As we all know, Donald Trump has been very frustrated by the Russia-Ukraine war.
He vowed to have the war over on his first day in office, if not before.
Now, nearly a year into his second term, the president has been unable to get both sides to agree, and according to Donald Trump Jr., his father may be ready to just walk away from Ukraine and let President Volodymyr Zelensky fend for himself.
When the latest peace plan was initially leaked to the media, it was set up as a 28-point structure.
Of course, as soon as the details were leaked, there were reports in the media that the Russians themselves had written the plan, claiming it was little more than a Putin-dictated “wish list.” And this was coming from Republicans, not Democrats.
The State Department immediately pushed back, with Secretary Marco Rubio stating this was a plan that did have input from the Russians, but that it was only a framework to be given to Ukraine, with more changes anticipated.
A senior White House staffer noted, "This plan was drawn up immediately following discussions with one of the most senior members of President Zelensky's administration, Rustem Umerov, who agreed to the majority of the plan, after making several modifications, and presented it to President Zelensky.” For purposes of context, that report surfaced in mid-November.
I have seen reports that Ukraine subsequently updated the plan, and that it was now down to a 20-point structure after adjustments, but Trump is now claiming that Zelensky has not even looked at the proposal.
While appearing at the Kennedy Center Honors this weekend, Trump stated, “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago. His people love it, but he hasn’t. Russia’s fine with it.”
Trump Jr. attended the Doha Forum this weekend, and he was asked whether his father is frustrated to the point that he could just walk away from Ukraine. He responded, “I think he may. What’s good about my father, and what’s unique about my father, is you don’t know what he’s going to do. The fact that he’s not predictable … forces everyone to actually deal in an intellectually honest capacity.”
Now, that is not an official statement in any way, and I don’t want people running around saying they read that here first. This is just Trump Jr. analyzing what his father may or may not do, nothing more.
As we have seen before, when in a stressful situation, Zelensky runs to Europe, and he did it again this time around. If you recall, after Zelensky’s verbal beatdown by Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office, he did the same thing. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz then commented, "I'm skeptical about some of the details which we are seeing in the documents coming from the US side, but we have to talk about it. That's why we are here.”
My take on this is that Trump is using the current situation to pressure Ukraine to come to the table and sign the agreement because the president wants to get this off his plate at all costs. And I completely understand that. As I have stated before, this was not his war, but the moment he said that he was the only one who could bring peace, he took ownership of it and promised to end it by saying he could have the conflict over no later than day one in office.
I would also say that European leadership has had a lot to say while not ponying up enough money and aid to help Ukraine. All told, the United States has brought more than an estimated $130 billion to the table, and that is likely a very conservative estimate. The rest of Europe and Canada have provided an estimated $147 billion.
Since we have contributed nearly half the aid to date, I think we have a much bigger say in how this all plays out. Add to that the fact that the American people are sick and tired of funding this war, especially because we know we are likely to get stuck with the majority of the rebuilding costs, and I get why Trump is now squeezing Zelensky. I'm not excusing it or defending it, just explaining why it is happening.
