As I write this a meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska is scheduled for August 15, 2025 to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine. In this context the name Neville Chamberlain comes up often.
Trump/Putin Alaska Meeting
But first let me get my forecast on the table before it happens… Putin will say all he wants is ____ (“all currently occupied regions plus some”, “all of Ukraine”, “for Ukraine to be completely disarmed”, “for Zelensky to be removed as president”, etc.). Trump will agree that the proposals are completely reasonable and present them to Zelensky… Give up your land, give up your country and its freedom, disarm, and resign from your presidency… Zelensky will refuse (as would ANY MORAL, RATIONAL LEADER), and then Trump will:
- Blame Zelensky for not wanting peace
- Threaten to cut off military support to Ukraine
- Cut off satellite intel support such that Ukrainian cities are sitting ducks to Putin’s nightly missile terror attacks
- Refuse to even sell weapons to Ukraine
In a word, Trump will stand WITH Putin and AGAINST Zelensky.
Don’t give me too much credit when my prediction comes true down almost to the last detail. But I’m cheating: It’s a rerun. I’ve seen it before… several times.
If for some reason it doesn’t go exactly like this, just wait… it eventually will. Maybe European leaders talk some sense into Trump, and maybe for the ten seconds that the echo of their reasoning bounces around in his head he’ll refrain from supporting evil. But his instincts will always lead him back on to the path of standing with Putin and against all that is good and right.
Chamberlain’s Policy of Appeasement
Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of the UK 1937-1940. His greatest claim to fame is his foreign policy of “Appeasement” – the giving away another country’s territory for “peace” – that led to WW2. Google him. Here’s what you’ll find:
Arthur Neville Chamberlain was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940… He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasement, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, ceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler…
Source: Wikipedia: Neville Chamberlain
That’s his footnote in history: The poster boy for the effects of the policy of “appeasement” (i.e. giving the tyrant/dictator what he wants in hopes that he’ll be nice). This policy ultimately led to 60 million dead and the European continent reduced to rubble.
Ronald Reagan said this about Chamberlain’s appeasement,
We repudiate an attempt to achieve [peace] by methods disproven by all of our past experience, methods played against the background music of Neville Chamberlain’s umbrella tapping its sorry way to the slaughter of a generation of young men.
Source: VETERANS DAY ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR RONALD REAGAN, North Albany Junior High School, Albany, Oregon, November 11, 1967
We know that early attempts to placate the totalitarians did not save us from war. They didn’t save us from war; in fact they guaranteed war. There are lessons to be learned in this and never forgotten… The leaders and people of postwar Europe had learned the lessons of their history from the failures of their predecessors. They learned that aggression feeds on appeasement and that weakness itself can be provocative… …
Source: Address to European Parliament (“Soviet Military”), Strasbourg, France (May 8, 1985)
Video: YouTube
In a very real way Chamberlain was at least as responsible for WW2 as was Hitler. Hitler was the murderous tyrant/dictator, but had the democracies of that day, led by the UK and France, stood up to Hitler early, Hitler would have just been a blip in history.
But to Chamberlain’s Credit…
But as bad as Chamberlain was, and as culpable as he was for WW2, let’s consider a little context in order to accurately compare him to leaders in modern times.
In 1938 Adolf Hitler was amassing military forces on Czechoslovakia’s border, claiming that the western tip of Czechoslovakia (“Sudetenland”) was inhabited by German-speaking ethnic-Germans who would rather be German. Hitler gave all appearances that he was going to invade and take the Sudetenland by force.
Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler in September 1938 in an attempt to avoid armed conflict. They came up with the “Munich Agreement” which required that Czechoslovakia cede territory in exchange for Hitler’s promise to not take any more of Czechoslovakia or invade other countries.
BUT this appeasement strategy – misguided and naive as it was – was ***ALL BEFORE THE FIRST SHOT WAS FIRED***.
The agreement resulted in Czechoslovakia surrendering the “disputed” part of its territory. Just four months later (March 1939) Hitler violated the agreement and occupied ALL of Czechoslovakia, and six months after that (September 1939) invaded Poland.
An abundantly obvious note must be added… AFTER Germany violated all its agreements seizing ALL of Czechoslovakia then invading Poland, then Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, and then the “Blitz” (8 months of constant bombing of Britain), NO ONE WAS TRYING TO MEET WITH HITLER TO MAKE A “DEAL”.
