{"id":42799,"date":"2025-05-27T16:49:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T21:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=42799"},"modified":"2025-05-27T21:57:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T02:57:45","slug":"trump-paints-himself-into-a-corner-on-putin-and-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=42799","title":{"rendered":"Trump paints himself into a corner on Putin and Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Trump\u2002<\/u><\/a>has boxed himself into a corner with Vladimir Putin\u2002<\/u><\/a>over the war in Ukraine \u2014 and it\u2019s not entirely clear how he gets out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s claim that he could end the war in Ukraine within \u201c24 hours\u201d of retaking office has already been falsified by events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president is now stuck between a Ukrainian president whom he regards with great skepticism and a Russian president who won\u2019t do what he wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, Putin has launched intensifying barrages of drone and missile attacks against Ukrainian cities in recent days. In doing so, he is issuing the most obvious statement of defiance against Trump\u2019s desire for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, at the same time, Trump has for a long time set his face against maintaining the scale and cadence of U.S. aid to Ukraine that was delivered under former President Biden after the Russian invasion of February 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has at times blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2002<\/u><\/a>for a war begun by Russia. In the infamous Oval Office meeting<\/u><\/a> in late February, Trump and Vice President Vance blasted Zelensky for supposed ingratitude for U.S. assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Trump is growing exasperated with Putin \u2014 and some of his Republican colleagues are demanding action beyond the words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on social media<\/u><\/a> that \u201cwhat Vladimir Putin doesn\u2019t realize is that if it weren\u2019t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He\u2019s playing with fire!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with many of Trump\u2019s recent statements on the war, it wasn\u2019t clear precisely what he meant. But this social media blast was the latest in a series of expressions of frustration with his Russian counterpart over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with reporters Sunday, Trump complained, \u201cI\u2019m not happy with what Putin\u2019s doing. He\u2019s killing a lot of people. And I don\u2019t know what the hell happened to Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that media encounter, Trump said he was \u201cabsolutely\u201d considering new sanctions against Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sounded a similar tone of exasperation<\/u><\/a> with Putin in a social media post, also Sunday, in which he reiterated that he had previously enjoyed \u201ca very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Truth Social post, Trump contended the new barrages of missiles and drones were occurring \u201cfor no reason whatsoever.\u201d Trump also asserted Putin wants \u201cALL of Ukraine\u201d and that pursuing this objective could \u201clead to the downfall of Russia!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a contrast with his remarks to reporters, however, Trump leavened the social media thrust at Putin with criticism of Zelensky, as well. The president claimed Zelensky was \u201cdoing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don\u2019t like it and it better stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s remarks \u2014 and Putin\u2019s apparently blithe disregard of Trump\u2019s urgings toward a ceasefire \u2014 are causing a degree of whiplash in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, and in the GOP more generally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MAGA base had enthusiastically echoed Trump\u2019s earlier rhetorical fusillades against continued American aid to Ukraine, blaming Zelensky for supposed recalcitrance in not suing for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some prominent voices on the online right continue to be extremely critical of Zelensky and supportive of Trump pressing a hard line on Kyiv to end the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But several Republicans are sounding a very different tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Iowa) wrote on social media that he believed Trump was sincere in believing that his warm relations with Putin could end the war. But, Grassley added, it was time for more stringent sanctions that would send a message of \u201cgame over\u201d<\/u><\/a> to the Russian leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few hours later, Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, drew a comparison between Trump\u2019s no-holds-barred approach to his domestic battle with Harvard and his approach to Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using abbreviations, Grassley contended Trump \u201cshld take the decisive action agst Putin that he takes agst Harvard. Sanctions for Putin like no fed grants for Harvard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others also lined up to intensify the calls against the Kremlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was careful to praise Trump for what he had done \u201cto end this terrible war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Graham added, \u201cTo end any war, you must have willing partners. As of yet, Putin is not willing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the House side, Rep. Don Bacon\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Neb.) declared Sunday it was \u201ctime for honesty. Peace talks are having zero effect on Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nebraska congressman said the U.S. and its allies \u201cmust arm Ukraine to the teeth, sanction Russia to the max, & confiscate the $300B in overseas Russian assets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Trump faces a conundrum, rooted in his strident opposition to continued, large-scale military aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking that possibility off the table means Trump is really offering only two alternatives: One is a ceasefire, in which Ukraine would make territorial concessions and make doubly clear that it won\u2019t be admitted to NATO anytime soon. The other is the prospect that the U.S. will walk away from peace negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Trump said a deal needed to come \u201cquickly. We want to get it done.\u201d If either of the warring nations balked, Trump warned, \u201cWe\u2019re going to just take a pass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an obvious problem with that strategy: Its effect would be to help Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So long as the U.S. backs away from aid to Ukraine, Moscow\u2019s greater numbers and military muscle will prevail sooner or later \u2014 even if other European nations do their best to come to Kyiv\u2019s aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump faces an uncomfortable choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go back on his word and keep arming the Ukrainians, or potentially be seen as the American president who let Putin roll on to a victorious conquest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump\u2002has boxed himself into a corner with Vladimir Putin\u2002over the war in Ukraine \u2014 and it\u2019s not entirely clear how he gets out. Trump\u2019s claim that he could end the war in Ukraine within \u201c24 hours\u201d of retaking office has already been falsified by events. The president is now stuck between a Ukrainian president whom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":42800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4451,1230,1416],"class_list":["post-42799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-putin","tag-trump","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42801,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42799\/revisions\/42801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}