Good Thursday evening. This is Daniel Allott with The Hill’s Top Opinions.
A Trump indictment could doom Ukraine in its war against Russia, write retired economist MARK TOTH and retired Army Col. JONATHAN SWEET. That’s because the national debate over a potential indictment “is at risk of devolving into an all-out war between the former president and anyone who would oppose him and his core ‘MAGA’ supporters.”
Support for Ukraine has been trending downward, mostly along partisan lines. “Given this highly charged political ecosystem, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s targeting — if not weaponizing — of Trump is likely to be perceived as hyper-partisan,” the authors argue.
“Many Democrats will revel in it, while many hardcore Trump supporters will be reviled by it. If that turns out to be the case, there is a very real danger that the fallout of U.S. public support for Ukraine from GOP and conservative-leaning voters could harden, and possibly deteriorate significantly.”
Some prosecutorial discretion is in order, the authors believe, because an indictment on flimsy charges would amplify “Trump’s anti-Ukraine war voice — to the detriment of U.S. national security.”
“Democracy’s survival is at risk and the fight must be in Ukraine, not Washington,” the authors conclude.
Read Toth and Sweet’s op-ed here.
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