Donald Trump’s freezing all military aid to Ukraine is perfectly in line with his spouting ludicrous Kremlin propaganda at Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
“The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations, this largely aligns with our vision” said Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary (a job that does not allow the holder any leeway from the boss’ orders if you want to remain in good health).
So the bad guy (yes, Putin is the bad guy for launching his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine three years ago) is celebrating bringing America around to his side, while the good guys (Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other NATO allies) are trying ways to stave off Moscow.
And it wasn’t a one-time slip by Trump. Monday, the president was back at it, on his Truth Social and in person, in the Roosevelt Room.
When Zelenskyy was reported saying that the war’s end is “very, very far away,” a true statement, Trump unloaded a barrage: “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer! It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?”
They are thinking that that fighting can’t end on Russia’s terms, with Moscow holding big chunks of Ukraine’s territory and ready to renew the war. The war can end when Russia withdraws and Ukraine is protected against future invasions, neither of which Putin (and Trump) are interested in.
As Trump stood in the Roosevelt Room to announce more tariffs and the stock market dove, he pressed on: “I believe that Russia wants to make a deal. If someone doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long.” Yes, Putin the peacemaker and Zelenskyy the warmonger.
Trump just doesn’t care that Ukraine is fighting the battle on behalf of the West, expressing anger at the crucial weapons that Joe Biden sent to Kyiv: “$350 billion, just gave it away.” It wasn’t given away. It was used, with the blood of brave Ukrainians, to defend their country from a tyrant’s aggression.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who used to know better, went on TV on Sunday and made a idiotic comparison: “If we want to do a history lesson Churchill, that he stood and fought for his people. President Zelenskyy stood and fought for Ukraine. But Churchill was also voted out of office in 1945. He was a man for a moment, but he did not then transition England into the next phase. And it’s unclear whether President Zelenskyy, particularly after what we saw Friday, is ready to transition to Ukraine to an end to this war and to negotiate and have to compromise.”
Churchill did lose the July 1945 election, months after Hitler was dead and the war was won. Waltz skipped that crucial step of the dictator’s downfall and total battlefield victory.