President Donald Trump’s attempt to enlist Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to assist him with his reelection campaign is alarming on many levels. Although the full details of the July 25, 2019, phone call between Trump and Zelensky have yet to be established, by the White House’s own account, Trump floated a deal in which Ukraine would receive U.S. support in exchange for launching an investigation in an attempt to damage his political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. Even if the story ends there, it’s clear that the president sought to use his authority as commander in chief to influence the actions of a foreign nation in a way that would have carried no national security benefit for the United States but would have had the potential to significantly benefit Trump’s political interests. Subsequent events, such as the president’s public call for Chinese authorities to investigate Joe Biden and his son, appear to confirm this understanding of Trump’s motives.1
These actions are first and foremost a gross abuse of office and an attack on the integrity of U.S. democracy. Impeachment, therefore, is an appropriate response. These actions are also a case study in how not to treat geopolitical partners: Ukraine is a troubled state on the front lines of Russian aggression that has for years struggled to break away from Moscow’s sphere of influence. By conditioning U.S. support on a specious investigation, Trump has sent a clear signal that U.S. commitment to Ukraine is grounded not in shared values or interests but rather in his personal whims and political aims. It would make sense for Zelensky to question the reliability and value of a bilateral relationship with Washington when confronted with a request to manipulate his country’s legal system in exchange for U.S. assistance.
On these terms alone, Trump’s attempted shakedown of Zelensky is one of the most disgraceful chapters in modern U.S. presidential history. But Trump’s actions are also damaging in a more insidious sense: They mark an escalation in his administration’s efforts to roll back and politicize U.S. efforts to fight corruption and promote accountable, democratic governance around the world. Rather than aiding Ukraine’s efforts to root out corruption, as the president has implausibly claimed,2 Trump has undermined Ukraine’s fragile democracy and dealt a significant blow to U.S. credibility on anti-corruption issues.