OPINION:
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has spoken with clarity, posting on X this weekend in response to President Trump’s updated National Security Strategy: “Europe is your closest ally, not your problem. And we have common enemies. At least that’s how it has been in the last 80 years. We need to stick to this. This is the only reasonable strategy of our common security. Unless something has changed.”
Mr. Tusk’s words remind us of the bond forged in war and sustained in peace. For eight decades, America and Europe have stood together against tyranny, aggression and division. That bond is not a burden; it is a covenant of freedom.
To my fellow Americans, I say: Europe is not our problem. It is our partner. To treat allies as expendable is to forget the sacrifices that secured liberty from Normandy to Berlin, from the Cold War to today. The enemies of freedom have not disappeared; they have only changed their faces.
If Washington hesitates, conscience must speak. I echo radio personality Paul Harvey’s admonition to President Nixon in 1970: “Mr. President, I love you — but you are wrong!” America’s place is shoulder to shoulder with Europe, not apart from it.
If my president will not commit, I will. I stand with Europe, with freedom and with the generations who believed that America’s role was not to appease tyranny but to face it down. The chorus of conscience must rise again, reminding the world that America’s strength is not only in arms but also in moral clarity and steadfast resolve.
This is the hour to remember who we are and to stand with those who fight for liberty.
ROBERT E. LANE III
Janesville, Wisconsin
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