70 years."

The Deep War has included outright Russian military assaults on sovereign nations like Georgia and Ukraine; attempted coups and destabilization in "semi-consolidated democracies" like Montenegro and Serbia; and cyberattacks, disinformation and murder in "consolidated democracies" like the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Italy. Russian support has undergirded repressive leaders in Hungary, Brazil, and the Philippines. Russian military involvement fueled the long war in Syria, along with waves of hospital bombings and civilian deaths. Russian proxy military units have been deployed throughout Africa to fight in smaller conflicts, intimidate adversaries, and "spread Russian influence on the continent and secure financial gains."

This is to say nothing of the fact that units of the Russian military (Military Units 26165 and 74455) have already directly attacked America. That came during the 2016 election, when according the Republican-led Senate Intelligence committee, we faced a "concerted attack from a determined foreign adversary" in an attempt to put their preferred candidate—Donald Trump—in office. That adversary was, of course, the same Russia that "funneled millions into GOP campaigns that year."

In coining the term "Cold War," American presidential adviser Bernard Baruch said "Our enemies are to be found abroad and at home. Let us never forget this: Our unrest is the heart of their success."

If unrest both at home and within our treasured alliances is the heart of our enemies' success, what then should one make of Trump's toadying call to Putin (recalling the shameful Helsinki bootlicking that Trump performed in 2018), followed by his wholesale adoption of Kremlin lies attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that left even his most rabid Republican supporters in shocked dismay?

How should one think about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unconditionally surrendering to Russia's negotiating position on Ukraine (again, appalling senior Republicans), partially walking his statement back, and leaving all parties confused and demoralized? What should one conclude when Vice President JD Vance chastises our allies during a war where we are on the same side, and instead supports far-right forces closely aligned with Putin? Or when our best friends on Earth compare Trump's approach in Europe to Nazi appeasement?

Our unrest. Consider the past month of Trump's mass firings; followed by the unfirings when he realizes he's like a toddler pressing buttons in an air traffic control tower (a place Trump actually also fired workers). Think of the USAID shutdown, an act of mass suffering that betrays our would-be friends and hands the global competition for hearts and minds to China. Or the sudden, quixotic tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Or Trump calling himself a king.

Who is winning is all of this?

America First is rapidly becoming America Alone. Our enemies are gleeful. The sacrifice of the millions of Americans who have died in the successful strategy that has protected us for decades is betrayed. The economic costs—especially in the form of inflation—that ironically helped propel Trump back to power will only mount as Russia destabilizes European markets and tightens its grip on the West's economic throat. And former Republican Rep. Jack Kemp's observation that "weakness is provocative" will surely bite in the years to come, as an emboldened Putin pushes the boundaries of what attacks on America our gutless president will allow.

We are losing the Deep War. Trump is responsible.

Matt Robison is a writer, podcast host, and former congressional staffer.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.