White House Down: Trump At War With Ukraine

Ukraine could fall – and it will be Donald Trump’s fault.

This is my second article of the week. That’s unusual, but I’m afraid I’m at boiling point here and I’m all out of options.

We’ve all seen it. By now, we’ve all seen the moment when Trump met Zelensky in the Oval Office. We all know what Trump said: “you’ve either got to make a deal, or we’re out”. Loud and clear. Either negotiate a ceasefire, or the American life support is cut off.

The cheese puff ceasefire

A ceasefire deal will undoubtedly require Ukraine to give up some of its territory – and the people who live there. And here lies the problem.

What does Trump expect Zelensky to do? I have said this time and time again, but give Vladimir Putin an inch and he’ll take a mile. Perhaps giving up, say, Luhansk and Donetsk would indeed end the war – for now. But all you’re doing is letting the Russian bear advance closer to Kyiv, one step at a time. Give it a few years once all the American tanks are gone – and hey presto, Putin will fire the gun to finish what he started.

Luckily, you don’t have to sit and wonder what Trump would say to that. A journalist already asked what happens if Russia breaks a ceasefire deal. Trump retorted, “What if a bomb drops on your head right now?”

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Donald J. Trump, a true mastermind. What sort of blinking answer is that? I’d hazard a guess that a bomb dropping on your head in the middle of the White House is as likely as a cold day in hell. Meanwhile, Putin will break a ceasefire as surely as night follows day.

Any attempt to broker a deal would be a cheese puff ceasefire – as fragile as a paper crane.

I really do understand Trump’s frustration about the war and its mammoth cost to American taxpayers. Nobody wants to be shelling out billions to stop a war, obviously. But three years down the line and counting, does Trump think nobody has thought of “making a deal” since this war started? You can’t do deals with Putin. It simply isn’t in his DNA. It’s not possible to negotiate a ceasefire without giving Putin what he wants – and, so far, nobody’s been silly enough to do that.

A choreographed media stunt

Whilst it was fascinating to watch Trump and Vice President JD Vance look like utter tyrants – inviting a man into the lion’s den to be eaten alive – the meeting should never have been broadcast.

It was a staged public attack on Zelensky. Trump and Vance were toying with their prey in a meticulously planned strategy to bounce off each other’s provocative comments, denying Zelensky the opportunity to get a word in edgewise. Clearly the Americans have been taking leaves out of Putin’s book.

Trump actually said to the Ukrainian President at one point “you’ve done enough talking in this meeting”. Really? I must’ve missed that. All I heard was Trump and Vance interrupting, interjecting and blatantly dismissing the pleas of a man for help from the most powerful nation in the world.

Trump admitted “this is going to be great television”. Why? This isn’t reality TV. This isn’t Love Island. Yes, people are addicted to drama. But when it comes to World War 3, I don’t want any drama, thank you very much. Because if that’s the case, we may as well pack our bags and end it now. World War 3 would not be trenches and guns, it would be nukes and universal death.

But that just about sums up Trump. I genuinely don’t think he understands the nuclear football he’s mucking around with. And that’s scary. Very scary indeed.

Backed into a corner…

Zelensky is up the creek without a canoe.

After getting bashed by Trump and Vance, Zelensky retreated to the welcoming arms of Great Britain, who offered up £2.26 billion for weapons. This is a start – but without Uncle Sam’s backing, it’s like bringing a wooden spoon to a gunfight.

Zelensky has two choices. He either ignores Trump and carries on fighting in the absence of American military behemoths, or he surrenders to Trump and gives up a portion of his country.

This is like choosing which family member to give away. How can you? Perhaps Trump doesn’t quite comprehend it, but to give up Ukrainian territory to broker a ceasefire deal is also giving up Ukrainian people to Russia – who will undoubtedly be treated like absolute vermin. This is not purely a geopolitical decision. It’s a moral decision, too.

Who knows where this could all go next? One thing’s for certain though. If Trump turns off the American money supply, it doesn’t look good for Ukraine.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/The White House

Licence: public domain.

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