AP Photo/Mystyslav Chernov
President Donald Trump, right, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington.
What the nation witnessed on February 28, and since, will doubtlessly be remembered as one of the most egregious betrayals of an ally and an indelible mark in the legacy of Donald Trump.
What this President has done amounts to vandalism – of our nation’s image, our credibility, and, most dispiritingly, our character.
President Trump has sold out an ally, a people, and a fundamental philosophy that has underpinned our foreign policy for over a century. Since the League of Nations, America has led a unique experiment to prevent illegal massacres of civilians, senseless wars of aggression, and the preservation of freedom where it is threatened.
We have testified so often in our history that no nation has the right to redraw borders by force, and the weak should never be the prey of the strong. All of this has been abandoned in one fell swoop by President Trump.
The defense of Ukraine transcends surface-level commentary. Opponents of continued support rely on trite platitudes like “we must take care of those at home” and “we cannot afford to continue our support.”
These contentions require ignorance—ranging from naivety to willful disinterest. Our actions in World War I and World War II were not rooted in self-interest; they were acts of selflessness. Callously some even will trumpet the refrain that “it is not our war”.
Short-termism is a cancer upon nations, sacrificing long-term strategy for seemingly immediate gains. This war is a hinge moment in history and has the unique potential to define this century, as one of freedom, or as one of autocracy.
The U.S. now inclines toward the perspective of the butcher President of Russia. Trump perceives himself and Putin as comrades-in-arms. His foreign policy is proudly isolationist, signaling a retreat from responsibility and an abdication of moral authority.
America has been the architect of a rules-based world order. If we abandon these virtues – if we forsake the values that made us exceptional – America will diminish. This moment demands moral clarity.
If Ukraine falls, unchecked aggression will continue. I argue that we must stand with one unwavering voice: we are a free people, and we will defend freedom.
Zane Jones is a construction management senior at LSU.