(OPINION) Foreign & Domestic Challenges Persist As Elections Loom

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The opinions expressed in this post belong solely to the author and should not be construed to represent the views of Townsquare Media, News-Talk 1340 KROC-AM and 96.9 FM, or anyone else associated with the organizations.

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Political issues, events, and personalities proliferated as the nation voted in state primaries in the runup to the 2022 general elections. Polls indicate Democrats are in trouble, and the public is dissatisfied with Biden administration policies and incompetence.

Ideological quarrels are focal points A clear example is “replacement theory” Republicans accused Democrats of advocating, and Democrats call GOP claims, “conspiracy theories” and “racist.”

In a Daily News article, Laurel Duggan defines replacement theory as Democrat and progressive “elites and the liberal media trying to reduce the white population through immigration” and open borders, with the objective to turn conservative Red states like Texas into progressive Blue States

Duggan quoted Salon in 2008, and a 2020 New York Times article applauding Blue State evolution with Hispanic population increases, and the Times heralding “the relentless shrinking of Trump’s base.”

On the international scene, the horrific Ukraine-Russia war continues. President Zelensky’s troops, aided by military equipment and supplies from the U.S. and other NATO nations, have blunted Russian attacks and inflicted heavy losses on the invader. Russia has reverted to defensive warfare in the pro-Russian provinces on the border.

Henry Kissinger, the 98-year-old foreign policy and national security guru of the Nixon administration, recently suggested Ukraine opt for peace talks and territorial exchanges with Russia to end the war and blunt Russia’s alliance with China. Kissinger crafted the end of the war between the U.S. and Communist North Vietnam in 1973.

Venerable columnist and former Nixon aide Patrick J. Buchanan proposed peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, predicting the ongoing war would encourage U.S. allies and adversaries to conclude there is more safety and security by acquiring nuclear weapons, thus stimulating an international arms race.

Russia and Ukraine have captured thousands of enemy prisoners, and Putin’s forces have incarcerated untold numbers of civilians. Some observers fear the exigencies of the conflict will encourage China to invade Taiwan.

Julian Borger, global affairs editor at The Guardian, reported former U.S. intelligence officials feared “unwise intelligence boasts” of victories against the Russians could trigger attacks on NATO supply lines.

Breitbart reported eleven conservative Republicans, led by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, voted against the recent $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, arguing the inflationary effect of the action, closer monitoring of the aid package, and American necessity to shore up the Southwest border and ameliorate the negative repercussions of the “invasion.”

Meanwhile, Communist North Korea launched several missiles after President Biden exited an international conference.

Threats overseas, the fallout from the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, and economic issues pose challenges to American unity and stability as elections loom on the horizon in these troubled times.

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Listen to Tom each Tuesday and Thursday morning after the 11 AM news as he joins Andy Brownell for Rochester Today on News-Talk 1340 KROC-AM and 96.9 FM.