In the House of Commons on October 12, 1939 Chamberlain himself said,
It would be easy to quote sentences from [Hitler’s] speeches in 1935, 1936 and 1938 stating in the most definite terms his determination not to annex Austria…, not to fall upon Czechoslovakia and not to make any further territorial claims in Europe after the Sudetenland question had been settled in September, 1938. Nor can we pass over Herr Hitler’s radical departure from the long professed principles of his policy and creed, as instanced by the inclusion in the German Reich of many millions of Poles and Czechs, despite his repeated professions to the contrary, and by the pact with the Soviet Union concluded after his repeated and violent denunciations of Bolshevism. This repeated disregard of his word and these sudden reversals of policy bring me to the fundamental difficulty in dealing with the wider proposals in the German Chancellor’s speech. The plain truth is that, after our past experience, it is no longer possible to rely upon the unsupported word of the present German Government.
Source: UK Parliament / British Reply To German Proposals / Volume 352: debated on Thursday 12 October 1939
So while Chamberlain was dangerously naive BEFORE open hostilities began, once the shooting started he woke up to the ugly reality that appeasement failed and that force was the only option remaining.
I’m NOT a Chamberlain defender, but these timing issues are important when we’re comparing Chamberlain’s appeasement to things happening now.
Modern Appeasement
The modern day Russia/Ukraine appeasement equivalent to Chamberlain’s 1938 appeasement was when all the world leaders – Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Boris Johnson – took turns calling or visiting Putin in the weeks BEFORE the February 24, 2022 invasion urging to him to withdraw his troops from the Ukraine border. They offered to mediate meetings, and Joe Biden came the closest to being a “Chamberlain” in saying:
I think what you’re going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, etc.
Source: President Joe Biden, Press Conference, White House, Jan. 19, 2022
So, basically, Biden didn’t offer Putin parts of Ukraine to placate him (the Chamberlain approach), but basically said “go ahead, if it’s small we don’t care, if it’s big, well, if it’s big we’ll figure it out later…” (my paraphrase).
But even as late as February 20, 2022 (4 days ahead of full invasion) Biden and Macron offered to participate in a summit meeting – IF AN INVASION DIDN’T HAPPEN… — implying, of course, that if an invasion DID HAPPEN all talks were off the table. (Source: Macron paves way for potential Putin-Biden summit on Ukraine crisis, Feb. 20, 2022)
So Biden/Macron and Chamberlain were on the same page at this point: Once Russia invaded there would be no more talks.
The major difference between Chamberlain and Biden/Macron was that AFTER Hitler violated the appeasement treaty (the “Munich Agreement”) Chamberlain fully committed to Britain’s direct military engagement in the war while Biden, Macron, Olaf Sholz (Germany), and Boris Johnson (UK) supported Ukraine with a slow, cautious, and weak supply of defensive weapons.
They provided defensive military aid to Ukraine, but required they only use it on Ukrainian territory against the Russian invaders. They strictly forbade Ukraine from firing into Russia. And every new level of military weapon took months to approve.
First it was HIMARS (“High Mobility Artillery Rocket System”). The US initially refused to provide HIMARS, but later changed the policy, but required Ukraine agree to only use it on their own territory. Next were tanks. Initially the US refused, then later agreed, but again with restrictions. Then were the F16s, same story, except the US didn’t even actually provide them but authorized NATO allies to provide them, and again, with restrictions.
And all this hesitation and all these restrictions were with the intent of avoiding “escalation”. Russia consistently threatened that if we provided weapons, they would regard it as an act of war, and “who knows… We do have all these nukes collecting dust… Would be a shame if we had to USE THEM…” (a threat they still make at least every 2-3 weeks).
We cowered in fear.
Once Hitler showed his true colors Chamberlain took a far stronger stance than did these modern leaders.
Chamberlain vs. Trump
So once the invasion began Biden, Macron, Olaf Sholz (Germany), and Boris Johnson (UK) talked a good game, and could at least distinguish the villain from the victim, but driven by fear they provided weak, slow support for Ukraine.
In contrast, when Hitler went on his full invasion Chamberlain SENT TROOPS TO WAR.
