by George Rasley, ConservativeHQ.com Editor
President Donald Trump’s July 6 speech in Warsaw, Poland was a landmark in his presidency, and perhaps the best speech delivered by an American President since Ronald Reagan left office.
President Trump eloquently evoked the spirit of Poland’s brave fight against Communism and Nazism to rally, not just the people of Poland, but all peoples who share the culture of the Western Enlightenment to which Poles have contributed so much, to win another war for liberty and to defeat the twin threats of Islamism and globalism.
And the President was exactly correct in identifying how that war will be won – if it is to be won:
We have to remember that our defense is not just a commitment of money, it is a commitment of will. Because as the Polish experience reminds us, the defense of the West ultimately rests not only on means but also on the will of its people to prevail and be successful and get what you have to have. The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?
In this President Trump planted himself firmly on the same ground occupied by Winston Churchill in his “on the beaches” and Iron Curtain speeches and Ronald Reagan in his Evil Empire speech.
Reagan and Churchill understood that the war against Nazism and Communism was one of culture and ideology, not just bullets and bombs, and that the ideological struggle required the same force of will that warfare requires.
President Trump’s metaphor for today’s war was the immortal Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis during World War II.
The memories of those who perished in the Warsaw Uprising cry out across the decades, and few are clearer than the memories of those who died to build and defend the Jerusalem Avenue crossing. Those heroes remind us that the West was saved with the blood of patriots; that each generation must rise up and play their part in its defense and that every foot of ground, and every last inch of civilization, is worth defending with your life.
Our own fight for the West does not begin on the battlefield – it begins with our minds, our wills, and our souls. Today, the ties that unite our civilization are no less vital, and demand no less defense, than that bare shred of land on which the hope of Poland once totally rested. Our freedom, our civilization, and our survival depend on these bonds of history, culture, and memory.
In this President Trump is surely correct – the preservation of the civilization of the Western Enlightenment is now being defended by Poland and a few other counties of eastern and central Europe that are standing against the Muslim tide advancing from Turkey and North Africa.
President Trump allied himself firmly with Poland and those countries that wish to maintain their sovereignty and Enlightenment culture and he put himself firmly in opposition to those, such as Germany and France, that are prepared to abandon their sovereignty and allow their people, history and culture to be subsumed by globalism and Islamism.
Naturally, the President’s speech has been criticized as “alt-right” by those pasty-faced liberals who believe in nothing except their own superiority and know no culture except their own power. This should surprise no one, because whether in the guise of Pro-Nazis, Communist Fellow Travelers, Radical Secularists, Globalists or Islamist Apologist there are always those who are ready to ally themselves with the enemies of liberty.
A year ago it looked like those forces just might be winning, but then came the populist rebellion of 2016, presidential election and the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States.
Nazism and Communism were stymied in the 20th century by Churchill and Reagan, and when President Trump said, “every foot of ground, and every last inch of civilization, is worth defending with your life,” the Warsaw speech made clear that, after eight years of appeasement by Barack Obama, the enemies of liberty will be opposed in the 21st century by Donald Trump.
Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com
