Today is the first day of the Republican National Convention and coincidentally Ukrainian Independence Day, its 29th anniversary. Here are some of my thoughts as I mull Ukraine’s future and its relationship with America:
For the sake of full disclosure, I am a registered Democrat. However, in the course of the last four presidential elections, I voted for Republican George W. Bush, Republican John McCain, Democrat Barack Obama, and Democrat Hilary Clinton.
I am opposed to big government as Ronald Reagan, see Russia as the greatest threat to world peace as Mitt Romney (frankly cannot explain why I did not vote for him), against lavish government spending, in favor of tax cuts and insistent on a balanced budget which is possible because of less spending and greater productivity due to tax cuts.
Consider the case of a faux Republican Donald Trump who does not see Russia as a threat at all, has cut taxes but only for the rich such as himself and has increased spending to such a degree that he has run up the biggest budget deficit in modern-day America. For genuine meaning principled Republicans aside from some specious and contrived party loyalty, there is no excuse for voting for Trump. I suspect that for that very reason Lincoln Republicans are supporting Joe Biden
And then there is the Ukrainian component. This subject alone should disqualify Trump in the eyes of a Ukrainian American Republican. While there are far too many reasons and examples to list exhaustively, suffice it to seek counsel from a lifelong Republican and former national security adviser John Bolton. Bolton may be considered controversial but only because of his hawkish nature. Mendacity has never been attributed to him, unlike the president he served.
Bolton provides not an overview but almost a stenographer’s account of Trump’s bad relationship with Ukraine. Trump was never interested in the well-being of Ukraine, frankly does not like Ukraine and considers Ukraine an impediment to a great relationship between him and Putin. His “bromance” with Putin is puzzling. Further, as a rebuke to Trump apologists on Ukraine, Bolton made it quite clear that the anti-tank Javelins purchased by Ukraine from the United States happened not because of Trump but in spite of him.
A Republican Ukrainian American who is concerned with Ukraine has no justification for his support of Trump. On the other hand, dealing with Ukraine was within the duties delegated to Joe Biden as vice president. Biden met with representatives of the Ukrainian American community at the very beginning of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. Biden traveled to Ukraine several times. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko was a guest at the White House as well. Neither Trump nor Vice President Michael Pence have been to Ukraine. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was there once on his way to Poland and to calm an arising concern when he stated that no one cares about Ukraine. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has never been to the White House. Ukrainian American Republicans can rest assured that if George W. Bush, John McCain or Mitt Romney were the chief residents of the White House from 2017 to date, Zelensky would have been invited.
Loyalty to one’s political party should mean faithfulness to its basic principles and not blind sycophancy to its temporary leader. Frankly speaking, there is very little Republican about Trump. In fact, he used to be a Democrat. His position of faith and life are as contrived as the Bible photo in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
I am reminded that Biden attended and spoke at the funeral of McCain. Trump did not. In fact, he disparaged McCain. John McCain had traveled several times to Ukraine even in the midst of the EuroMaidan Revolution that overthrew President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, urging Ukrainians to persevere and assuring them that Americans were with them. Sure Americans like McCain but not like Trump.
At the funeral, Biden began his eulogy with the words: ”I’m Joe Biden and I’m a Democrat. I loved John McCain.” Trump is no McCain. Biden fits that bill much better.
Happy Birthday Ukraine!
May God bless both you and the United States of America!
Askold S. Lozynskyj is a New York attorney and president of the Ukrainian Free University Foundation. He was president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America between 1992-2000 and president of the Ukrainian World Congress between 1998-2008.
