Obviously, the return of Donald Trump would be very worrisome, both for American democracy and, therefore, for all of us, certainly in Canada, as well as for NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. I won't belabour the point.
However, I still want to say that, during last week's debate, he was asked twice, directly, whether he would defend Ukraine, whether he was for the defence of Ukraine. He refused to answer that question. That's pretty clear. In other words, the war must end on Russian terms. That's clear. J.D. Vance is adding another layer with his peace plan, which is essentially the Russian plan. Once again, it would involve a kind of surrender of Ukraine, which would be demilitarized.
What I mean is that, right now, within the Republican Party, Donald Trump seems to have sort of an impunity about what he can say, or at least about what he wants to do on virtually all issues, without any criticism from the Republicans themselves, except on one issue. That's empirical. In the last year, the only major issue that has divided the Republican Party has been aid to Ukraine. It was suspended for six months. There was a little political revolt within the Republican Party. However, what is remarkable is that it was the Republicans who finally reversed course, without Donald Trump speaking out publicly against the agreement.
On the very issue of missiles and whether the United States should allow the use of missiles, the Republicans are divided, and the officials, the chairs of the defence, security and foreign affairs committees in the House of Representatives, are all in favour of allowing Ukraine to conduct strikes. If Donald Trump comes back to power, there will obviously be chaos and uncertainty. It's not unlikely that the policy will change on this issue. That's what the Ukrainians are banking on. Mr. Zelenskyy will be meeting with Kamala Harris next week, but he will also be meeting with Donald Trump for the first time in person. They have never met, except hastily, once, at a United Nations meeting a few years ago.
That is my somewhat alternative vision, based on American political dynamics.
I don't have enough time to talk about the far right. Maybe I'll leave that for another time.