Editorial: Sadly shrinking from history's call

"I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine - of Ukraine - Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, 'It's independent,' a large section of Ukraine. I said, 'How smart is that?' And he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That's the strongest peace force - we could use that on our southern border. That's the strongest peace force I've ever seen. There were more army tanks than I've ever seen. They're gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here's a guy who's very savvy."

- Donald J. Trump, former president of the United States, speaking Tuesday in an interview with conservative talk show personalities Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

Could you imagine, as Germany ordered tanks into Poland in 1939, former President Herbert Hoover finding a radio microphone to marvel at the strategic genius of Adolf Hitler?

At such a fragile time, when the freedom aspirations of Ukrainians are in peril, when tens of thousands of innocent lives appear likely to be lost, when so much suffering and hardship is at hand, when the security of the Baltics and the rest of Europe is in crisis, when menace must be confronted by unity both at home and abroad, when the cause needs allies working in collaboration - when ultimately statesmanship is required - a former president instead praises the enemy of sovereign liberty, compliments the dissembling threat to world peace whose hands are soaked in blood.

This is such a sad time.

In so many ways.

History calls on our former president and all our leaders to be better than this. Now is not a time for politics and sycophancy but for us to soundly reject such self-indulgent prattle.