In March 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria in violation of post-World War I peace treaties. But no foreign government intervened.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain followed other European leaders in a policy of appeasement, saying he wanted to focus on domestic concerns.
Fellow Conservative Winston Churchill was one of the few to oppose this policy, warning in a speech in the House of Commons that the annexation of Austria was just German Chancellor Adolph Hitler’s first act of territorial expansion.
Just months later in the summer of 1938, the Nazis manufactured a crisis in Sudetenland, falsely claiming that Germans in this region of Czechoslovakia were being oppressed.
In late September 1938, Chamberlain took part in an international conference attended by Hitler, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in an effort to avert war.
Chamberlain and the others agreed to give Sudetenland to Germany, effective Oct. 1, with the promise of Hitler halting his advances.
Back at home, Chamberlain famously proclaimed he had returned “bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time.”
But less than six months later – in March 1939 – Nazi Germany dismantled Czechoslovakia and occupied the Czech lands, including Prague.
Hitler would go on to capture Poland and most of Europe. Britain did not fall, but starting Sept. 7, 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights.
More than 500 German planes dropped more than 700 tons of bombs across the city, killing nearly 1,500 people and destroying 11,000 homes. The House of Commons, Westminster Abbey and the British Museum were severely damaged,
Hitler would only be stopped after the United States entered the war in 1941 in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
A poll taken in March 1940 found that 96% of Americans were against going to war with Germany. A group called the America First Committee led the opposition to the United States’ entrance into the war.
The war in Europe would cost the lives of 141,000 members of what is now known as the Greatest Generation. Before the United States and its allies succeeded, more than 6 million Jews would be killed in Hitler’s campaign of genocide begun with the opening of the Dachau concentration camp in 1933.
Forty-five years later, the U.S. Congress faces its own Munich moment with the decision to continue to fund Ukraine’s war with Russia.
It is difficult to overstate how disastrous a decision not to continue funding Ukraine in a war with Russia would be.
The United States would be abandoning a democratic ally whose own troops are fighting and dying to preserve their country and a coalition of European countries unrivaled since World War II that President Joe Biden has put together to support Ukraine
This would effectively end the United State’s leadership in the free world and hand Russian President Vladamir Putin a victory at a time when his beleaguered army was losing ground.
And like Hitler with Czechoslovakia, Putin would surely use this victory to move forward on NATO nations such as Poland.
As a NATO member, the U.S. would have an obligation to defend a country such as Poland in all ways possible including with our own troops. Unless the GOP congressmen want to also abandon a coalition that has preserved the peace in Europe since World War II.
This would take place in full view of the world and surely would not go unnoticed by countries like Iran, which has been fomenting violence in Israel, and China, which has long held designs on Taiwan.
Retiring Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley said in an interview aired Sunday evening that if Ukraine loses and Putin wins, “we would be certainly increasing, if not doubling, our defense budget in the years ahead.
“And you will increase the probability of a great power war in the next 10 to 15 years,” he continued. “I think it would be a very dangerous situation” if the Russian leader’s invading forces were “allowed to win.”
The critically needed support for Ukraine is in doubt with the decision now in the hands of House Republicans, including two representing Nassau County – Congressmen George Santos (NY-03) and Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04).
Santos and D’Esposito will help decide the next speaker of the House bid after eight Republican right-wing extremists – all opponents of aid to Ukraine – ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The two frontrunners for the job are House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Scalise has appeared with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke at a rally and described himself as David Duke without the baggage.
And he is the moderate of the two candidates. He has voted for funding for Ukraine in the past.
Jordan, a loyal lieutenant of Donald Trump who participated in the planning of efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has consistently voted against aid to Ukraine.
Echoing Neville Chamberlain, Jordan recently told reporters “the most pressing issue on Americans’ minds is not Ukraine. It is the border situation, and it’s crime on the streets. And everybody knows that. So let’s address those.”
Santos recently tweeted on X, formerly known as Twitter, his opposition to further Ukraine aid.
“We have given over $100B to Ukraine & this war seems to have no end in sight,” Santos said. “Simply put, we can’t afford it.
“Every dollar that goes to Ukraine is money taken away from protecting our southern border & investing in America’s future,” he falsely claimed.
To underline his opposition, Santos ended his tweet with #Americafirst, the tagline used by Trump as well as this country’s opponents to entering World War II.
D’Esposito, whose seat like Santos’ has been rated among the most vulnerable in Congress in 2024, has presented himself as a moderate, touting his membership in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. But he has remained silent on continued aid to Ukraine.
We will learn D’Esposito’s position by his choice for House speaker – whether it is Scalise, Jordan or someone else.
The same can be said for other New York Republican congressmen from districts won by Biden in 2020 or considered toss-ups in 2024.
This includes congressmen Mike Lawler (NY-17), Marc Molinaro (NY-19), and Brandon Williams (NY-22).
Moderate Democrats have been criticized for not voting for McCarthy to keep him as speaker.
The critics have ignored that McCarthy reneged on promises made in the debt ceiling vote, excluded Ukraine funding from the vote to keep the government open, approved impeachment hearings for Biden without a shred of evidence of wrongdoing, trashed Democrats on Sunday talk shows after they helped him keep the government open and was unwilling to give Democrats anything in return for their support.
But D’Esposito and the other endangered Republicans can prove their willingness to work across the aisle by insisting that whoever they support for speaker agrees to fund Ukraine.
With the Republican caucus split 50-50 on further aid to Ukraine, this may be easier said than done.
It might even require D’Esposito and others to team up with Democrats on a Republican unity candidate or even Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House Minority Leader.
This was suggested by New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, who acknowledged that “this sounds like an absurd fantasy and I certainly don’t expect it to happen.”
But as Churchill said, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
The House is in chaos, our standing as a democracy and the leader of the free world stands in the balance, and the fate of Ukraine and, possibly Taiwan, could very well depend on this decision.
In the process, we will also find out what D’Esposito and his so-called moderate New York Republican congressmen really stand for.
