Speaking of Ukraine, the tone of the press coverage of Trump’s attempted dealmaking has been notably critical. I have my own critiques of Trump’s maneuverings on the war, but it’s odd to have a U.S. president who is trying to bring an end to a major European conflict be treated like a moron or a foreign tool for his trouble. If Trump were a Democrat, he’d be considered an admirable man of peace trying to stop a destructive war, even if he might not succeed.
I do think, by the way, that Trump has a genuine aversion to war that stems not from a John Lennon–style idealism but from the belief that it is a stupid waste to be killing people and destroying things when everyone could, instead, be building things and getting rich.