On Tuesday, one of Congress’ most trigger-happy lawmakers reposted a social media statement in which President Donald Trump suggested that he’s changed his mind in favor of continued fighting in Ukraine. It’s usually a bad sign when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) approves of something the president says.
Shortly after he scolded the United Nations delegation over its refusal to support the peace negotiations he helped mediate between several nations this year, Trump posted a long message on his Truth Social account apparently encouraging the Ukrainians to keep fighting.
The post indicates the president believes the Europeans, along with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, should give Ukraine a second wind to take back the territory Russia has conquered since 2022 — and perhaps even more. He didn’t elaborate whether by “more” he was referring to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, or something else. Nevertheless, on Tuesday, Trump said:
I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. … Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!
This rhetoric is dramatically different from what Trump has been saying all year. Although his feelings toward the Ukrainian and Russian heads of state have ebbed and flowed in accordance with his vacillating moods, and though he’s more or less kept the weapons pipeline flowing to Ukraine, the president has been consistent in verbal support for an end to the fighting. He has also held several meetings with both leaders, including in February when he attempted to embarrass Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into submission. And last month, he rolled out the red carpet for Russian leader Vladimir Putin when the two met in-person in Alaska. Around that same time, Trump had even talked Ukraine into warming up to the idea of giving up territory, or acquiesce to the idea of “land swapping,” as part of his effort to bring about peace.
It’s hard to imagine Trump would go through all that without a true desire to end the war. The idea that he’s faking a desire for peace is also undermined by a series of successful mediation efforts, i.e., the ones between Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.
But on Wednesday, Trump changed his tune — or so it appeared. Not only did he broadcast support for continued fighting, but he insulted Russia’s military might:
Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like “a paper tiger.”
That’s quite a jab.
It’s difficult to tell if this is just Trump being Trump. A common perception among political insiders is that he often broadcasts views and policy changes after being inspired by the most recent person to have persuaded him. It just so happens that before he published his Truth Social post, he held a bilateral meeting with Zelensky at the UN building in New York.
But Trump’s post may also be a ploy designed to scare Russia into getting serious about a peace deal. Wednesday’s meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggests the United States still wants the fighting to stop. According to the State Department:
The Secretary reiterated President Trump’s call for the killing to stop and the need for Moscow to take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Nevertheless, Trump’s post gave the warmongers goosebumps. Sen. Graham called it a “gamechanger,” adding that “This commitment to continue to sell high end American weapons to NATO for the benefit of Ukraine tremendously changes the military equation for Russia.”
Graham isn’t the only one that gets excited at the idea of escalation. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) advocated U.S. military action after Russian drones violated Polish airspace. And the Poles, after that incident, activated Article 4 of the NATO treaty, a provision prompting consultations within the alliance when a member state believes it has been threatened.
There was additional hubbub after the Russians were reported to have trespassed into Romania and Estonia, both NATO members. And on Monday, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, suggested the U.S. would go to war if the Russians continued their disregard for the territorial security of NATO nations:
The United States stands by our NATO allies in the face of these airspace violations. And I want to take this first opportunity to repeat and to emphasize the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory.
Some Western and Russian analysts believe Trump has no intention of involving the U.S., and that what he’s really doing is setting up the Europeans to fend for themselves. For instance, Russian analyst Nadezhda Romanenko wrote of Trump’s statement:
Trump has called Russia a “paper tiger,” supposedly “in BIG economic trouble” — so big, he believes, that Kiev “is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.” There’s one key caveat, though — according to Trump, that victory is possible “with the support of the European Union.” Support from the US is not included in the pep talk. This means that Trump is, for the moment, distancing himself from directly trying to end the war, at least in the short term. This also means that, unlike during the Biden years, when Washington was all but writing Zelensky a blank check, as well as supporting Kiev with intelligence and training, Trump appears to be drawing a line: responsibility should fall primarily on the EU and NATO.
While this could easily be interpreted as wishful thinking among the Russians, it is also the view of Spectator columnist Daniel McCarthy, who thinks that Trump “has once again played the global foreign-policy commentariat for fools.” McCarthy said:
If anything, [Trump] has reiterated more forcefully before that Ukraine is Europe’s affair, not America’s. Look closely. “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.” That means if Ukraine falls short of that optimistic conclusion, it will be the EU’s fault, along with Zelensky’s — but not America’s.
It appears that America’s official foreign policy might be a mystery — perhaps even to Trump himself. Maybe what the world is watching is not 5-D chess — it’s not a plan that will one day reveal itself as something so brilliant the rest of us missed it. Maybe this is what it looks like with a president that often shoots from the hip.
Whatever is going on in Trump’s head, sensible Americans collectively decided long ago that they have no desire to get involved in another war. And for what it’s worth, the president knows that.
One major move that will go a long way toward keeping America out of Europe’s wars is to get the U.S. out of NATO. NATO is a globalist alliance, and it threatens American sovereignty and interests. In his farewell address, President George Washington said we should “steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced a bill to withdraw the United States from NATO. To learn more about the bill and how you can help get the U.S. out of NATO, check out this action page from The John Birch Society. Until the U.S. exits entangling alliances such as NATO — even the UN — the threat of being drawn into some senseless war will always be there.