In the January 5th edition of [this publication], Mr. Richard Panzer answers my previous letter with the following:
”Mr. Freisinger claims that Donald Trump ‘admires’ the leaders of North Korea, China, and Russia. The real question should be which U.S. president do the dictators of those countries respect and fear the most?”
And Mr. Panzer gives example of how our enemies “feared” Donald Trump.
1.) Russia and Putin. Why did Putin not invade Ukraine while Trump was in the WH?
Answer: There was no need to. Trump wanted to weaken NATO by withdrawing the U.S., Trump was creating internal disarray in the U.S. much more effectively than any outside attempts. Putin has admitted he wanted Trump to win the presidency. There was Helsinki in which Trump looked the other way on cyber crime, saying “I believe him.” Trump wanted to delay sanctions on Russia for cybercrime election interference and he wanted to delay supplying arms to Ukraine unless Zelensky did him a favor politically. Trump wanted to readmit Russia into the G7 after they were expelled for invading Crimea. Even today Trump brags that he would end the Ukraine war in 24 hours. The only way that could happen is for Putin to succeed. In other words, Putin does not fear Trump but likes him in large part for isolating this country from its allies and accepting his ruthlessness.
2.) RNK and Kim. Mr. Panzer claims that President Kim feared launching missiles over Japan while Trump was in office but has no such qualms while Biden is in office. Mr. Panzer ignores the element of time in which the RNK missile program had so many duds. Fact is, no U.S. president has been able to stop the development of a missile and nuclear program under Kim. There were 27 “love letters” between Trump and Kim. And just recently, Trump congratulated Kim on the RNK election to the WHO executive board. In other words, Kim does not fear Tump but likes him for accepting his ruthlessness.
3.) China and Xi. Mr. Panzer claims China feared Trump and Trump imposed tougher sanctions on China than Biden does. That flies against the knowledge of ex-Morgan Stanley head Stephen Roach who proves the opposite. That can be looked up easily. Mr. Panzer forgets that President Xi granted some 16 trademarks to Ivanka ranging from cosmetics to voting machines to sausage casings. Thereafter, Trump rescued the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE from shutting down, much to the displeasure of our own congress. ZTE was selling chips to Iran and RNK violating our international laws. China feared Trump? Do tell.
In fact dictators of the world like Trump because he cozies up to them. People criticize Biden for his betrayal of the Afghans who helped us in the longest war in U.S. history started by President Bush after 9/11. With no clear end in site. The same people forget that Trump withdrew our troops from Syria at the behest of Turkish dictator Erdogan, leaving our Kurd allies against ISIS to be overrun by both the Turks and jihadists.
The idea that Trump is strong and Biden is weak on both domestic and foreign policy runs rampant. It is true that Biden is weak on crime. Especially when it comes to putting criminals behind bars. No greater proof of that is the freedom extended to an ex U.S. leader who planned and continues to plan to destroy the U.S. Constitution and form an authoritarian government he so envies, given the examples above. That person would be considered a traitor in other democracies.
Biden is considered weak on our border. He has proposed a budget which is the strongest dealing with both the border, Israel and Ukraine. And House Leader Mike Johnson, who gets his orders from Trump, refuses to bring it up for a vote because it would make Biden look good. In other words, party over country. Nothing new there.
My response to Mr. Panzer is this: Sir, create a spreadsheet of actual historical and present events and make your judgements accordingly. If you oppose Biden, there are other choices within the Republican party.
Gerard Freisinger
Warwick