PRAGMATIC ISSUES

Trump’s Glorious Failure in Ukraine

In the wake of the attack this past weekend where Russia attacked a government building in Kyiv, it has become ruthlessly clear that, Donald Trump who once promised that only he could bring “peace through strength” Has failed rather gloriously.

Trump swaggered across campaign stages claiming that he and he alone could end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours.”

It was classic Trump bravado, chest-thumping, empty, and utterly disconnected from reality. Now, as the dust settles on his so-called efforts to broker peace, what’s left is not peace but a spectacular, glorious failure that has emboldened Vladimir Putin, weakened America’s credibility, and left Ukraine bleeding in the rubble.

He announced new sanctions against Russia over the weekend attack to which Russia responded with a laugh basically telling Trump “Your sanctions are puny and useless.”

The Strongman’s Fantasy

Trump never understood that diplomacy isn’t about photo ops with dictators or whispery phone calls with oligarchs or giving state secrets to them on a silver platter. To him, Putin wasn’t a threat but a mirror, a fellow strongman who played the part of ruthless dealmaker. But peace isn’t brokered by flattery and winks, it requires leverage, alliances, and consistency, morals and ethics.

Trump has none of these traits. He has alienated NATO allies, undermined sanctions, and treated Ukraine like a bargaining chip rather than a sovereign nation fighting for survival.

The Putin Problem

Trump’s “peace plan” was a gift-wrapped surrender to Moscow. His idea of negotiation was essentially forcing Ukraine to give up land, dignity, and sovereignty in exchange for the hollow promise of Russian restraint.

In other words, he proposed that the victim reward the aggressor. That’s not diplomacy, it’s capitulation dressed up as strategy.

Putin played along, of course. Why wouldn’t he? With Trump floating “deals” that tilted entirely toward the Kremlin, Russia had nothing to lose. Every failed handshake, every public claim that he and Putin could “work something out,” only broadcast weakness to Moscow and despair to Kyiv.

America the Unreliable

Trump’s failure didn’t just hurt Ukraine, it torched America’s credibility. Allies from Warsaw to Berlin saw a U.S. president more interested in appeasing Putin than defending democratic values.

When the world needed a steady hand, Trump brought a reality show. And when the world needed a statesman, he gave them a salesman hawking snake oil labeled “peace deal.”

The result? Russia doubled down. Ukraine was left twisting in the wind. And America’s word, once ironclad sounded like a punchline.

The Glory of Failure

Trump’s defenders will insist he was “trying something new.” But trying isn’t leading. Negotiation isn’t performance art. The only “new” thing here was just how completely an American president could fail on the global stage while still bragging about his supposed genius.

Trump promised the art of the deal.

What he delivered was the art of surrender.

And so, his attempt to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine will be remembered not as a bold stroke of diplomacy, but rather as a glorious failure, a cautionary tale of what happens when a man who cannot tell the difference between strength and sycophancy is entrusted with the fate of nations.

Not too long ago reports surfaced from Russia that they didn’t want anything from the US except a president, one Donald J Trump that they could control.

Putin has done just that in full view of the world. Putin, you old dog you, do tell, how did you accomplish that?

All kidding aside though, you have to hand it Trump because he is taking this worldwide humiliation rather well and has to date not had a complete meltdown. If it were me I’d be kicking shite across the room.

The world doesn’t need Trump’s 24-hour peace fantasy.

It needs leaders who understand that peace requires principle, not flattery, it needs resilience, not submission.