Trump and Churchill: Defenders of Western Civilization by Adams Nick

Author:Adams, Nick [Adams, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: N/A
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2020-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

6

PRESCIENCE

In order to be a defender of Western civilization, one must have prescience. One cannot always act against what one sees coming on the horizon right away; one must sometimes try to use one’s words or actions to prod those in the best position at the time to act on it. For example, President Trump rightly saw looming trade issues, like with China, and foreign policy issues, like with ISIS. He could do only so much as a private citizen, but he still went on Fox & Friends regularly to voice his opinion, knowing that key politicians and consultants watched the show. He would have loved it if President Obama had taken decisive action against China or destroyed ISIS or at least called out radical Islam for what it really was. But Obama did not do that. Understandably then, private citizen Donald Trump tried to influence a potential future president, who turned out to be a weak, low-energy loser, by endorsing him in the 2012 presidential race. Even if he wasn’t a huge fan of Romney, Trump could place a bet that he, if elected, would be his best bet.

Churchill, too, took bold gambles, particularly with his prescience regarding the threat of the Soviet Union. He was the only major Allied leader to strongly warn of the threats from Stalin; had people listened to him sooner, we could have avoided a lot of issues (for example, the Cold War). It wouldn’t have been hard for Truman to take more decisive action, for example. He, after all, invited Churchill to speak in Missouri, where Churchill warned, “A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory.” And though he acknowledged that “nobody knew what Soviet Russia” specifically intended to do, Churchill still warned famously that “an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”78

The International Churchill Society sums up the reaction to his speech:

Simple truths stated or not, the outcry was immediate. Stalin of course reacted “with grim evidence of his paranoia,” Margaret Truman noted in her biography of her father. “He accused the United States of allying itself with Great Britain to thwart Russia. He declared Churchill’s speech at Fulton was an unfriendly act. ‘Such a speech if directed against the United States would never have been permitted in Russia.’ Never was there more tragic evidence of the Russian dictator’s complete inability to understand a free society.” But there also was critical reaction in the West, the United States and Britain included. Among other American critics, Senator Claude Pepper (D-FL) not only denounced the speech but warned against becoming “a guarantor of British imperialism.” James Roosevelt, son of the late president, said Winston’s statement at Fulton represented only “the British point of view.”79

In writing as well, Churchill warned of the threat of the Soviet Union as early as the 1920s but still expressed optimism. In one memorable article, Churchill wrote:

When all was over, Torture and Cannibalism were the only two expedients that the civilized, scientific Christian States had been able to deny themselves; and these were of doubtful utility.

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