I am becoming convinced that there is an alternative universe in which black is white, and white is black. Raymond Gross has written passionately about the threats to our country, but has managed to assign blame for the situation to exactly the wrong man, in much the same way as Jim Dollar did earlier.

Putin and Xi are rattling their sabers, including their nuclear ones, with an eye to territorial expansion. Supporting our allies and trading partners against these would-be bullies is the only way to HAVE allies and trading partners. Give those two their heads and we could eventually face a Greater Russia encompassing all of Europe and Central Asia, and a Chinese Empire dominating East Asia and the Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand. India would probably keep its head down, hoping its nukes would keep their neutrality intact. What would we have? We have little chance of organizing the Americas under our control, so, it would be us against the world.

President Biden is doing all he can to oppose these adventurers without committing U.S. troops, including rallying our allies to do their part.

Mr. Trump, on the other hand, has shown his inner Neville Chamberlain: appease until it’s too late. Mr. Trump has said, “I’d encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want to NATO.” Apparently, the General Partner, Trump, was upset that his Limited Partners, NATO, were not ponying up enough money. And, of course, with Mr. Trump, it is always all about the money, especially other people’s money in service to him. The fact the letting Putin “do whatever the hell he wants” is political and economic suicide for us eludes him.

No country, not even the United States of America, can stand alone against the world. Most people realize that. We have over 800 military bases around the world. That is not just our armed forces projecting U.S. power; it is U.S. power protecting our essential allies, just as their alliance protects us.

Mr. Trump and his allies persuade too many people by simply making things up and bellowing them from podiums and media sites. Sometimes people with enough resources call them out in court, which is how Fox News (an entertainment channel that has no budget for checking facts) lost $787.5 million for libeling Dominion.

I hope that Mr. Gross is not suggesting appeasement. He should know how well that worked with the last dictator with territorial ambitions in Europe.

Bill Gillmore

Columbus