By Ammar Campa-Najjar, The Hill:
Everyone has their own bones to pick with the new administration depending on the issue they care about most, but nothing requires our undivided attention more than this. If Trump triggers an arms race with Russia, Muslims and undocumented immigrants will face an existential threat far greater than registries and mass deportation, we all will. Pakistan and India would enter the race, as would North Korea and Iran — which unlike the UN resolution or President Obama’s Iran deal, actually puts Israel in real and immediate danger. We all need to be united and stay vigilant on how president-elect Trump deals with Putin.
“Russia is our number one geopolitical foe,” was the once alarmist and antiquated view of then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. His successor, 2016 GOP nominee and soon to be President Donald Trump, is trying to turn the clocks back to the 20th century in every way. In many cases, that’s impossible – some jobs are never coming back, modern technology has made the free flow of ideas and people easier than ever, and we live in a far more interdependent world now.
But Mr. Trump’s recent inflammatory remarks can reignite conflicts from a bygone era. The president-elect’s views on nuclear weapons and Russia sound less like the position of a modern day U.S. president and more like a Flashback Friday.
In an effort to Make America Great Again, Trump’s actually made Romney right again — on Russia. It’s unclear whether Trump and Putin are on a collision or collusion course with each other, but either trajectory is dangerous for America and the world. Our next Secretary of State will have to bring an unbiased, clear-eyed, disciplined and diplomatic focus to compensate for the president-elect’s undisciplined approach…
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