‘No ordinary time’ — the world is at war, and no one will lead

Rome, allegorically-speaking, is burning again. And Capitol Hill finds itself populated with modern-day Neros.

The world is increasingly at war and yet, House Republicans and President Joe Biden are unwilling to rise above the flames. They are crassly prioritizing electoral calculus ahead of national security.

The Biden administration continues to lack a comprehensive plan to win the conflict, apparently preferring to let it devolve into a “forever war.” Biden and his national security team have failed to greenlight for Ukraine the weapons capabilities and long-range munitions Kyiv needs to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Donbas and Crimea.

But Biden’s considerable strategic failings on Ukraine do not justify Republicans’ decision to jeopardize the war effort. Instead, during the funding process in the House and Senate, the GOP should be highlighting Biden’s missteps while getting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the military and economic aid his country needs to survive.

Partisan politics can no longer dictate our country’s national security. Yet, increasingly, it is doing just that. Many Republicans, including presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, are playing November politics. So is Biden himself, in terms of Michigan’s electoral calculus affecting his approach to Israel over its war with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.

Whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) and her ilk get it or not, we are in an increasingly kinetic global ideological war for survival against Russian and China, as well as against their proxies, Iran and North Korea. Combined, these four are formidable adversaries who are not going away. 

Moscow and Beijing are betting that Washington will remain deeply divided. Their disinformation campaigns are designed to fuel division inside the Beltway. It is Putin’s best way to win on Capitol Hill what his army is failing to win on the battlefields in Ukraine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is also using a badly distracted Capitol Hill to continue his country’s rapid militarization of its ground, sea, air, nuclear and space forces, all intended to dominate the Indo-Pacific. Xi, largely unchecked, is harassing Filipino shipping in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, his invasion plans for Taiwan continue at an alarming pace.

We are running out of time. The U.S. needs to be placed on a war footing. Newly installed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the former president of the European Council, was right when he warned that Europe is in a “pre-war era” vis-a-vis Russia and Belarus. So too is the U.S.

“This is no ordinary time.” Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt first uttered those words during the 1940 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Democrats, at that time, were badly divided as a party — as was the nation over the prospects of becoming involved in a second world war. She added this is “no time for weighing anything, except what we can best do for the country as a whole.”

Today, amidst our own generation’s intransigent partisanship, the Republicans need someone of a similar stature to boldly rise above the fray and demand that funding for Ukraine proceed without delay, even if the cost is tolerating what Greene has self-servingly threatened, in allowing House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to replace Mike Johnson (R-La.) as Speaker.

Republicans either need to lead in the House or get out of the way when it comes to our national security interests in Ukraine. Ditto Biden and his own national security team when it comes to approving ATACMS, precision deep munitions, and other desperately needed offensive military capabilities that would enable Kyiv to take the fight to Moscow. 

The Pentagon knows how to enable Ukraine to win. Approve the new funding for ammunition and weapons and let the Ukrainians do their job.

This same messaging applies equally to Trump and his anti-Ukraine War stance. His apparent belief that his cult of personality can dictate global affairs is narcissistic and naive. National security is only achieved when all of the instruments of national power are combined and wielded cohesively and collectively against our foes. 

History is replete with figures who believed the cult of their personages could determine if not dictate outcomes. None fared well.

We, as a country, are staring into a deep global abyss. We lack leaders who understand the importance of statesmanship underpinned by bipartisanship. We cannot safely continue on this dangerously naïve and partisan self-serving course. 

When it comes to national security and foreign policy, all of our nation’s leaders — or would-be leaders — have it wrong. That includes Biden, Trump, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Each has it wrong to a varying degree and in his own way. 

We truly are, as President Abraham Lincoln once warned, a house divided. Putin and Xi are calculating, even counting on our system’s failure due to this division, which would give them free rein to dominate the West economically and militarily. 

If we keep foolishly looking inward as a country, then we will find ourselves increasingly alienated if not ostracized on the global stage, for Biden, Trump, and the Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are all sending repeated messages to our allies that Washington can no longer be trusted.

NATO, for instance, is now arguing that the U.S. should not lead the Ramstein group conferences coordinating military aid to Ukraine. Washington’s leadership vacuum has led us to this moment in time, forcing French President Emmanuel Macron and Czech President Petr Pavel to step in and fill the void. 

Republicans still have the opportunity to make the right choice in Congress — the exact same choice our greatest generation made on Dec. 7, 1941, that tyranny would not survive to defeat democracy. 

Likewise, Biden urgently needs to make the same winning choice that President Franklin Roosevelt made after Pearl Harbor: to defeat our nation’s enemies at any cost. Submitting to Moscow and Beijing cannot be an option. Victory must be our nation’s only guiding star in the defense of the West.

Indeed, this is no ordinary time. The world is at war, and Washington is being led by deeply flawed men and women unwilling to rise to meet the challenges of this most extraordinary time.

Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer.