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It’s Becoming Clearer What Trump Really Wants from Russia
The two leaders talked for more than two hours—and they probably didn't spend much of it discussing the prospects for peace.
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Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin talked Monday for more than two hours but made not an inch of progress toward ending the Russia–Ukraine war.
No one who’s been following the brutal conflict, now in its fourth year, could have been surprised by the impasse—except, perhaps, for Trump, who said afterward that he believes Putin wants peace. But judging from both leaders’ summaries of the call, it seems Trump doesn’t really believe this or care about Putin’s motives. He wants the war to end quickly only so that the U.S. and Russia can resume good relations—and if this means Ukraine’s surrender, so be it.
Trump hailed the “tone and spirit” of their conversation as “excellent.” Putin, in a formal statement, deemed the talk “frank and useful.” But upon close inspection, it’s clear neither man was talking about prospects for peace.
Every now and then in recent weeks, Trump has called for an “immediate ceasefire.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky endorsed the idea. Putin never has. Earlier on Monday, several European leaders urged Trump to renew the demand during his conversation with Putin. Trump, who not long ago even threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia if Putin didn’t go along with a truce, ignored their plea.
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For his part, Putin continued to insist that prior to a ceasefire, the two combatants must address the war’s “root causes”—which, in Putin’s mind (and public words), amount to the very existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state with its own language, culture, and aspirations to align with Europe. To Zelensky, and to most of Europe’s leaders, this would amount, plain and simple, to surrender.
Trump didn’t challenge Putin on this point. He also told reporters that he would not impose sanctions or any other punishment on Russia, regardless of Putin’s actions. Finally, he said that Russia and Ukraine would have to hold negotiations on their own—a reversal of his statement, just a few days earlier, that only direct talks between him and Putin could end the war. Now, he said, if Putin refuses to hold talks with Zelensky, “I just back away, and they’re going to have to keep going.”
Notice the clear tilt. Trump is acknowledging that Putin, not Zelensky, is the one resisting a ceasefire—yet if Russia stays on that course, the U.S. won’t step up its support for Ukraine; instead, Trump will simply pull out. Trump has said (and some analysts agree, though others do not) that without firm U.S. support, Russia will win the war. That seems fine with the American president.
It is noteworthy, even eyebrow-raising, that the day before the much-anticipated phone call, Russia slammed Ukraine with one of the largest drone attacks since the war began—yet Trump didn’t so much as mention it in their talk, or if he did, he didn’t consider it worth mentioning in his recounting of the call.
This part of the conversation could have been wrapped up in 10 minutes. What did the two leaders talk about for more than two hours? Mainly, it seems, about trade—or as Trump put it in his social-media post, “TRADE.” As he elaborated:
Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic “bloodbath” is over, and I agree. There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.
He went on to say that Ukraine too “can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its Country”—but only in one sentence and no words in ALL CAPS.
This Content is Available for Slate Plus members only There’s a Surprising Reason Why Donald Trump Is Obsessed With Taking Us Back to the 1950s What It Would Look Like If the Trump Administration Got Its Way in the Birthright Citizenship Case Trump Is Dismantling Domestic Violence Nonprofits by Banning Certain Words They Wanted to Have Fewer Prisons. Instead, They Got a Prisoner’s Worst Nightmare.To the extent a coherent foreign policy is emerging in Trump’s second term as president, it is centered around three goals. The first is trade, at least to the extent that it enriches the United States and Trump himself (see the tariffs and his recent trip to the oil-rich countries of the Middle East). The second is the promotion of “great-power politics,” narrowly defined as an exclusive focus on transactional relations with other “great powers.” The third is peace at any price in order to promote the first two.
There’s nothing here about democratic values, securing alliances, curbing poverty, wiping out diseases, or any other aspects of “soft power” (which bolsters U.S. interests much more than he realizes).
In this view of the world, the defense of Ukraine is a sideshow at best. If it gets in the way of what Trump sees as his larger interests, it’s a hindrance. This explains, to a great extent, Trump’s repeated concessions to Putin’s demands—and clarifies the immense challenges facing not only Ukraine and Europe but also America’s position in the world as we’ve known it since the end of World War II.
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