I’m sure we would all love to have peace in Ukraine. I’m sure we would all love to have peace in all nations in our world that are in armed conflict.
But one thing I’m pretty sure of is that you can’t achieve a peace agreement when one of the two parties at war isn’t included in the negotiations.
I would love to give President Trump credit for trying to end the war, except I don’t know what he is doing. He and the US are meeting unilaterally with Russia, excluding Ukraine, but we are not the ones at war. We, the US, can’t arrive at a peace agreement with Russia because we are not their enemies in this conflict.
Even worse, he has been saying things publicly that simply aren’t true. President Zelensky isn’t a dictator. Zelensky was elected in a process that world authorities think was much more democratic that the “elections” that Russian President Vladimir Putin won. Ukraine didn’t “get into” a bad war. Russia invaded them.
So I am very concerned about what I hear from the White House.
I do want to acknowledge and support my North Carolina Senator, Thom Tillis, for advocating support for Ukraine. He was part of a bipartisan visit to Ukraine last week as a ranking member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
After that visit, he said:
“Our delegation’s visit to Ukraine was a stark reminder of the bravery of the Ukrainian people in their fight against Russia’s unprovoked invasion,” said Senator Tillis. “It’s clear that we must focus on securing a long-term peace agreement to end this war and ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty is respected. To do that, the U.S. must continue supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself and enable them to negotiate from a position of strength. It’s now time for all parties, including Ukraine, to come together to negotiate a resolution that brings an end to the suffering, stabilizes the region, and restores deterrence against any future threats to America, our Allies, and Partners.” https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/release/ranking-member-shaheen-senators-tillis-and-bennet-visit-ukraine-in-bipartisan-show-of-support
I have disagreements with many of my Senator’s positions right now. But when I agree with him, I will also acknowledge that. I have written to his office supporting his position on Ukraine. It is great when we can find agreement, and believe it’s important to communicate that along with telling him when we don’t agree.
Let’s keep looking for and acknowledging where we can find common ground. I believe we need to give oxygen to any little embers of agreement we can find in these divided times. And it takes courage among the Republicans these days anytime they don’t just align with the President’s agenda. So let’s support those, particularly among the Republicans, who don’t just repeat his untrue (in this case, at least) statements. They need to know that we know the truth and agree with them.
Building bridges…..
PS: I know in this post I was specifically referring to NC Senator Thom Tillis. But I know my readers are broader, and so it this sentiment. My belief is we need to be communicating with our representatives when we disagree and when we disagree. We shouldn’t only contact them when we are complaining, and we shouldn’t ignore times we think they aren’t representing our beliefs. But especially for those of us whose representatives are Republican, they need all the support them can get if they are going to speak out or vote against the current President Trump policies. Just let your voice be heard, either way.
blissfullu.com 
I’m afraid I can’t agree with your positive view of Tillis. He’s all talk and negative action. From Thomas Mills of PoliticsNC: If he really wanted to impede Putin’s aggression, he would put a check on Donald Trump because the President is enabling and encouraging Putin. Instead, Tillis voted to approve Trump’s pro-Russian nominees, including casting the deciding vote for FBI director Kash Patel, who was paid by Russian propagandists https://substack.com/redirect/104bd3ac-6a4f-45d3-9799-1362bf54fc18?j=eyJ1IjoiMWw5b3hvIn0.-GX51nigkhF4X9fMdw309LGCBUVrMpPTv0IpYY3IxH4, just hours before his speech. Tillis could offer legislation to restrict what Trump is doing, but he’s not.
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Thanks for responding. And yes, I wish Tillis had made other choices for many of the latest political appointments and such. But he is in a tough place as one of the few moderate Republicans whose votes are not automatically MAGA. There was a NY Times article about how he was trying to work behind the scenes to stop the Hegseth appointment to oppose him next year when he is running for reelection (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/us/politics/hegseth-trump-tillis-senate.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE4.d1R8.H1MH9WjCakZ4&smid=url-share). I’m sure he would have faced the the same issues if he had opposed Patel.
At the same time, NC is more and more purple, especially at the statewide level. So he can’t go too MAGA and draw enought Democratic votes to get elected. He is one of the few people in the Senate who I think are even possibilities for going against Trump at this time. He was one of the few to at least raise questions about Trump’s idea to “develop” Gaza. And he is one of the few Republican Senators to voice support for supporting Ukraine.
But beyond that, I just think it is a good thing to voice support when our representative do anything we agree with in difficult times. It gives them support to say 75% (or whatever number) of my consistutents say they support X, even if X isn’t what President Trump says. It plays into their political calculations. It gives them support for standing up to President Trump.
But part of my post is, at least for me, in my Mom way, I seek to praise what I see as “good behavior” than constantly be complaining about what I see as “bad behavior.” I have been writing or calling my Representatives at least once a week since President Trump has taken office. If I can find one thing a month to agree with rather than to disagree with, I think I’m doing well. I haven’t managed that with our other NC Senator. So if I can find anything to fan a spark that I see as positive, I like to do so.
However, I can also totally understand your perspective.
Thanks,
Carol
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Hi Carol, I agree whole-heartedly. I tried to comment on WordPress but it said it was blocked from comments.??? Anyway, can you give me the info where you sent your support for Tillis? Thanks much, Diane
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I don’t know why you got that message from WordPress, Diane, because your comment did post. But that is a good suggestion! Instead of putting it in response to your comment, I’ll do a blog post so it is easier to access. But probably not until tomorrow, since I’m working on this second blog post for today.
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I also wanted to add that I love getting these comments, even when we disagree. Because isn’t that what we are fighting for? My sense is that President Trump is trying to establish a blanket policy in the country that either you agree with him 100% or you’re out. That may be the scariest thing among all his policies.
So I’m glad to hear from people who have different opinions (as long as they are communicated respectfully, which the one above definitely was). This is part of what we are fighting for–that we don’t see eye to eye about everything, and that’s OK. That’s actually good! We are stronger when we can bring different perspectives to an issue and work out a compromise.
Thank you both for your comments. I really appreciate them!
Carol
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