Yet more serious, perhaps, was his answer to a question of
whether, as president, he would recognize Russia's claim to Crimea and lift
sanctions imposed after Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory in 2014:
"Yes. We would be looking at that," he said.
The problem isn't merely that he was so obviously unprepared
to discuss one of the most sensitive issues in U.S. foreign policy, though
that's pretty bad in itself. The annexation — which the United States, the European
Union, and the U.N. General Assembly have all condemned — and Russia's
support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, are sources of deep U.S.-Russia
tension. To be taken off guard on such matters reveals an ignorance of foreign
policy that rivals former Alaska Gov.Sarah
Palin's ramblings on Russia when she ran for vice president in 2008.
But the concern goes deeper. To say "Yes" was an
unqualified statement that Mr. Trump would, indeed, recognize Russia's claim to
Crimea, completely backing off U.S. and international opposition to an unlawful
act of aggression.
So in one careless comment, Mr. Trump signalled a radical
break on a crucial matter of U.S. foreign policy about which he appears to have
given no thought. Just as with his bigoted comments on Mexicans and Muslims,
his indifference to nuclear proliferation, and his chilling ideas on torturing
captives or slaughtering civilians, his shoot-from-the-hip approach again shows
his failure, and quite possibly his inability, to appreciate the power of the
presidency — and the potential consequences of ignorance in the most powerful
job in the world.
Ouch!
