Donald Trump’s election as president is fueling speculation that he will terminate U.S. financial and logistical support for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia. Trump himself has contributed to that speculation during his June 28, 2024 debate with President Biden when he said, “If we had a real president, a president that was respected by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, he would have never invaded Ukraine.” Indeed, Trump has boasted that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours.
His critics, both in the United States and the other NATO countries, however, contend that he would likely do so by abandoning Ukraine and appeasing Russia. Allegations that Trump was a “puppet” of Russian President Vladimir Putin cast a pall over his entire first term as president, and there are no signs that his opponents have abandoned that tactic. It was an absurd accusation, since Trump’s policy toward Russia actually was more hardline than that of his predecessors. Not only did he ship arms to Ukraine (a step that Barack Obama had refused to take) but he engineered the U.S. withdrawal from two major arms control agreements (Open Skies and Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) that Putin and other Russian leaders considered vital to their country’s security. The Trump administration also continued NATO’s provocative expansion into Eastern Europe despite the Kremlin’s escalating warnings about such unfriendly moves.
The notion that Trump was “soft” on Russia during his first term was (and remains) a destructive, highly politicized myth. Over the past four years, though, Trump and at least some supporters in Congress, the news media, and the foreign policy community seem to have gained an understanding that Washington’s current Russia policy has been disastrous and requires drastic reforms. It is less certain whether he will muster the courage to ignore the smears and make the necessary policy changes to begin repairing relations with Russia.
Hellbound and Down 