Columns 
Originally published on The Ukrainian Weekly
During his presidency, Donald Trump was no friend of Ukraine. We all witnessed his lovefests with Russian President Vladimir Putin, notably the notorious Helsinki press conference in 2018 where he took the Russian president’s side over that of U.S. intelligence agencies. Apparently, the bromance continues with Mr. Trump sending his buddy COVID-19 test equipment that Americans needed and staying in touch following his loss in the 2020 presidential election (Sorry, Mr. Trump, it was a loss, despite your fabricated, delusional claims that you won). These calls reportedly continued while Mr. Trump opposed the most recent $61 billion U.S. aid package to Ukraine.
As president, Mr. Trump also tried to get Putin reinvited into the Group of Seven (G-7), from which Russia had been kicked out for its illegal annexation of Crimea and intervention in the Donbas. He blocked nearly $400 million in military aid for Ukraine that Congress had appropriated in his feeble and failed attempt to coerce Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dig up nonexistent dirt on his political opponent Joe Biden.
Despite the propaganda, Mr. Trump did not do much at all for Ukraine during his presidency, and what was done was thanks to the serious and sober-minded national security aids in Mr. Trump’s administration. Mr. Trump only very reluctantly signed tough sanctions legislation in 2017, knowing that Congress would override his veto if he did not. He did not do much about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, more than 95 percent of which was built while he was in office. He repeatedly demeaned Ukraine and Ukrainians while giving comfort to Putin. He attacked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and often threatened U.S. withdrawal from the alliance. We should also not forget that the war in Ukraine, which began in 2014, continued for the duration of Mr. Trump’s presidency and he did virtually nothing to try and stop it.
A word about the “adults in the room” – the dedicated, professional national security and foreign affairs officials who worked in the Trump administration and understood the necessity of countering a neo-imperialist Russia and backing Ukraine. Most of them have been critical of Mr. Trump, with many calling him unfit to be president and some endorsing Kamala Harris for president. This, to me, speaks volumes. Has there ever been a time in American history when so many former national security and other officials have come out against the president under whom they worked? That’s almost a rhetorical question – I think we all know the answer.
During Mr. Trump’s time in office, I would sometimes offer a silent prayer for Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Department secretaries James Mattis and Mark Esper, White House Chief of Staff and Director for National Intelligence Dan Coats, and national security advisors H.R. McMaster and John Bolton; for National Security Council staffers such as Fiona Hill and Alexander Vindman, and for countless others in the State Department and other agencies for keeping Mr. Trump’s worst instincts in check and ignoring or working around his crazy ideas in order to do the right thing for our national security interests.
One of my biggest fears, if, God forbid, Mr. Trump should win the presidency, is that there would no longer be adults in the room, but only sycophants who share Mr. Trump’s ambivalence for America’s interests and disdain for its values – specifically when it comes to helping Ukraine confront Russian aggression.
As Mr. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security advisor, said last month on CNN, “… in terms of American support for Ukraine, if Trump wins, I think it’s toast.” And retired Gen. Mark A. Milley – Mr. Trump’s former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in the U.S. military – warned that Mr. Trump is “the most dangerous person to this country.”
And what about the vice-presidential nominees, Sen. J.D. Vance and Gov. Tim Walz?
Mr. Walz has been a strong and consistent backer of Ukraine’s fight for freedom.
As governor of Minnesota, Mr. Walz has condemned Russian aggression, tweeting on the first day of the full-fledged invasion that his state stands with the people of Ukraine. In April 2022, he signed an executive order mandating all state agencies to sever ties with Russian and Belarusian entities and urged the private sector to do the same. He and other governors met with Mr. Zelenskyy. In February, he visited the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C., to establish a formal partnership between the public, private and academic sectors in Minnesota and those in Ukraine’s Chernihiv Oblast.
Mr. Vance, who said “I don’t care what happens to Ukraine,” has, on the other hand, exhibited ignorance, indifference and even contempt toward Ukraine. In February, Mr. Vance refused to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Summit because he said there was nothing new he would learn from such a conversation.
Like Mr. Trump, who most recently blamed Mr. Zelenskyy for allowing the war to start (talk about blaming the victim!), Mr. Vance disparages Ukraine. According to The Washington Post, during a discussion with an extreme right conspiracy theorist last year, Mr. Vance said: “Dude, I won’t even take calls from Ukraine. … Two very senior guys [from the Ukrainian government] reached out to me, the head of their intel, the head of the Air Force, bitching about F-16s.” And The Washington Post reported that Mr. Vance made the truly outrageous statement that, “We’re getting easily half a trillion dollars in the hold for the Ukraine conflict by the time this is done. … Why? So that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht? Kiss my [expletive].” Enough said.
More damaging than his words, the senator from Ohio has railed against aid to Ukraine and led Senate efforts to oppose the $61 billion aid package. Fortunately, he did not prevail. I don’t see him changing his mind in the future. And there is nothing, repeat, nothing more crucial for Ukraine right now than for the United States, together with our allies, to provide military and other assistance to Ukraine.
Mr. Vance has been worse with respect to Ukraine than Mr. Trump has been. Keep in mind that Mr. Trump, 78, is now the oldest presidential candidate in U.S. history, and the possibility of Mr. Vance’s becoming president may not be all that remote.
We stand at a unique time in American history, where country must matter more than party or allegiance to one populist demagogue. It is a defining moment when values, integrity and an understanding of America’s role in the world matter more than specific policy positions. While I am an active member of the Ukrainian-Americans for Harris-Walz Steering Committee, truth to tell, I would not have agreed to join if the Republican nominee for president was a normal, internationalist, center-right Republican. And, as much as I support them, I disagree with Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz on some issues as I gravitate more to the center of our political spectrum. (Although accusations against her of being a radical leftist by her political opponents are ridiculous, the far left in this country hardly considers her to be a leftist.)
What ultimately matters more than any policy position is best captured by highly decorated retired Army Gen. Stanley McCrystal in his recent op-ed in The New York Times:
“Ms. Harris has the strength, the temperament and, importantly, the values to serve as commander in chief. When she sits down with world leaders like President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, representing the United States on the global stage, I have no doubt that she is working in our national interest, not her own.”
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz – good for Ukraine; good for America!