Great news, everyone. President Trump pledges to finally get tough with Vladimir Putin’s nonstop military aggression and targeting of civilians… just as soon as everyone in NATO agrees to do the same, including Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey.
A LETTER SENT BY PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP TO ALL NATO NATIONS AND, THE WORLD: “I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia. Anyway, I am ready to “go” when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip. This is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was President!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR. I am only here to help stop it, and save thousands of Russian and Ukrainian lives (7,118 lives lost last week, alone. CRAZY!). If NATO does as I say, the WAR will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
Now, Orbán and Erdoğan have a much warmer and fuzzier view of Putin and Russia than the rest of NATO, so we can count on them to drag their feet at best and refuse to enact that move at worst. And, judging from this post on Truth Social, if the rest of NATO isn’t willing to agree to do the same, Trump’s not willing to make this move.
Donald Trump, multilateralist.
There’s always some excuse, there’s always some delay, there’s always some reason to wait another two weeks. Russia’s drones are flying into Polish and Romanian airspace, and Trump’s response to the probing provocation is this.
If these are good policy decisions, the U.S. should enact them. It shouldn’t wait for 32 member countries to agree.
When Trump writes, “this is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was President!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR,” it is really revealing that Trump never bothers to mention the guy who actually ordered Russian forces to invade and start bombing Ukrainian cities.
Finally, Trump has been in office for 238 days. It’s long past time for him to stop complaining about what Biden should have done. Yes, there’s a lot to criticize. But we’re in the here and now. It’s time to focus on what should be done now, not what should have been done years ago.