OPINION: Trump or DeSantis: A Disaster for Ukraine Either Way

Despite being indicted on 34 criminal charges in New York recently, former US President Donald J. Trump has not only pled innocent to all charges, he has gone on the attack against the prosecutor and the judge. He is also facing a possible indictment for far more serious crimes in a case before a grand jury in the state of Georgia.

The prosecutor in Georgia is weighing the possibility of seeking indictments against Trump for racketeering and conspiracy. Both crimes are major felonies with long prison terms if convicted. There are still two more criminal investigations currently underway against Trump at the federal level. One investigation is looking into allegations of obstruction of justice and possible espionage in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation. The other federal inquiry is investigating whether Trump is responsible for inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Georgia and federal investigations pose by far the most serious legal jeopardy for Donald Trump, each coming with the possibility of jail time if he is convicted in one or both cases.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not officially announced his presidential run, but an announcement is expected in the next few weeks. DeSantis has been described by some as “Trump with brains.” But based on some recent behavior exhibited by DeSantis regarding several poor decisions, I think that may not be a very accurate description.

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Both men are very conservative Republicans and are closely associated with the Make American Great Again movement, commonly known as MAGA. Donald Trump has also acknowledged his support for the conspiracy group QAnon, an organization of loosely affiliated far right-wing individuals who believe, among other things, that the 2020 American presidential election was stolen by the Democrats, that Covid is part of an international socialist plot to insert mind control chips into the entire population of the earth, and that Donald Trump has been personally chosen by God to lead the United States out from under the unholy control of Joe Biden and deliver it back into the hands of white, Christian Americans of European descent. And those are just a few of their impassioned beliefs.

Trump has never been accused of being an intellectual, or of being someone who is well read, curious about the world around him, or a man who considers the consequences of his words and actions. Quite the contrary. Trump is impulsive, short tempered, incurious, hates to read, distrusts science, intellectuals, and anyone he considers well educated.

In fact, in a 2017 speech, Trump professed his love for the “poorly educated.” What Donald Trump does love and greatly respects is power and wealth. He has spent his life chasing personal power and wealth, often skirting the law, and violating most definitions of morality and common decency.  

As an incurious man whose life has centered around ego, money and trying to evade numerous criminal and civil charges from his many failed business dealings, it is not surprising that Donald Trump has little to no interest in or knowledge of foreign policy, diplomacy, or international affairs. After all, there is no immediate return on investment by playing nice with foreign nations.

Trump only believes in having transactional relationships where there is immediate gratification, whether positive or negative, preferably (for him) resulting in a monetary profit. Studying the current world situation gives him none of that, therefore he has no interest in learning.

He does, however, have considerable knowledge of the world’s dictators and authoritarian leaders, and is on very friendly terms with some of them, even to the point of writing “love letters” to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But he saved his most gushing praise for the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

In Putin, Trump found a kindred soul, a man Trump could relate to on many levels. Here was a leader who was clearly a “man’s man,” a hyper-masculine specimen who rode bare-chested through Siberia and practiced martial arts in public to excite the Russian women. Putin also knew how to steal billions from the state coffers and not give a damn if anyone found out about it. And if they did, he would simply threw them in prison, have them shot, or poison them. This was a man Trump could respect, and even trust, more so than his own intelligence agencies.

On May 3, Trump said in an interview with British broadcaster and former politician David Farage that he would “end that war in one day, 24 hours.” Trump’s strategy for “peace” in Ukraine is unknown and most likely does not exist, even in his own mind. He often makes statements without first thinking them through or having any proof they make sense.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on the other hand, is a well-educated version of Donald Trump. DeSantis was educated at two of the most prestigious universities in America, Harvard and Yale. He received his undergraduate degree at Harvard and later graduated from Yale Law School. He served in the US Navy JAG Corps and did tours as a military legal counsel in Iraq and at the infamous US military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Prior to becoming Florida Governor in 2019, DeSantis was a federal prosecutor and then served in the House of Representatives as a Republican congressman. With a background like that, one would think that Ron DeSantis would have a well-rounded view of the world and its many military, political and diplomatic issues, as well as a keen sense for its flashpoints. Certainly, he should be intimately familiar with the history and legacy of the Soviet Union, especially regarding the nations and people of Central and Eastern Europe.

At Harvard, the future Governor DeSantis would have, at the very least, been made familiar with the bullet-point history of WWII, to include the Nazis and post war trials at Nuremburg. As a graduate of Yale Law School, one of the best law schools on earth, DeSantis would have certainly had significant studies into contracts, treaties, international law, and, at the very least, a cursory examination of war crimes and the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Ron DeSantis was truly fortunate to receive the best undergraduate and legal education money can buy.

However, that world class education could not insulate him from his irresistible inner urges towards raw naked power, far right-wing fanatism, and his ultimate goal: reshaping Florida and later on, America into an authoritarian led government.

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis share the most important, and by far, the most dangerous trait of all: their admiration of Russia and Vladimir Putin and their condescension to Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine. Trump has stated several times that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was a stroke of “genius and savvy.”

In 2018 President Trump threatened to pull the US out of NATO because of his frustration at some members not spending enough on defense. That move would have effectively destroyed NATO and left Europe vulnerable to Russian aggression, an action Putin had tried to accomplish unsuccessfully for many years. In 2022 Trump stated that he might not honor Article 5 of the NATO collective defense clause if those nations did not immediately increase their defense budgets.

Despite Governor DeSantis’ hasty and disingenuous retraction on March 22, 2023 of his insulting, but not unexpected anti-Ukraine statement from March 13, 2023, part of the now famous “Russia-Ukraine territorial dispute” interview, if elected president in November 2024, DeSantis will continue to pander to his ravenous MAGA base of support and work with his fellow Republicans to quickly discontinue all military support for Ukraine.

I believe that a President DeSantis, much like Trump, would, if elected, also greatly reduce the amount of American military and non-military aid for Ukraine. He would easily sell the termination of assistance for Ukraine to the American people as part of the Republican “America First” mantra, and say the hell with assisting fledgling democracies like Ukraine in fighting for their survival against Russian imperialism. And how can anyone trust an American president that goes to war with Mickey Mouse?

I am very sorry (and embarrassed) to say that if either Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis take the oath as President of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025, life in Ukraine will become even more difficult than it is now. I pray that does not happen.