Trump leading GOP to abandon our history and embrace right-wing authoritarian governments

America has few allies that are as loyal and resolute as Australia. Our two countries are quite similar, in terms of our history as British colonies that killed and oppressed Native people, and that became First World, English-speaking democracies which are aligned together against China yet are dependent on Chinese goods.

One could generalize that America and Australia understand each other fairly well. 

Malcolm Turnbull, who served as prime minister of Australia from 2015-18, recently expressed his concerns about Donald Trump, who was our president during much of his tenure and seeks to become president again.

“Regrettably, the Republican Party under Donald Trump, and particularly the right wing of the Republican Party, are very sympathetic to Vladimir Putin,” Turnbull recently noted. “I mean, I have been with Trump and Putin. Trump is in awe of Putin. When you see Trump with Putin, as I have on a few occasions, he’s like the 12-year-old boy that goes to high school and meets the captain of the football team. ‘My hero.’ It is really creepy.”

While it may be unusual for a foreign statesman to speak so candidly about an American politician, we might do well to take Turnbull’s critique to heart. While Trump’s incitement of the angry mob on Jan. 6, 2021, demonstrated his contempt for the rule of law, his stance on the world stage demonstrates clearly that he would like to lead America away from our longtime alliance with western democracies, instead embracing right-wing totalitarianism. 

Trump is not alone in this regard. Tucker Carlson, who until recently was a FOX News star, recently conducted a fawning interview of Putin, punctuated by his praise for Russia, a country where everything is apparently clean and orderly. It does not seem to bother Trump and Carlson that Alexei Navalny, who was Putin’s political rival and harshest critic, recently died in a Siberian prison under extremely suspicious circumstances. 

The brutal war that Putin’s Russia has waged against Ukraine for the last two years also does not seem to bother our right-wing Republicans. While nobody suggests that American troops should be sent to Ukraine, there has been broad bipartisan support for providing ammunition and logistical support to that country as they wage a brave fight to maintain their independence.

That appears to be changing, as aid to Ukraine remains stalled in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Trump (seen above at a 2018 meeting with Putin in a public domain photo posted on wikimedia commons) was recently quoted expressing words of encouragement for Putin to do whatever he pleases to NATO countries that have not paid their full dues to the alliance, and has bragged that the war in Ukraine will come to a quick end if he regains the presidency.

Clearly, Trump envisions either a partial or total Russian victory.

On the world stage, Trump and his acolytes are supportive of right-wing despots like Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban. Relations between Trump and traditional democratic allies including Australia and most NATO countries are strained at best.

Under these circumstances, Sen. John Thune’s recent endorsement of Trump's candidacy is quite disturbing. Clearly, Thune does not care for Trump; in the early jockeying for the Republican presidential nomination, South Dakota’s senior senator was quick to endorse his South Carolina colleague Sen. Tim Scott.

But after Scott’s campaign collapsed and it became increasingly obvious that Trump will soon clinch the nomination, Scott was quick to express his devotion and support, and Thune soon followed suit. With Sen. Mitch McConnell’s decision to step down as the Senate Republican leader, Thune is next in line, although he is likely to face serious competition from Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

If Trump does win the presidency in November, there may be few complaints within the Republican Party as America transfers its allegiance from Ukraine to Russia and embraces right-wing authoritarianism rather than liberal democracy.

Jay Davis is a retired Rapid City attorney.