We’re not quite sure what President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance meant when they said we will “walk away” if the two sides in the Russia/Ukrainian conflict do not make a deal.
If it simply means that we will stop trying to broker a peace deal and blame Russia for its intransigence, then we’re all for it. However, if it means we will throw our hands in the air and tell the two sides to battle it out themselves, then all we would have done is embolden Russia to tank any potential compromise and fight on, given they have an advantage in manpower.
That, in essence, would be rewarding Russia for refusing to compromise.
We gave Trump a pass in the aggressive manner he treated Zelenskyy, figuring that it would be water under the bridge if a peace deal were effectuated.
We also like that he was sounding tough against Russia early on. We will back him further if he now says he tried to forge an agreement, but Russia wouldn’t budge — so now it’s time to provide Ukraine with maximum support against the Russian aggressors who refused to provide any real compromises.
On the other hand, if Trump just washes his hands of the issue, it will allow Russia to continue waging its war. And, just as importantly, it will make Trump and the U.S. look weak and ineffective.
The message we would be sending to our enemies is they can just stall things out, refuse to give in to any kind of reasonable U.S. proposals, and then just maintain the status quo. That’s a bad look for us and it’s bad policy for stabilizing the region.
Trump talks very aggressively and we welcome that as a departure from the risk aversion and weakness of the Biden administration.
But there’s a danger in talking tough and not following through. Let’s hope that’s not where we’re heading.