The Week: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Trump’s Ukraine Push

• What did we work on last week? Read on.

• President Trump’s push to end the war in Ukraine has led U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen their commitment to European and Ukrainian security. The British will increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027 and to 3 percent within a decade. The French and the British leaders have both floated the possibility of deploying their own nations’ armies to Ukraine as a postwar bulwark against further Russian aggression. Good. But Trump has only barely walked back his dishonorable statements that Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator. “Did I say that?” Trump said to a reporter on Thursday when asked to clarify his comments. “I can’t believe I said that. Next question.” Any day now, the president is ready to boast about a soon-to-be-finalized minerals deal with Ukraine in exchange for continued U.S. support. But it’s not clear that the rare earth minerals in Ukraine will be economically viable for exploitation anytime soon—and some of the deposits lie in Russian-controlled areas. And this is not to mention the craven U.S. diplomatic efforts at the United Nations, where the United States backed a resolution that called for the end of the conflict but did not blame the Kremlin for the invasion. The U.K., France, and other U.S. allies in the General Assembly passed a resolution identifying Russia as the aggressor it is. America voted no, joining a gleeful Russia, Belarus, and North Korea. Worse still is Trump’s credulity when it comes to the Russian dictator. “I’ve known him for a long time now and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said of Vladimir Putin. Did he say that? We can’t believe he said that.

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• What did we work on last week? Read on.

• President Trump’s push to end the war in Ukraine has led U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen their commitment to European and Ukrainian security. The British will increase defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027 and to 3 percent within a decade. The French and the British leaders have both floated the possibility of deploying their own nations’ armies to Ukraine as a postwar bulwark against further Russian aggression. Good. But Trump has only barely walked back his dishonorable statements that Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator. “Did I say that?” Trump said to a reporter on Thursday when asked to clarify his comments. “I can’t believe I said that. Next question.” Any day now, the president is ready to boast about a soon-to-be-finalized minerals deal with Ukraine in exchange for continued U.S. support. But it’s not clear that the rare earth minerals in Ukraine will be economically viable for exploitation anytime soon—and some of the deposits lie in Russian-controlled areas. And this is not to mention the craven U.S. diplomatic efforts at the United Nations, where the United States backed a resolution that called for the end of the conflict but did not blame the Kremlin for the invasion. The U.K., France, and other U.S. allies in the General Assembly passed a resolution identifying Russia as the aggressor it is. America voted no, joining a gleeful Russia, Belarus, and North Korea. Worse still is Trump’s credulity when it comes to the Russian dictator. “I’ve known him for a long time now and I don’t believe he’s going to violate his word,” Trump said of Vladimir Putin. Did he say that? We can’t believe he said that.