But as bad as all of that was, Trump’s words and actions regarding Russia and Ukraine have been FAR WORSE than Biden/Macron/Sholz/Johnson, let alone Chamberlain.
RELATIVELY SPEAKING, COMPARED TO TRUMP Chamberlain was a war hawk with a spine of steel — a cross between Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill… RELATIVELY SPEAKING of course.
After Hitler violated agreements, Chamberlain did not JOIN Hitler, call him a great guy, or invite him to meet over tea and talk THREE+ YEARS into the full WW2 to try to find a peaceful resolution after millions were already dead and half of Europe lay in ruins.
And Chamberlain never said anything so stupid as:
- “It’s terrible, all the lives being lost… on BOTH SIDES…”
- “I’m not sure who started this war”
- “Hitler is a great guy… we get along great, and we had a great talk… We should definitely lift sanctions…”
- “It’s not right that Nazi Germany isn’t included in the G7…” (there was no “G7” at the time, but you get the point)
- “Well, Hitler does make a good point about those German-speaking minorities in Czechoslovakia…” — Actually, interesting point: Chamberlain DID think Hitler had a bit of a point about Sudetenland (the western tip of Czechoslovakia)… UP UNTIL Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia, then Chamberlain realized Hitler played him and all the talk of “German-speaking minorities” was just for cover.
All evidence seems to suggest that Chamberlain could at least identify Hitler as the villain and Czechoslovakia as the victim, and never berated the Czechoslovakian president, but was simply NAIVE, and out of his naivete made the ERROR of thinking appeasement was the least destructive solution to the problem.
Trump DOES say all these kinds of stupid things about Putin and the invasion, and Trump refuses to declare that Putin is even in the wrong, let alone abjectly evil. He instead PRAISES Putin, and routinely berates Zelensky.
Trump does not want to just APPEASE Putin (no less than the “Hitler” of modern times). He PREFERS Putin over Ukraine – the victim – the “Czechoslovakia” of our day.
Comparing Trump to Chamberlain is an insult to Chamberlain.
Strong words, but please, provide me with ANYTHING substantive Trump has ever said or done that contradicts this view. I’ll wait…
Show me where Trump speaks about Putin and Russia like Reagan spoke of the USSR when it invaded its neighbors (see Reagan Quotes).
Here’s what Reagan said when the USSR shot down one single civilian airliner:
Make no mistake about it, this attack was not just against ourselves or the Republic of Korea. This was the Soviet Union against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere. It was an act of barbarism, born of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and the value of human life and seeks constantly to expand and dominate other nations.
Source: Address to the Nation on the Soviet Attack on a Korean Airliner, September 5, 1983
Russia has been bombing civilian Ukrainian cities for over three years now and Trump is still unclear about who started the war.
If Trump simply lacked a moral compass, he’d randomly occasionally land on the right side of things like this. But in case after case, he’s chummy with the most evil people on earth (Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping) while berating our friends and neighbors (those nasty Canadians, Greenlanders, and Western Europeans).
Yes, Putin did NOT Invade During Trump’s First Term…
For you Trump supporters, yes, Biden was weak, and he did make that stupid “It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion…” comment quoted above. Biden’s support for Ukraine after the invasion started was weak. And yes, Putin DID invade during Biden’s presidency. Of course most likely Putin did do so at that time because he sensed the weakness and passivity of the Biden administration. Clearly Putin had been building toward this since he first became president in 1999 and Biden was the low point when he had the greatest confidence that he could get away with it. And YES, Russia started “Ukraine Invasion 1.0” under Obama in 2014 (the seizure of Donbass and Crimea).
But this does not excuse Trump. For Trump’s entire first term Russia illegally held occupied territories in both Ukraine and Georgia (the country). Throughout Trump’s first term Russia was killing 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers per year all while Trump’s bromance with Putin flourished (no, this isn’t “Russia, Russia, Russia”, this is “I trust Putin…”, publicly stated in many different contexts). If Trump is such an anti-war president and had such a great relationship with Putin, why couldn’t he have put an end to that conflict then?
Neville Chamberlain can now rest easy in his grave as his shameful foreign policy failure can now be forgotten by history in light of Trump taking it to a whole new level.
If you want to hear/read how it sounds when a real leader speaks up against tyranny and in support of the victim, have a look at Reagan Quotes for a master class on the subject.