Neville Chamberlain Walked So Trump Could Grovel
Appeasement—the fine British tradition of hoping dictators will behave if you just give them what they want. Neville Chamberlain practically wrote the playbook in 1938, handing Hitler a chunk of Czechoslovakia like a consolation prize at a rigged carnival. His grand strategy? If we let the madman take just this one little piece, he’ll surely be satisfied. Genius move—except Hitler took the Sudetenland, then the rest of Czechoslovakia, then went full world domination mode. Chamberlain came home waving his little paper, declaring “peace for our time,” and by “our time,” he apparently meant about eleven months.
Fast forward, and here comes Donald Trump, Chamberlain’s spiritual successor, except with more hair spray and less historical awareness. While Chamberlain at least pretended to be in control, Trump has been clinging to Putin like a starstruck intern at a corporate retreat. Helsinki 2018? That was Trump’s Munich moment—except instead of standing up to Putin, he practically asked for an autograph. “He said he didn’t meddle,” Trump whined, as if a former KGB agent would suddenly take up honest confession as a hobby.
And then there’s NATO—the one thing standing between Putin and an all-you-can-annex buffet. Trump wants out, which is like telling the neighborhood burglar exactly when you’ll be leaving your front door unlocked. At this rate, his 2025 campaign slogan might as well be Make Russia Great Again.
History has a way of circling back on itself. Appeasement doesn’t stop a tyrant; it just gives him time to reload. Chamberlain learned that lesson too late. The question is, will America?
