LOS ANGELES.–Former President Donald Trump, 77, close to starting April 15 his Manhattan hush money trial, declined an invitation by 46-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump said it would be inappropriate as a presidential candidate to meddle in the White House responsibility to figuring out what to do with the over 26 month war that shows no end in sight. President Joe Biden, 81, hounds a Republican-controlled Congress for another $60 billion to keep the war going, despite the lack of progress over the last two years. Zelensky wants to pressure Trump into supporting the war, when Trump has said publicly, if elected president, he would end the war in 24 hours, something Zelensky says he can’t do. Zelensky wants Trump to admit his idea of ending the conflict is ceding territory to the Kremlin, something Zelensky says is a non-starters to his Kiev government.
Zelensky knows that Trump doesn’t set or negotiate foreign policy but also knows he has considerable sway with House conservatives that have resisted handing over more U.S. taxpayer cash to the Kiev government. “There’s been no outreach from Zelensky, and President has said it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to go to Ukraine right now since he’s not the Commander in Chief,” said a statement by the Trump campaign. Trump and other conservatives have watched Zelensky at war with the Kremlin, decimating Ukraine’s fragile infrastructure and essentially bankrupting the Ukrainian economy. Zelensky now depends on the U.S. to pay his salary and pension and those of his government and civil servants, leaving Kiev wholly dependent on U.S. government largess. Zelensky wants more cash from the U.S. government to help pay Ukraine’s unwieldy expenses.
Trump sees no point in Ukraine battling the Kremlin to loggerheads, essentially asking Biden for a blank check to continue fighting the Russian Federation. Whatever the history of Kiev and Moscow since the 1991 end of the Soviet Union, Biden has all but wrecked generations of U.S.-Russian relations, leaving nonproliferation and arms control in the dustbin. Russian officials now consider itself at war with Washington, all because Ukraine wages war against the Kremlin with the purpose of driving Russian forces out of Ukraine. Last year’s vaunted counteroffensive was stymied by the Kremlin, leaving the Kremlin gaining more territory and fortifying territory already captured. So, when it comes to what the U.S. and Ukraine get out war with the Kremlin, there’s no evidence that Zelensky achieves any military objectives. Asking Trump to go to Kiev is a cynical trap.
Trump doesn’t take orders from Zelensky and has no interest in giving the Ukrainian president any more credibility by meeting with him. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is ready to toss out House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) over moving ahead with a vote on Ukraine funding on the House floor. There’s enough pro-Ukraine Democrats and Republicans to pass Biden’s spending priorities, something currently blocked by Johnson and House conservatives. There’s been some discussion about lending Ukraine the $60 billion, knowing the likelihood of getting any back is slim-and-none. Under Trump’s leadership, he promised to negotiate and equitable end to the Ukraine War, something Zelensky rejects completely. Zelensky wants to make no concessions to the Kremlin, despite the fact it lacks the cash-and-weapons to continue the war without U.S. help.
Telling the press that it wouldn’t be appropriate from him to go to Kiev when he’s not Commander-in-Chief, Trump served notice to the Democrat-controlled press that he wouldn’t take the bait. Liberal media outlets couldn’t wait to accuse Trump of meddling in U.S. foreign policy when he has no say in the U.S. government. Beyond finding a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine War, Trump wants a return to the kind of normal diplomacy with Moscow that can help the U.S. in various foreign policy and national security issues, especially commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Under Biden, Iran’s Yemen-based Houthi rebels have been firing on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, forcing shipping companies like Maersk to bypass the Suez Canal and Red Sea, taking the lengthy and risk routed around the Cape of Good Hope. Biden has done nothing to secure shipping in the Red Sea.
Biden and Zelensky have shown no interest to end the Ukraine War that’s morphed the Kremlin into a mortal U.S. enemy. No longer can Russia and the U.S. work on any shared foreign policy goals, including resuming what’s left of arms control. No one in the fake news asks Biden how he plans to return to nonproliferation talks with the Kremlin. Whatever cash comes out of the U.S. Treasury, there are far greater consequences to the Ukraine War to turning China and Russia into a close economic, military and strategic partnership. Zelensky wants no part of Trump’s bridging proposals to open up ceasefire and peace talks aimed at ending the destructive conflict in its third year. Zelensky isn’t thinking about world peace, he’s only thinking about beating the Kremlin, something not happening. Trump is the only world leader capable of ending the conflict.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
