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Much as Republicans want to put lipstick on the pig, comparisons between Reagan/Gorbachev in 1985 and Trump/Putin in Alaska in 2025 are patently false and dishonest.
To begin with, Gorbachev and Reagan were both honorable men, each holding deep-seated and sincere beliefs in their respective countries and systems. To compare them with Trump and Putin is an insult. One is a convicted fraudster and sexual offender, a sympathizer with a convicted sex trafficker, and probably a child molester himself; the other has an arrest warrant for war crimes and cannot set foot anywhere in Europe.
Secondly, in 1985 under Ronald Reagan, the United States was at the top of its game—economically, militarily, and morally. I leave it to you to decide where the U.S. stands in these three areas today. By contrast, the Soviet Union at the time was on the verge of economic collapse, its military morale was at rock bottom, and the Union itself was beginning to unravel—pretty much where America is now headed.
Thirdly, Ronald Reagan was a strong believer in alliances. He was a steadfast supporter of NATO, and NATO of him.
Finally, and not insignificantly, the U.S. State Department under Reagan was led by seasoned career diplomats, not by inexperienced political hacks who often cannot even locate the countries they are talking about on a map, let alone know anything about their history or culture. Fast-talking Marco Rubio may be good at whipping up a storm of words, but he is a punchline in diplomatic circles on the world stage.
What we should be comparing is not Reagan and Gorbachev, but the reception Ukrainian President Zelensky received a few months ago—scolded and humiliated when he visited Trump and his henchmen—against the red carpet and military honors Trump extended, in our name, to the war criminal Putin. That was not diplomacy; it was a meeting of two world-class criminals.
Shameful.
Ernst V (Writer)
