LOS ANGELES (OC).–Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) showed his party’s ignorance of foreign policy saying the President Donald Trump “made an enormous mistake” blaming the war on Ukraine. Smith knows that Trump never blamed the war on Ukraine, only said that former President Joe Biden destroyed decades of diplomacy, détente, arms control and global cooperation by funding proxy war against the Kremlin. When Trump came to office, he did everything possible to end the Ukraine War, refusing to continue Biden’s proxy war strategy with the Kremlin. So, when it comes to Smith and Democrats, what’s the “enormous mistake” of getting the U.S. out of a perpetual war and money pit draining the Treasury and depleting the Pentagon? Smith speaks only from a partisan stand point, only looking to score points against Trump before next year’s 2026 Midterm elections.
Smith can’t possibly think that proxy war with the Kremlin was a good idea for the U.S. government. Whatever Ukraine’s problems with Russia, why does Smith think the U.S. should fund an unending war that’s destroyed Ukraine’s infrastructure, killed thousands of its citizens and driven millions into exile? “I think the Trump administration made an enormous mistake during the campaign and then from the election forward putting the blame on Ukraine for the war,” Smith told Fox News Shannon Bream. “It seems that President Trump honestly thought that it was Ukraine that was forcing forward the conflict,” Smith said. Well, Trump never said Ukraine was to blame, other than saying Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky had options to negotiate with Russia President Vladimir Putin to end the war shortly after it started Feb. 24, 2022.
Smith doesn’t get that the Biden administration drove the conflict by supplying Ukraine a blank check to wage war against the Kremlin. Does Smith really think Ukraine would be waging war without U.S. cash-and-arms or, more recently, cash-and-arms from NATO and the EU? Doesn’t Smith know that Biden gave Ukraine nearly $300 billion in taxpayer cash to fund a war with the Kremlin? Biden said in 2022 shortly after the war started that the aim of the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war. Those were Biden’s words then backed up by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Ramstein, Germany a month later. So, if Smith wants to know what’s driving the war, just look at all the cash-and-arms Zelensky has received from the U.S. Smith thinks Trump should have put more pressure on Zelensky to end the war?
Smith knows that Zelensky threw a fit in the Oval Office Feb. 28 when Trump told him he didn’t have the cards to dictate terms for a settlement. Now Smith says Trump should have pressured Zelensky to do what? Zelensky ran to the EU hoping to get a better deal than he thought Trump was about to negotiate with Putin. Turns out the EU only made matters worse, leaving Zelensky out on a limb. He can’t wage war with the Kremlin unless Brussels foots the bill, something they haven’t committed to. “And if he just talked to Zelensky and put pressure on Zelensky, then everything would be fine, which nobody who was paying any attention to the situation would have agreed with. Putin has been driving this conflict,” Smith said, showing he knows nothing about the conflict. Zelensky has thrown every obstacle possible to prevent Trump from getting a peace deal.
Smith represents the prevailing view in the Democrat Party that the U.S. should still fund proxy war with the Kremlin in Ukraine. Smith wants to play the blame game but doesn’t want any real solutions for ending war. Trump reversed Biden’s proxy war with the Kremlin, realizing that U.S. foreign policy and national security were better off with normal U.S.-Russian relations. Biden turned the U.S. from cooperative partner with Russia into mortal enemy. Democrats like Smith only want to score political points not come up with any realistic solutions for ending the war. Trump has bent over backwards with Zelensky, only to watch him stabbed in the back at the Munich Security Conference. Zelensky doesn’t trust Trump to negotiate a fair deal because he sees him making peace with the Russian Federation. Zelensky thinks he can dictate U.S. foreign policy and national security.
Trump has bent over backward trying to end the Ukraine, working for months with Putin to find a way out. Trump only recently agreed to let NATO supply Ukraine with Patriot missiles from Russian aerial bombardment but told Zelensky he wants no attacks deep inside Russia. Zelensky hit Moscow’s airports today with drone strikes, causing minor damage but multiple flight delays. So, with all of Smith talk about Zelensky, it’s clear he’d like to continue the war as long as the EU is willing to pay for it. Zelensky doesn’t like Trump’s plan for settling the conflict by trading land-for-peace. Demanding the Putin pull all his troops out of Ukraine shows how unrealistic his demands have become. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today the Putin wants to settle the conflict but just not on Zelensky’s terms. If Zelensky’s willing to compromise, peace could happen quickly.
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.
