Ukraine Rhetoric Veers Toward Reality – WSJ

In every field of endeavor, the phenomenon of silly season occurs. Under pressure of events or social signs, hysterical claims begin to be heard. With the presidential election in its final weeks, it s Ukraine s turn.

We can immediately add a caveat. Joe Biden hasn t completely lost his head but still calls for victory without defining what victory means.

And Donald Trump still avoids the word victory, preferring to speak of the settlement or deal he imagines he will deliver if he becomes president.

Into even the dimmest precincts, moreover, has dawned a realization: The president s and ex-president s stances might actually be compatible, if not identical.

Then there s Kamala Harris. Adding to the faint but slowly accumulating mosaic by which we must judge her presidential aptitude, she thundered on Thursday against any territorial concession by Kyiv. These proposals are the same of those of Putin. And let us be clear they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable.

These words presumably will be forgotten or eaten if she becomes president. Never mind that Mr. Biden never exhibited and from the very beginning, in every word and deed a scintilla of enthusiasm for trying to rid every inch of Ukrainian soil of Russian troops. And neither has Mr. Trump.

via www.wsj.com

Holman Jenkins.