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Democracy and American politics are chaotic, unpredictable, and a mystery to our enemies.
In response to the Biden-Trump presidential faceoff, the Russian media is having a field day, believing that our national conversation over the recent debate reflects democracy's dry rot. Consider this quote....
The result "is good for us," stated Dmitri Novikov, a Russian legislator, when being interviewed on state television. "Destabilization inside an adversary is always a good thing."
To paraphrase a line from a Warner Brothers character, "He doesn't know us very well... do he..."
He certainly doesn't know his history.
The Japanese looked at a raucous Congress in 1940 and discerned a democracy in disarray.
And then the vote to institute the draft was by a razor-thin majority, and the Japanese knew for sure this was a weak, indecisive nation incapable of responding to the might of their fierce Imperial military.
They would be forced to rethink that position as their delegation made its way to the USS Missouri to sign the instruments of surrender in Tokyo Harbor.
Hitler also viewed the United States as incapable of excelling at anything other than automobiles.
In declaring war on America in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, he viewed our nation as morally corrupt, riven by racial unrest, and fielding an army smaller than 17 other nations.
Contempt would be the least of his views about a nation that would ultimately accept the Third Reich's unconditional surrender.
So now the Russians – and likely the Chinese – are looking at our chaotic presidential politics and the vociferous remarks made by political partisans on both sides, and making the same historic mistake committed by our earlier enemies.
They believe we are a nation that is slowly unraveling, making room for their despotic regimes to dominate the globe.
Not a chance. This is democracy and this is what it looks like.
Raucous, gruff, and even divisive, something unimaginable in countries where freedom is punished with prison.
Or worse. And then, as we celebrate the Fourth of July, our nation comes together as Americans to celebrate not just our independence, but the role freedom has played in celebrating the spirit of mankind.
Enjoy the Fourth, my fellow Americans, for it will confound our enemies and give comfort to all those around the world currently enslaved and who cherish our nation as a beacon of hope.
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
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