Armstrong Williams’ latest commentary (“Trump is right to question our entanglement in Ukraine war,” Mar.16), trots out and expands upon a few objectionable points he made in his essay of Aug. 28, 2024, “What is America’s national security policy today?”

Now he states, “Russia is no existential threat to the United States.” And I ask: Was the Soviet Union/Russia a lovable teddy bear after World War II? Not only had they grabbed and occupied with a firm grip six nations in Eastern Europe, by 1962 they had installed missiles just off our shores in communist Cuba, causing a crisis that kept many of us awake nights. Today Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has similar expansionist motives (his legacy, he hopes), not necessarily confined to Europe. And he’s talked the nuclear option several times; will he choose to use it?

Williams bemoans our spending $200 billion on aiding Ukraine, but we need less than half of that to bolster our already “invincible self-defense.” With the huge savings we’ll reap from Musk’s shearing our federal agencies, instead of going isolationist we need to bring USAID back to strengthen our position across the globe by supporting nations where Russia and China have already gained a foothold. Philanthropy, sure, but self-serving to regain some respect in the world.

One point Williams made in the earlier essay must be called out as totally false: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a clear case of self-defense, like America’s response to Pearl harbor.” (Bad analogy!) He asserted that the U.S. “encircled Russia with new NATO members … ” That’s absurd right off; no opponent(s) could encircle the mass of Russia, and the NATO countries to the west banded together to avert another takeover. No. Unprovoked, Putin’s Russia invaded, period. Now three years in, Ukraine still battles to be free.

Williams’ final pronouncement — that the U.S.’ “influence by example” by our government’s “honoring unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and celebrating the rule of law” — rings very hollow for the next four years. Without checks and balances, with an almost unfettered president who has pardoned even violent felons who defied the Constitution, and with leaders elected via multimillion dollar donations, we’ve let democracy fade into oligarchy. Now, what kind of example have we set?

— Bruce Knauff, Towson