The troubles we’re confronting at home are so many it’s hard to know where to begin. It’s understandable that most voter attention is focused here. We talk mainly about the consequences -- none good -- to the economy, the border, and crime should Biden -- contrary to the glaring, ongoing polling trends against him -- win reelection.

War -- not civil war, which is predicated on a lot of maybes -- is mentioned as a possibility if Biden returns to the White House. But it’s primarily a background consideration. It shouldn’t be.

War with Russia or China or both may not be something that Democrats want exactly, but their brazen arrogance, along with documented incompetence (the Afghanistan debacle) and a rightly perceived corrupted worldview, make those pulling Biden’s strings capable of catastrophic blunders. Anthony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and the entire apparatus at the Department of State are Lilliputians. Statecraft is beyond their scope.

Then there are the neocons -- warmongers like Bill Kristol -- who, in part, have taken up residence among Democrats. The Democrats’ missionary zeal -- making the world safe for LGBTQIA+ and slaying climate monsters -- have dovetailed with the cynicism and sanctimony of neocons calling to remake the world in America’s image (while making other countries U.S. vassals).

Richard Nixon may be remembered for the Watergate break-in but needs to be better recalled for America’s phased extraction from LBJ’s Vietnam debacle while keeping the communist North in check. Nixon (and Kissinger) played the China card masterfully. The opening to China proved critical in bringing initial pressures to bear on the Soviet Union that led to its collapse in 1991.

The Democrat Party is distressingly free from people with strong strategic abilities. Diplomacy and projecting resolve in ways that define parameters, dangle carrots, while walking softly -- big stick in hand -- is beyond them. Donald Trump ran circles around all of them during his presidency. The GOP has jingoists, too. Lindsey Graham is conspicuous, as is what remains of Mitch McConnell. House Republican committee chairs Michael McCaul (Foreign Affairs) and Michael Turner (Intelligence) are reflexive neocons. But none of these men are in the driver’s seat; the Democrats are.

Biden administration hamhandedness pushed Russia, China, India, and a bevy of other nations to bolster BRICS. Fawning appeasement toward a near-nuclear weapons-ready Iran makes Biden’s puppeteers appear to be what they are: weak and stupid.

Had Trump had a second term, Putin is unlikely to have invaded Ukraine. In fact, Trump would have used incentives, penalties, and negotiation to address Russia’s grievances while keeping Ukraine intact (and hundreds of thousands of casualties from occurring). Trump appreciates the value of dialogue. Despite Democrats incessant, baseless charges of “Russia collusion,” Trump would have aimed at keeping channels open to Putin.

China’s increasing hostility toward Taiwan is attributable, in part, to Biden having compromised himself with the Chinese. Xi is exploiting Biden’s vulnerability. Another Trump presidency means better engagement with Russia and China. Comprehensive policy resets are in order.

Statecraft’s endgame is demarcating and safeguarding American interests while achieving a calmer world. China and Russia need to appreciate that engaging the U.S. requires abiding by clearer rules. Restoring the military should be another Trump priority, and that starts with purging corrosive woke doctrine and sacking heavily politized, sycophantic generals and admirals.

Bellicosity and insufferable progressive moralism -- hallmarks of Biden’s foreign policy -- are underlaid by a smarmy, incestuous relationship with defense industry players and Pentagon ticket-punchers. Republicans of like ilk need to be booted to the margins.

Remember Victoria Nuland? Not long ago, she resigned her position at the Department of State. She was number three there. That made her a player. When she announced her departure, Ukraine’s guitar rockin’ sensation U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken praised her. A dissident Russian media outlet, Meduza, noted that Blinken regarded Nuland’s efforts at State as “‘indispensable to confronting’ Russian aggression.”

A couple of weeks ago, Meduza released a long interview with Nuland. Nuland’s language was measured, though her partisanship leaked through at the end. At State, Nuland carried water for the uniparty, that collection of Washington Democrats and Republicans who front permanent federal government, clustered around the intelligence and security bureaucracies.

Nuland’s interview provided a road map regarding Ukraine. If Biden wins reelection, expect a doubling down on the Ukraine war. The Administration is using Ukraine to try to degrade Russia’s warfighting capability and economy. Neither is succeeding. Yet, the Administration’s obsession with bringing Russia to heel may trigger recklessness in a Biden second term.

The $60 billion for Ukraine and the U.S. defense industry -- sweetened by monies for Israel and Taiwan -- was rammed through Congress with assistance from Speaker Mike Johnson. Not a penny was earmarked for border security. Our open southern border is the greatest threat to U.S. national security. Not only terrorists, but saboteurs, have crossed over from Mexico.

Johnson makes all sorts of excuses for his volte-face on the border and Ukraine funding. Being briefed in the “SCIF” (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) has wowed Johnson so much so that his previously declared positions are shelved. Is the intelligence community trustworthy enough to backpedal on key issues?

A major war with either Russia or China -- or both -- wouldn’t just be an overseas affair. Nor would war be largely conventional. Asymmetric warfare will happen. Critical U.S. infrastructure is vulnerable. Washington has yet to address this threat meaningfully. Remedial actions are required to secure essential infrastructure, like power grids and waterworks.

Whereas China poses a growing threat to U.S. national security, Nuland is fixated on Russia. That fixation -- shared by the D.C. crowd -- first manifested itself in charges of Russian election interference, and then metastasized into bogus charges that Trump was colluding with Putin. Xi’s conspicuous belligerency toward Taiwan is causing Washington to pivot some, but that’s tempered by the extensive commercial relations that the U.S. enjoys with China. Money talks in Washington.

Nuland’s interview was clichéd. Putin wants Ukraine today but “He’ll come for NATO” tomorrow. NATO’s anticipated expansion into Ukraine was casus belli for Russia’s invasion, though Nuland deflects that.

Nuland said:

But I do think that we will continue to give strong assistance to Ukraine [in the aftermath of the $60 billion aid package]. And the new and longer-range weapons, which I think you'll see deployed on the battlefield this summer, will have an impact.

Furnishing Ukraine with missiles capable of striking targets inside Russia is certainly provocative.

Nuland claims that any negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the war can’t occur until “Ukraine is strong enough to go to the negotiating table.” When are the Ukrainians strong enough, and by what measures? Shades of Vietnam. Afghanistan, another “forever war,” ended disastrously. We have an elite that’s learned nothing from history.

Nuland barely conceals her contempt for Trump. Parroting DNC talking points, she said:

Well, I worry not simply about isolationism in this case, but I do worry about Trump and his inclination to pander to other autocrats and other leaders with dictatorial tendencies.

He's made a lot of statements about the dictatorial aspects that he'd institute in the United States, so I worry that he has historic tendencies to be sympathetic towards Putin's position and that if he were to do that, if he were to get elected and choose to abandon Ukraine, he would face a Putin who just kept walking west towards NATO territory, and he would endanger us and our allies as well.

More lies, more Russia Hoax spin from the unsmart, untalented, establishment water-carrier Victoria Nuland. But pay heed to her words. She’s indicating where the corrupt D.C. establishment is heading. A war with Russia,  China, or both is a miscalculation away. The imperative to elect Trump this autumn couldn’t be greater.

J. Robert Smith can be found at Gab, @JRobertSmith. He blogs occasionally at Flyover. He’s returned to X. His handle there is @JRobertSmith1.

Image: Department of State