Save Ukraine, Save The World.

Slava Ukraini!

Three years ago this week, Vladimir Putin launched his so-called “Special Military Operation,” convinced he could roll Soviet-era armor through Kyiv in a matter of days, dispatch President Volodymyr Zelensky with ruthless efficiency, and install a puppet regime in the heart of a free nation.

Russia massed its forces on the borders of a sovereign state Putin has long hungered to drag back into his decaying Soviet fantasy. Ukraine had compromised mightily at the end of the Cold War to escape Moscow’s stranglehold. Russia installed a series of puppet regimes, but in 2014, Ukraine finally wrested its freedom away from Moscow.

Now, once more, its very life hung in the balance.

No one—least of all Putin—expected the Ukrainians to stand and fight with such tenacity. But when Russia’s armies tried to thunder across those borders, they discovered a people unbreakable in will, unstoppable in courage, and unyielding in spirit.

Ukraine’s defenders soon became the modern embodiment of heroism, confounding an invader whose appalling war crimes only confirmed our worst suspicions about Russian brutality from time immemorial. History books will praise Ukraine’s perseverance, battlefield innovations, and the unwavering grit of its men and women under fire.

Putin’s losses speak volumes: over a million casualties by some estimates, thousands of tanks and aircraft turned to twisted metal, and the once-vaunted Spetsnaz and VDV special forces stacked like cordwood. Three days became three years, and Russia holds a few destroyed towns in Eastern Ukraine.

And yet, in the midst of this existential battle, Ukraine’s leadership looked westward for steadfast allies — and found them in NATO and the United States under President Joe Biden.¹ Now, Donald Trump and his new brood of enablers are twisting America’s moral compass into a coward’s bargain with the Kremlin.

From our latest shameful vote at the United Nations—siding with despots and their vassals—to the persistent indulgence of Vladimir Putin’s blood-soaked ambitions, the moral stain on today’s Vichy Republicans is deep and indelible.

Marco Rubio—a little man who once beat his chest about defeating authoritarianism—has become a bobbing, nodding handmaiden to Trump’s kowtow to Putin. Elise Stefanik, who served on the board of the International Republican Institute dedicated to fostering democracy, cast the U.N. vote that aligned our nation with the very forces of tyranny she once claimed to oppose.

Add J.D. Vance, Steve Witkoff, Pete Hegseth…a roll call of treason and hypocrisy whose members have traded America’s honor for the fleeting praise of a man who embraces evil.

Were there a shred of justice, they’d be chased from public life, horsewhipped in the streets, or, at the very least, forced to witness the smoldering wreckage of hospitals and schools in Ukraine, issuing their disgraceful paeans to Putin while the evidence of his barbarities still burns all around them.

This dark carnival of appeasement flows from Donald Trump’s malignancy, dripping its cancerous influence into every corner of our national life. Instead of rejecting Trump’s slavish devotion to the Kremlin, his sycophants stand by, eager to barter away American leadership and principle for a cheap seat at his table.

Make no mistake: Trump’s next move could be to direct the United States to aid Russia. If that day comes, pray that our military will recall its duty to the Constitution and the rule of law, refusing any illegal command that betrays the very foundations of our republic.

But let us be clear: Ukraine can and must prevail. Despite Trump’s indulgences of Putin, despite every betrayal, despite the moral rot afflicting too many in our halls of power, the spirit of liberty in Ukraine has not dimmed.

Putin may glean a momentary advantage from Trump’s perverse admiration, but the free world recoils at this partnership. This is not a bargain Trump can sell. Americans know who and what Putin is and represents, and they know Trump is utterly on the wrong side of history.

A Russian defeat is more than vengeance against tyranny; it is a clarion call that no dictator can redraw borders with blood. It signals to the world's rogues that aggression will not stand, emboldening democracies to resist despotism wherever it arises.

A free Ukraine triumphant over Putin’s aggression will be a mighty bulwark for Europe and every nation determined to maintain its sovereignty and uphold the rule of law. It will break the new Axis of Evil Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran have formed. It will also disrupt Russia's support for autocratic movements worldwide, including in the United States.

When Russia is humbled and its imperial fantasies are shattered, the world will be safer, stronger, and more resolved in the face of future threats. The ancillary benefit will, of course, be the utter humiliation of Donald Trump. He will be seen for what he is in this world: a weak, pathetic man who betrayed American allies and interests to join the losing side in the definitive battle of this era.

Now is the moment for clarity and courage, and our European allies have answered the call while we run into the dictator's arms. The deliberate end of American influence didn’t lead to what Trump and Putin hoped. They believed Ukraine would instantly capitulate and that the United States would browbeat the NATO allies into submission.

Europe and Canada have chosen this hour to stand with Ukraine—to see this war through to its only acceptable conclusion: the utter and undeniable defeat of Vladimir Putin’s armies. America’s leaders will wear the stain of this moment, cast out of the band of brothers.

I wish we could be a better nation, ally, and a more potent force for good. I wish I could make America shake off our illusions of Trumpism and rise to the task before us so that one day, when our children ask us what we did in the face of this evil, we can say we stood for the light against the darkness, for freedom against fear, for Ukraine—and the enduring security of the entire free world.

While many in Ukraine today feel betrayed and shocked by Donald Trump, I hope my friends there and in Europe that the American people still stand with them. Our current President and his claque of sycophants and lackeys may be with Putin, but there’s still a vast reservoir of strength, goodwill, and love for your fight in the hearts of Americans.

Slava Ukraini!

1. Biden’s support — influenced by the frequently wrong Jake Sullivan — could have come sooner and been more advanced — I hoped for more, but it was better than today’s alternative.