In the Mood for a Lasting Relationship with a War Criminal and Terrorist State

Trump never cared much for Ukraine, he much prefers building a good relationship with Putin

ADVOCATES CLAIM President Donald Trump’s legendary erratic behavior is his superpower -- an ace up his sleeve for entertaining crowds and negotiating deals. He’s now playing that card right into Vladimir Putin’s lap and seems ready to let Russia chew off up to 20 percent of Ukraine.

Maybe it’s Valentine’s Day, but I get the feeling Trump wants a good, lasting relationship with Putin more than he wants lasting peace in Ukraine.

The latest nod in Putin’s favor was a phone call close to 1 ½ hours long between the two on Wednesday. They chatted about several subjects, Trump said in a post on his social media site, Truth Social, but we all know Ukraine was the focus – certainly for Putin.

“We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s nations,” he said in his post. “President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON SENSE.’ We both believe very strongly in it.”

Common sense? Like sending his treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, to Kyiv to sign an economic agreement with cash-starved Ukraine? The contract would guarantee the sale of U.S. weapons in exchange for business access to Ukrainian rare earth minerals valued around $500 million.

“We're getting security on our money, we're going to have it secured,” Trump said following announcing the deal.

Get the picture?

Bessent’s transactional deal is like taking a person’s wallet when their back is against the wall while someone else points a gun to the person’s head. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz branded the agreement “selfish” because Ukraine will need money for rebuilding once a ceasefire is nailed down.

No wonder Ukraine rejected the initial offer.

As events unfolded, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that it is “unrealistic” for Ukraine to believe it will regain all its territory stolen by Russian invaders and that the U.S. does not support Ukraine becoming a NATO member.

Speaking before a gathering in Brussels of more than 40 major allies that have been providing arms and support to Ukraine since Putin’s 2022 invasion, Hegseth claimed that “chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

Face Slaps for Allies, Hugs for Accused War Criminal

Trump spares few longtime U.S. allies from his verbal face slaps and demeaning words. Canada, Mexico, Europe – they just take advantage of Americans in Trump’s world. They all freeload on American generosity and the longtime U.S. engagement in free markets and strategic alliances.

But Vlad is a different story. Trump rarely frames the Russian oligarch in unflattering terms. He cradles a decades-old fascination with Putin who has amassed a fortune estimated by some to be $200 billion during his 20 years in power, much of it believed to be stolen from the Russian people.

Trump prefers to boast about his “good relationship” with Putin and claims it serves U.S. interests.

Steve Witkoff, an old Trump buddy and billionaire New York real estate player who just recently brokered the hostage release of American Marc Fogel detained by Russia, acknowledged that the “good relationship” continues to thrive between Trump and Putin. “I think they had a great friendship,” he said after returning from Moscow this week. “I think now it's going to continue.”

Witkoff is the first American official to visit Russia since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Most U.S. allies see Putin as a war criminal and thief directing an unprovoked, vicious assault on a neighboring European country. His marauding military and flailing missile launches have left a trail of death and destruction in Ukraine estimated to be well over $400 billion.

The rape, pillage and indiscriminate civilian deaths have made Putin a pariah on the world stage. He is a wanted man by the International Criminal Court for stealing tens of thousands of Ukrainian children – maybe hundreds of thousands – and the European Union Parliament voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, something echoed by U.S. lawmakers. Under the leadership of Trump loyalist, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, the Senate approved a similar resolution in 2022.

Even Putin’s traditional post-Soviet strategic partners have been reticent about their alliance. Members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Putin’s answer to NATO, remained silent when Ukraine invaded Russia’s Kursk region last August. Belarus and Kazakhstan have yet to gallop to Putin’s rescue.

Putin instead recruited new friends from among fellow pariahs. Iran supplies him with missiles and drones. North Korea ships ammunition and soldiers to Russia for “meat” assaults. Both are aspiring nuclear powers and Putin may very well be trading secrets.

So, it must feel good to have the U.S. president as a friend, too. Especially with things going so dismally for him. Putin planned on Russia’s “special military operation” into Ukraine to last three days or so. Three years into the full-scale war, things are blowing up in his face.

As many as 850,000 Russian soldiers are believed to have lost their lives and Russia’s economy is teetering on meltdown thanks to sanctions and a prolonged war. Inflation is near 10 percent and interest rates are spiraling up over 20 percent.

Trump Wants Putin Back in the G7 After Being Expelled for Invasion

During an Oval Office press gaggle on Thursday, Trump announced it might be a good idea to invite Putin back into the G7, a group of the world’s largest industrial democracies. Russia was tossed out of the economic forum when Putin’s “little green men” occupied Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula. Russia then illegally annexed the oblast, a move that has been repeatedly rejected by the United Nations and much of the world community.

“I'd love to have them back,” Trump told reporters of Russia rejoining the G7. “I think Putin would love to be back.”

Trump blamed Putin’s G7 expulsion as a factor in Russia invading Ukraine. That and former President Joe Biden considering the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, which was first suggested by a Republican president, George W. Bush, in 2008.

Some say Trump is giving away the store and clearing the decks for Putin to continue his land grab in Eastern Europe and that, in fact, the two are carving up Ukraine for their own interests. Why Trump might do so is a mystery, but in his claims to want to end the killing in Ukraine, he may just be setting the stage for more military aggression in the world.

Former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace of the United Kingdom warned of a “stench of appeasement” in a column in The Telegraph after hearing about the recent talks between Trump and Putin.

Wallace likened this period to the eve of World War II.

“After Chamberlain returned to Britain in 1938 having signed an agreement with Adolf Hitler, he proclaimed ‘peace for our time.’ Winston Churchill then rebutted that ‘You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.’ The same fate awaits the West, whether in the Taiwan strait, Iran, or elsewhere in Europe, if it fails to stand strong now.”

I sat on Neville Chamberlain’s grave just this Christmas at Westminster. Sad, but true, His legacy is that of appeasement to Nazi Germany by ceding the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia. His successor, Winston Churchill, is buried at the entrance of the cathedral and is remembered as a hero. There is no seating over his grave.