We’ve all heard the accusations from Democrats and their friends in the media that President Trump has a soft spot for Vladimir Putin, and a fierce hostility toward the Ukrainians.
We’ve pushed back, claiming that, while Trump has buttered up Putin with soft talk, perhaps part of a long-term negotiation strategy, he nevertheless was much tougher on Russia than either Obama or Biden.
Remember, it was Obama who refused to give real weaponry to the Ukrainians early on — deciding instead to give them blankets. Biden said perhaps just a small incursion from Russia would be tolerable, then turned around and signed off on the natural gas pipeline that helped make Europeans dependent on Russian gas. The deal made our Russian enemies so much richer, thereby enabling them to sustain their war against the Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, Trump opposed that pipeline and got NATO to pony up more to fight back against the Russians. He even dropped bombs on the Russians in Syria.
Nevertheless, we see in Trump’s latest decision to delay arms shipments to Ukraine a showing of hostility that we consider quite unnecessary.
We cut the president some slack in his blowup in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy because the Ukrainian president did not seem very grateful when he should’ve been. But he has come back into the fold by signing the minerals agreement and acceding to all of Trump‘s wishes. So why is President Trump now telling the Ukrainians that they have to wait on more needed weapons when they agreed to the cease-fire on Trump’s terms, but the Russians did not?
This is exactly what Putin is hoping for. It just doesn’t make sense and feeds into the Democratic claim that Trump is indifferent if Ukraine falls to Russia.
In this dangerous world, we have to know who our friends and enemies are. Trump was magnificent in his clarity with Iran and understands that China represents our greatest threat. But Russia is our enemy as well, and when we have an ally such as Ukraine willing to put its citizens’ lives on the line to maintain their democracy and push back against the Russian bear, we should be supporting them. These are not American boots on the ground. It’s simply helping an ally survive and weaken our enemy.
The claim is that our munitions have gone low, but they can be replaced rather quickly. This looks more like the same type of hostility exhibited by Vice President Vance at that Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy. This must end.
Know who your friends are and support them.