Trump Goes From Bad to Worse on Ukraine - Rob Horowitz

Trump Goes From Bad to Worse on Ukraine - Rob Horowitz

In the Oval Office on Friday, President Trump, egged on by his vice-president, gave the most unpresidential, embarrassing, falsehood-filled performance on the world stage in modern American history, upbraiding President Zelensky, who was making obviously valid points about the need for security guarantees given Vladimir Putin’s documented history of violating agreements, for not being sufficiently thankful--and aligning himself fully with Putin. In Mr. Trump’s alternative reality, Putin and Trump are evidently joined together as victims of the "Russia hoax"- when it is established fact that Russia intervened in the 2016 election on Trump's behalf. More importantly, that joint victimhood in the president’s mind somehow outweighs Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

 

This Oval Office temper tantrum capped a week that began with the United States joining Russia, North Korea, and Hungary in opposing a UN resolution timed for the 3-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, condemning Russia’s attempt to conquer an independent sovereign nation by force and calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.  Backed by our European allies and supported by nearly all the world’s other democracies, the resolution passed 93 to 18, despite our active opposition. This craven appeasement of the Russians came on top of Mr. Trump spending the week leading up to it launching repeated false attacks on President Zelensky, including pinning the blame for Putin’s all-out, brutal invasion on their nation with the professed goal of conquering it on the Ukrainians.

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Trump’s treatment of Zelensky in the Oval Office and embrace of Putin earned him further kudos from the Kremlin, emboldening Russia to step up its aggression. “The new [U.S.] administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declared in a publicly released video on Sunday.

 

On the other hand, it appalled our allies, who are becoming further convinced that the United States under Trump is rapidly abandoning not only Ukraine but its leadership of the free world.  "Diplomacy fails when negotiating partners are humiliated in front of the whole world," President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a German news agency. "The scene in the White House yesterday took my breath away. I would never have believed that we would one day have to protect Ukraine from the U.S.A."

 

Recognizing that the United States can no longer be counted on, European leaders stepped into the breach. Brought together by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Sunday, President Zelensky received strong backing from “the18 assembled leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada,” The New York Times reported.  Zelensky received a hero’s welcome in London with residents lining the streets and cheering his motorcade as it drove towards 10 Downing Street.

 

More importantly, Britain and France announced commitments to more military aid for Ukraine over the weekend, and more European nations said they would join the British and French in committing troops as peacekeepers if a negotiated peace is achieved. Contrary to the misleading comments of President Trump, Europe has contributed as much or more in assistance to Ukraine as the United States.  Starmer and Macron are also now working directly with Ukraine on the details of a potential peace agreement that would be lasting because it would have sufficient deterrence and security guarantees.

 

The possibility of a negotiated peace is mainly a result of the brave Ukrainians, supplied with military assistance by Europe and the United States, holding the Russians off on the battlefield, costing the Russians hundreds of thousands of casualties and severely degrading their military capacity. That is what may bring Putin to the negotiating table--not the sweet nothings that Donald Trump is not only whispering in Putin’s ear—but proclaiming for all the world to hear.

 

President Trump’s national security team and his allies keep talking about how he is supposedly bringing “peace through strength.”  Bullying an ally under the gun, while giving away key negotiating points, such as NATO membership and territorial concessions, to an adversary before negotiations even begin is not strength; nor is blaming the war on the nation that was invaded to curry additional favor with the invader. It is craven, weak-kneed appeasement.

 

Trump could offer some signal during his address to a joint session of Congress tonight that he is considering a course correction; he is far more likely, however, to double down on his villainization of Zelensky and his validation of Putin. Ronald Reagan, who successfully negotiated landmark nuclear arms agreements with the Soviet Union and did so through standing up for American values and demonstrating actual strength, must be rolling around in his grave.