President Trump may or may not have “colluded” with Russians, but he certainly acts like they are his overlords.
He does so even though his top security-related advisers keep warning him, and all of us, that Russia is an increasingly dangerous adversary.
Trump’s latest short-sighted outburst favorable to Russia’s interests is his sudden assertion that the U.S. should quickly pull its 2,000 military personnel from Syria, even as his entire national security team reportedly argues strongly against a premature evacuation. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, and Central Command leader Joseph Votel — all respected generals — say that leaving Syria now would risk undoing the tremendous gains made against the Islamic State. And it would put Russia, along with American-hostile Iran and Turkey, in a commanding position in the Middle East.
Outside experts across the political spectrum agree with the generals. Center-left Ranj Alaadin of the Brookings Institution warns that Trump’s desired withdrawal would leave “a Russia-dominated security architecture in the region,” while the Washington Examiner’s Tom Rogan called Trump’s exit call “strategically illiterate.”
As Trump threatens to play into Russia’s hands in Syria, his exiting national security adviser, renowned former general H.R. McMaster, used his last speech in the job to blast Russia and its dictator, Vladimir Putin, for working to “undermine our values, our institutions, and our way of life.”
He continued: “For too long, some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions, and we have failed to impose sufficient costs. The Kremlin’s confidence has grown as its agents conduct their sustained campaigns to undermine our confidence in ourselves, and in one another.”
In this, he echoed the exit speech of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said that “much work remains to respond to the troubling behavior and actions on the part of the Russian government.” Tillerson had entered office as someone suspected of being too close to Russia, based on his being awarded the Kremlin’s “Order of Friendship” while he was chief executive of ExxonMobil. But after less than a year in office, he had seen just how dangerous Putin’s behavior is, with Tillerson last November bitterly criticizing Russia’s “malicious tactics” on numerous fronts.
Putin’s regime continues to assassinate or poison Putin’s enemies or former spies, imprison his political opponents, take or threaten lands from neighboring countries like Ukraine, attack U.S. troops and allies in Syria — and, of course, it worked to undermine our elections via cyber mischief and other means.
Yet, while Trump eventually has taken at least some actions seen as semi-tough responses to Russian misdeeds, he seems to do so only after first resisting such actions and then being prodded into it by his security team. Last year he botched several opportunities before finally, apparently reluctantly, reasserting American commitment to NATO’s key Article 5 mutual-defense agreement. He long resisted calls to provide lethal arms to Ukraine before finally acquiescing. He greeted Russia’s poisoning of a former spy and his daughter with days of “conspicuous silence” — an embarrassing display, as our ally Great Britain was responding with alacrity and firmness.
When Putin kept power in a sham re-election last month, Trump called to “congratulate” the dictator despite specific advice from his advisers not to do so. And, disgustingly, for months he traduced the clear intent of a law requiring him to impose sanctions against Russians for numerous outrages. (Just Thursday afternoon, the Trump administration belatedly announced sanctions — a worthy and welcome move, although the details may contain some devils.)
Finally, Trump steadfastly refuses to publicly condemn Russia for interfering with our elections, or to specifically direct key intelligence officials to strenuously combat Russia’s ongoing efforts — leading right-leaning Chicago columnist Steve Chapman last month to write a column calling Trump a “wimp.”
Trump has said so many bizarrely nice things about Putin personally, and spent so much pre-presidential effort trying to do business deals in Russia, that his motives are suspect every time he makes another gesture that seems to dovetail with Moscow’s interests.
That’s one reason to be even more worried, even frightened, by Trump’s rash and intellectually indefensible push to remove a successful, and already quite small, American presence from Syria. Trump may not literally be a “Muscovian Candidate” who actually made it to the Oval Office, but he sure does talk and often act as if he may as well be Putin’s surrogate.
Of course Trump isn’t a traitor. But being an utter dupe is almost as bad.
Quin Hillyer (@QuinHillyer) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a former associate editorial page editor for the Washington Examiner, and is the author of Mad Jones, Heretic, a satirical literary novel published in the fall of 2017.
