5 hours Ago
News of President Trump’s suspension of economic and military aid to Ukraine has faded from the headlines. The United States, until recently the leading democracy in the world and a consistent defender of freedom and human rights, is equivocating on the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future. While U.
S. assistance to Ukraine has been restored (for the time being), our relations with Ukraine appear to be on thin ice, and our 80-year-old alliance with European nations is in shambles. Trump has leaned toward Russia’s Vladimir Putin as his preferred partner in international diplomacy.
At the same time, Vice President JD Vance made a point of publicly insulting the countries of Western Europe. Brownie Carson is a graduate of Bowdoin College and the University of Maine School of Law. He was a rifle platoon commander in Vietnam from 1968-69.
He was executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine from 1984-2011, and served as a state senator from 2016-2020. He is currently a volunteer ambulance driver for Harpswell Neck Fire and Rescue. Our leadership of, and even our continuing participation in, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) seems very much in doubt.
Congress is abandoning its critical role as a co-equal branch of government, ceding authority in foreign affairs, including its power to appropriate and deliver aid to a democracy under threat, in this case, Ukraine. Meanwhile, Great Britain’s defense minister, John Healey, announced $23.8 billion in pledges of military aid to Ukraine from NATO allies and a focus on providing Ukraine with more air defense, drones, equipment and the capacity to repair it inside the country.
President Emmanuel Macron of France added, “We must place Ukraine in the strongest position to negotiate a solid and durable peace.” As I watched President Trump and Vice President Vance berate President Zelensky at the White House meeting in late February, I was astounded and ashamed. Astounded that they could not understand and respect the extraordinary challenge Zelensky has faced for three years as he fights for his country.
Ashamed that two U.S. leaders would attempt to bully a man who has shown immeasurable courage in the face of the devastating assault by Russia on his Ukrainian homeland.
Zelensky deserved better, and he deserves the full support of our country in defense of Ukraine’s democracy and in defense of the free world. In the weeks since the White House meeting with President Zelensky, President Trump instructed our United Nations representative to vote against a resolution that condemned Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. He refused to state publicly that Russia actually invaded Ukraine.
He has aligned the U.S. more closely with Russia, Iran, North Korea and China than with our democratic allies.
His actions have created a strong sentiment among those allies that America can no longer be trusted, that we cannot be counted on as a participant in NATO and other partnerships of Western democracies. It is time for Congress to contradict that image of the United States, and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins has a unique opportunity to lead that effort.
As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Collins can step forward as a strong, principled leader to restore full U.S.
support for Ukraine. She can reassert congressional authority to deliver aid that Ukraine so desperately needs. She can send a very clear signal to the people of Ukraine, to our allies and to Putin that the United Sates will keep our generation’s old commitment to defending freedom, democracy and human rights.
Sen. Collins can write a new bill proposing military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. She can enlist co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle and from independents.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is clearly incensed by the president’s abandonment of Ukraine. Sen.
John Kennedy, R-La.., called Putin a “gangster.
” That’s a good start on the Republican side. It is likely that every Democrat in the Senate would join her. Maine independent Sen.
Angus King would certainly be a strong ally. Sen. Collins must ask her fellow senators to show courage, to do what is right, what is best for Ukraine, for the U.
S., and for the future. No member of Congress needs a lesson about who Vladimir Putin is.
He has invaded Ukraine, a sovereign nation with a democratic government, twice — in 2014 (Crimea), and again in 2022 with the full-scale attack on Kyiv. He has bombed residential neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, theaters, libraries, museums, public markets and every type of civilian infrastructure. He recently bombed President Zelensky’s hometown.
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reported in July 2023 that Russian authorities had taken 16,221 children out of Ukraine to Russia. The U.N.
also reports that Russian forces are responsible for widespread rapes, torture and killings, with as many as 400 people found in a single mass grave. Comments made by some members of Congress have shown that President Trump can make them cower, that his political intimidation is more powerful than their personal integrity and their commitment to defend democracy. Some of their statements indicate full reversals from earlier positions in support of Ukraine.
In other cases, there is simply dead silence. The United States must not give up our role as leader of the free world, as champion of democratic values, human rights and the rule of law. We cannot align ourselves with Putin and other dictators.
We cannot condone the invasion by an authoritarian regime with designs to build an empire of its smaller, democratic, neighboring sovereign states. We must change course, honoring the tradition of duty, honor and country that guided this nation’s greatest generation as it united to defend democracy against fascism and authoritarian rule. This moment offers Sen.
Collins and her fellow senators a remarkable opportunity. It will take courage. She, and they, must seize it.
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