When it comes to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump seems to go from one disappointment to the next. The first miscalculation of the “dealmaker” was believing that a single phone call would be enough to reconcile with the Kremlin’s master: peace in Ukraine would then naturally follow — like a minor issue swiftly resolved by friends making up.
Once he realized the matter at hand was more complex, the U.S. president went all in with every possible concession: Ukraine would not recover its lost territories and would remain outside NATO. Echoing Russia’s demand for a regime change in Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky was thus labeled a “dictator” and publicly humiliated in the Oval Office.
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But even that wasn’t enough to soften the tsar. The only gesture asked of him — which wasn’t even a concession — was a 30-day ceasefire to initiate negotiations, and it was met with an unprecedented barrage of missiles and drones.
Trump plays the part of the irritated, blustering leader, but doesn’t follow through on threats of sanctions, nor does he abandon the goal of reconciliation with Moscow. It takes more to impress the Kremlin, where congeniality toward the U.S. president borders on condescension: Trump is described as suffering from “emotional overload” or simply “not sufficiently informed.”
From threats to illusions
Having produced nothing but mirages, the White House “sheriff” is now threatening to pack up and let everybody fend for themselves. Which is precisely what Moscow’s strongman wants: to reduce America’s presence on the Old Continent, leave Europeans to their own security shortcomings, and isolate Ukraine as easy prey.
Trump and the U.S. are also the targets of Putin’s contempt.
One cannot but wonder whether the White House semi-newbie has been duped by the Kremlin veteran, or whether there’s a mutual understanding, powered by a shared disdain toward Europe. Zelensky fears as much, and has voiced his readiness to crash a Trump-Putin summit — at his own risk.
What the president of the United States doesn’t seem to see is that he himself, and his country, are also the targets of Putin’s contempt. From Moscow to Beijing, Trump is seen as a mere accelerator of American decline — which paradoxically explains why he’s being spared by those who mean him no good.
