Is Trumpism really here to stay?
I hope not.
Pat Buchanan (PDN, Dec. 29) once again viewed the world through his rear-view mirror.
His arguments for the persistence of Trumpism draw on Republican actions following Goldwater and Reagan.
Such successful gentlemen were nothing like the current occupant of the White House.
They were true patriots who did not try to destroy American democracy.
Another recent column extolled nationalism as important for cultural coherence.
He did not mention the virulent nationalism of the Nazis and others of the past, or current nationalists like el-Sisi in Egypt or Erdogan in Turkey, both highly regarded by Trump.
He recently proclaimed the end of globalism.
He did not mention that major problems — pandemics, global climate change, or Chinese hegemony — must be addressed on a global basis.
Goldwater and Reagan were not isolationists.
Can you imagine Trump saying, as Reagan did, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”?
Buchanan, and others like him, look back to the 1950s.
Statesmen of that time recognized the importance of global recovery and instituted the Marshall Plan, created the UN, NATO, IMF, World Bank and other international bodies that raised the level of prosperity for the world and the U.S.
With less than one-fourth of the global economy today it would be particularly foolish of the U.S. to believe that now is the time to retreat into Fortress America.
Paul Wessel
Sequim