BIDEN PLAYBOOK: Trump Threatens Putin With More Sanctions to End War
U.S. President says he thinks Putin is "destroying Russia by not making a deal,”
U.S. President Donald Trump promised to end the Ukraine War in the first 24 hours of his presidency — without providing details on how he would achieve such a feat — but now that he is in office, he seems prepared to carry on Joe Biden’s disastrous policy.
Trump took to Truth Social to warn Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, that he may have to try to damage Moscow’s economy to bring an end to the war.
“I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!
Trump talked about Putin shortly after being sworn in. He told reporters at the White House that the Russian leader should make a deal.
“I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal,” Trump said.
Trump appears to be detached from reality. Russia is winning on the battlefield and there’s little more that Washington can do to try and damage Putin’s economy through sanctions and tariffs. The Trends Journal has said that Russia has the population and natural resources to become a self-sufficient economy. Plus, it turned to a willing partner in Asia to survive the West’s economic warfare.
Trump’s ability to bring peace to Ukraine was always seen as unlikely, despite his campaign promises.
Rep. Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security adviser, told “ABC Sunday” that the incoming president will push Kyiv to lower its conscription age to 18 before negotiations so they can begin from a position of strength.
This sounded like a play from the Biden administration’s playbook. Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in December that Ukraine will have to make tough decisions about its lack of manpower, including lowering the draft age.
Keith Kellogg, the pro-Ukraine hawk Trump tapped as his special envoy on the Ukraine conflict, told Fox News that he gave himself a self-imposed goal to resolve the conflict within 100 days — not quite the 24 hours candidate Trump promised, but still respectable, considering the war started 1,051 days ago and then the fact that there have been essentially no negotiations to end the conflict since Boris Johnson whispered in Kyiv’s ear.
John Mearsheimer, the University of Chicago professor, said in an interview with Judge Andrew Napolitano that he does not believe Kellogg will be able to deliver on his promise.
“He can’t, in my opinion,” Mearsheimer said. “The Russians are in the driver’s seat – the Russians – for a good strategic reason from their perspective – are driving a hard bargain, and it’s almost impossible for me to see President Trump accepting the terms that the Russians demand. And, therefore, I don’t think this is going to be settled in 100 days.”
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal reported in 2016 that “forward positions in Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltic States are hundreds of miles further east than the Oder-Neisse border between Germany and Poland, where U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush solemnly promised Soviet and Russian leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin that NATO would halt its expansion more than a quarter-century ago.”