Stop me if I got this wrong but didn’t Donald Trump say he’ll end Putin’s war in Ukraine by arming Ukraine to the hilt to counter Russian aggression if Putin doesn’t agree to ending the war? He said he can end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours because he knows both Zelensky and Putin.
Trump was interviewed on Fox by Maria Bartiromo, host of Sunday Morning Futures. She is known as a big supporter of Trump but she did push him a couple of times about some of his answers. One example is when the topic of ending the war came up. Trump tried to derail the conversation by re-hashing the “perfect” phone call he made to Zelensky that became fodder for one of his impeachment trials, but Bartiromo, to her credit, nipped that conversation in the bud. She cut him off and brought him back to the question – how would he end the war so quickly?
“These are smart people, including Macron of France. I could go through the whole list of people, including Putin.… These people are sharp, tough and generally vicious. They’re vicious, and they’re at the top of their game. We have a man that has no clue what’s happening. It’s the most dangerous time in the history of our country,” Trump said.
“So what should be the response?” Bartiromo asked. “You said you could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. How would you do that?”
“I know Zelensky very well. I felt he was very honorable because when they asked him about the perfect phone call that I made, he said it was indeed, he said it was. He didn’t even know what they were talking about. He could have grandstanded–” Trump said before Bartiromo cut him off.
“That’s not going to be enough for Putin to stop bombing,” she pointed out. Trump then explained how he would get Russia and Ukraine to end their conflict.
“I know Zelenskyy very well, and I know Putin very well, even better. And I had a good relationship, very good with both of them. I would tell Zelenskyy, no more. You got to make a deal. I would tell Putin, if you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give him a lot. We’re going to [give Ukraine] more than they ever got if we have to. I will have the deal done in one day. One day,” Trump responded.
What? Trump and others who are opposed to providing military aide and financial aide to Ukraine, at least at the rate we are doing now, are usually grousing about the seemingly unlimited support being provided. Now, Trump says he’ll throw in everything for Ukraine in order to nudge Putin to cooperate in negotiating the end of the war and the Trump supporters think that is a good answer? He can’t have it both ways. Trump was pointing out Biden’s statement that the United States is “running out of ammunition” and mocking the Biden administration for letting that happen, which he should do. Then, though, he doubles down on Biden’s “as long as it takes” pledge in support of Ukraine by saying he’ll give them everything in large amounts to retaliate against Putin.
And he expects Zelensky to “make a deal.” What does that mean? Does he expect Zelensky to relinquish territory to Putin? I think so. That falls in line with Biden’s original idea that Ukraine ceding “a little” territory to Russia wouldn’t be such a big deal.
How do the conservatives who are ready to stop sending support to Ukraine right now – votes were just taken in the House last week as part of the NDAA bill on an end to sending support to Ukraine, though those amendments failed – justify supporting Trump when his foreign policy on such an important matter goes against what has been said up until that question was asked? How does this distinguish Trump from Joe Biden?
This is why Trump should show up at the debates and should have done the Iowa cattle call with Tucker Carlson last week. Voters have a right to know what he is thinking when he says such outlandish things like he’ll end a war in 24 hours. If all he brings to the table is to do exactly what Putin wants – take Ukrainian land, and what Zelensky wants – U.S. military equipment and more American taxpayer money, then he sounds no better prepared to instigate a ceasefire than Joe Biden. If it was that easy, it would have been done already.
Zelensky has already swatted down the idea of ending the war in 24 hours. It’s a “beautiful” idea, he said, but not grounded in “real-life experience.” He said Trump was president for four years and he didn’t stop the events that eventually led up to Putin’s invasion into Ukraine. The current Ukraine-Russia war has been heating up since Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.
“Well, it looks as if Donald Trump had already these 24 hours once in his time. We were at war, not a full-scale war, but we were at war and as I assume he had that time at his disposal, but he must have had some other priorities,” the Ukrainian leader said.
While president, Trump temporarily withheld congressionally-approved military aid to Ukraine in an effort to pressure Zelenskyy to open an investigation into his political rival, then-Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, an incident that led to his impeachment. In his memoir, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump “didn’t seem to care” that failing to deliver the aid — intended to support “a democracy under siege” — was a violation of federal law.
Americans can thank Trump for being a president who didn’t start any wars on his watch. That is an admirable accomplishment. However, he has some ‘splaining to do about his thoughts on ending the war in Ukraine. If only he was being held accountable as some other candidates are being held accountable for their opinions. Shouldn’t they all be held to the same standard?
Sounds like this could use a longer conversation. We just asked @GovChristie to sit down and explain his views on Ukraine. He refused. You hate to think that Chris Christie is a blustery coward who plays the tough guy with sycophants at ABC but won’t answer real questions, but… pic.twitter.com/6khc5xi3Co
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 16, 2023
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