While I can understand the impulse of many on the left to equate President Trump with Adolph Hitler, I never ruled out the possibility that – in foreign affairs at least – the better 1930s precedent was Neville Chamberlain. Trump’s continued [1] efforts [2] to cut and run [3] from Afghanistan [4] provided a stream of evidence for my theory.
Last week, former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster made the link more explicit, openly likening Trump’s “peace” deal with the Taliban to the Munich surrender of Sudetenland in 1938 (Washington Post [5] – emphasis added).
McMaster said that Trump repeated and then exceeded all of the flaws of the Obama administration’s approach to Afghanistan by seeking to bring the Taliban into the Afghan government and pressuring the Afghan government to go along. Trump, he said, apparently forgot that the Taliban are the enemy, and that they are intertwined with terrorist groups.
“War is a contest of wills. And we have to have the will ourselves to prevail,” McMaster said. “These are some of the most horrible people on earth. These are the enemies of all civilized people.”
Gabriel Scheinmann, executive director of the Alexander Hamilton Society, asked McMaster: “Is this our Munich agreement? Are we pursuing a policy of appeasement with Taliban?”
“Yes, yes, we are,” McMaster replied.
Lest we forget, McMaster was appointed by Trump in 2017. Moreover, he wasn’t the only National Security Advisor who tried to remind Trump that the Taliban are the enemy (USA Today [6]).
Bolton’s departure comes after disagreements at the White House over recent negotiations with the Taliban on ending the war in Afghanistan. Bolton made it clear that he opposed Trump’s Camp David invitation to the Taliban.
That’s right, just last year, Donald Trump invited the Taliban to Camp David for “peace” talks [1].
Talk about forgetting they were the enemy!
Of course, Trump still has had nothing to say about the Taliban violating the “peace” deal to attack Helmand Province [4] this month. He was busy attacking … Dr. Anthony Fauci [7], Hunter Biden [8], and Reuters’ White House correspondent Jeff Mason – none of whom sheltered al Qaeda before, during, and after 9/11.
Trump has made his priorities crystal clear, repeatedly, and they don’t involve the American people, America’s interests, or America’s allies. I must admit, it was a comfort to hear McMaster add his voice to my own.