In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Germany, claiming the Munich Agreement he negotiated with Adolf Hitler brought “peace with honor” and saying it achieved “peace for our time.”

Seven years later, after approximately 407,000 American military deaths, over 6 million Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps, nearly 15 million total military deaths, and around 38 million civilian deaths, at a cost to America of 4 trillion in inflation-adjusted dollars, World War II ended.

In 2024, American presidential candidate Donald Trump encourages Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” against our allies in NATO. This traitorous and destabilizing rant undermines American foreign policy and our status in the world.

At least Neville Chamberlain, however naively, thought he was preventing war. Trump is aiding and abetting a murderous tyrant who kills his enemies and bombs his neighbors.

Republicans in Congress who support this support the enemies of freedom. Every day Speaker of the House Mike Johnson keeps the House in recess is a day helping Vladimir Putin win.

I understand the discomfort people have with more deficit spending to support Ukraine’s self-defense, but a few billion today is a wise investment compared to the trillions of dollars in we might have to spend in an avoidable war that Trump is too clueless to anticipate.

Richard S. Whiting, Auburn