Crunch Time in Ukraine – WSJ

Will the eruption of a wider global war derail the Biden-Trump rematch that seems in the offing for 2024? Would a bad thing therefore be, in one respect, a good thing?

Nobody begrudges the ransoming of a 4-year-old Hamas hostage. It s a tad absurd, however, to read that Mr. Biden pressed by name on behalf of a toddler related to a major Democratic donor who also happens to have bought a Hunter Biden painting.

For his part, Donald Trump both increased arms supplies to Ukraine and was impeached for allegedly trying to condition those supplies on Ukraine s provision of dirt on the Bidens. Mr. Trump was victimized by U.S. intelligence agencies and the Clinton campaign s promotion of false evidence that he was illegally in cahoots with Russia, but he also said many foolish things about Vladimir Putin and kept trying to get paid for putting his name on a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Then again, Hunter s father played along, at a crucial moment in the 2020 campaign, with intelligence veterans falsely framing Russia for his son s laptop humiliation. After Mr. Biden won, Mr. Putin launched the biggest challenge to the West s security architecture since Stalin cut off access to Berlin.

Mr. Trump plays a good game now pretending his legal jeopardy arises from his service to voters. But he s fighting for personal survival, which isn t what the country needs in its president. As for Mr. Biden, if his opponent were anyone else, he might already be disqualified because of his family s ridiculous influence peddling in countries where the U.S. now risks military engagement.

Meanwhile, notice what isn t happening the big U.S. rearmament effort that the moment calls for. The U.S. is running down its stocks to support Israel and Ukraine. If anything might save the peace right now, it s a conspicuous U.S. military buildup to deter Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Yet something close to paralysis prevails in Washington instead.

via www.wsj.com

Holman Jenkins.