Face up to Helsinki

The recent trip by Donald Trump to Europe should come as no surprise to Republicans. He once again demonstrated his affinity for dictators and his hostility towards democratic governments. The reaction of Republicans demonstrated that they were more concerned with their re-election than what is good for the country. After many Republicans initially reacted in disgust, they have now fallen in line. At first, even Fox News, or better known as state radio, criticized Donald Trump’s behavior in Europe. However, after the initial fallout, Fox News (State TV) fell into line and launched news shows with the intention of limiting the fallout.

Fox News and the Republican Party cannot run away from what happened in Helsinki. Donald Trump attacked NATO and even went as far as to raise the question of whether the U.S. would honor its commitment to NATO. For over 70 years, NATO has been an alliance that preserved the peace and kept the world from going into another world war. NATO countries such as Germany sent troops to Afghanistan alongside U.S. troops following 9/11. Not only did Donald Trump attack NATO but he launched verbal attacks on Great Britain and Germany, two of our strongest allies. To add insult to injury, when he met with dictator and former KBG operative Vladimir Putin, he acted as Putin’s lap dog by not standing up to him. For those Republicans who don’t recall: All of the U.S. intelligence community have clearly stated and proven that the Russians launched an attack on our democracy by launching cyberattacks and other means to undermine the Hillary Clinton campaign and elect Donald Trump.

— Kenneth Pottel, Fairhaven