Humiliation for our time

"This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you: " ... We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again."
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"My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."

--Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1938)

On September 29, 1938, Chamberlain met Hitler, along with French and Italian leaders, in Munich.  He agreed to Hitler's demands for German occupation of the Czech Sudetenland no later than October 1, and to a new demand that Czechs fleeing from German rule should not be allowed to take any property with them.  In exchange, Hitler would call off his military attack on Czechoslovakia.  In effect, Chamberlain capitulated to Hitler's demands made at Bad Godesberg one week earlier.

After the formal conference, Chamberlain requested a private meeting with Hitler, and offered a short "Anglo-German Agreement" stating that the Munich Agreement symbolized the desire of both  countries never to war against each other again.  Hitler agreed with enthusiasm.

Later that day, when the German foreign minister objected to the Anglo-German Agreement, Hitler commented,  "Oh, don't take it so seriously. That piece of paper is of no further significance whatever."

The Munich agreement was immensely popular with all segments of the British people.  One year later, Germany invaded Poland and Britain declared war.

After today's events, it's hard not to recall poor Neville.  President Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, gave Putin everything he could hope for aside from the keys to the White House, and received nothing in return.  But the comparison is unfair to Chamberlain.

Chamberlain had been a member of Parliament since 1919, and had served terms as Minister of Health and as Chancellor of the Exchequer, before becoming Prime Minister in 1937.  Trump had owned hotels and casinos, and was an abrasive TV personality, before becoming President.

Chamberlain's Munich Agreement remains controversial to this day.  Many reputable historians believe that Britain was woefully unprepared for war with Germany in 1938, and that the Agreement gave the nation another year to re-arm.  The Agreement was received with acclaim by a frightened nation.  Hitler gained little from it, aside from a few more months during which he could appear as a possibly reasonable leader of his nation, and from having avoided the need to use military force to secure what would have been an overwhelming victory against the Czechs.  (France, Czechoslovakia's most important ally, had little interest in going to war over the Sudetenland.)

America has gained nothing from today's meeting in Helsinki.  Nothing of substance was agreed upon, or apparently seriously discussed.  Russian Prime Minister Putin was able to appear strong and powerful, and Trump appeared to follow him around embarrassingly like a pet dog.  Trump accepted Putin's "strong and powerful" word that Russia had not intervened in American elections.  He chose to take Putin's word rather than accept the unambiguous findings of American security agencies. 

After Trump had insulted the British Prime Minister and the Mayor of London, and attacked Ms. May's policies regarding Brexit, and after he had insulted the leaders of the NATO powers, suggesting that collective security was no longer of any interest to America, it was surreal to watch Trump fall all over himself just days later in his admiration of the Russian leader.

Britain celebrated Munich in the naïve belief that Chamberlain had won "peace for our day."  No one in America is celebrating Trump's performance in Helsinki -- at best, most Republican leaders are keeping their thoughts to themselves.

We have a poorly educated and impulsive leader whose admiration for the authoritarian leaders of other nations -- "That Putin, what a guy!  He's a man's man!" we can almost hear him exclaim -- knows no bounds. 

We bought him in 2016.  He's ours.  And his America has become, to the rest of the world, the real America.