PRAGMATIC ISSUES

Recently during an interview Trump spoke about peace. Donald Trump claims that he has ended wars and doesn’t need to confront Vladimir Putin because they “get along”.

This is not diplomacy.

It is a delusion, created from the mind of a very mentally ill man.

And it is far more dangerous than open aggression.

Donald Trump wants to be remembered as a peacemaker. He repeats it with the insistence of a man trying to talk history into compliance. Eight wars settled, he says. Conflicts resolved by force of personality. Enemies pacified by charm. It is a story that collapses under the lightest scrutiny, because it confuses avoidance with achievement and flattery with power.

Trump’s version of peace has never required outcomes. It requires only narrative. A war does not need to end for Trump to declare it finished. A dictator does not need to concede for Trump to claim a breakthrough. Reality, in this framework, is optional. Headlines are not.

When Trump says he would not need to capture Vladimir Putin because they “get along”, he reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how authoritarian power works. Putin does not value rapport. He values leverage. He does not operate on affection or personal chemistry. He operates on dominance, patience, and exploitation. Trump mistakes courtesy for respect because he cannot imagine a world in which his approval is irrelevant.

This is the same error Trump has made repeatedly. He is belligerent toward those who cannot retaliate and deferential toward those who can. He attacks institutions, journalists, judges, immigrants, and allies with ease, but grows reverent around men who project force. That is not strategic restraint. It is hierarchical instinct. Trump does not challenge power. He courts it.

The myth of Trump as peacemaker depends on redefining peace as the absence of personal inconvenience. If no one humiliates him publicly, the situation is stable. If a dictator smiles for a photo, progress has been made. If allies are unsettled but strongmen are amused, Trump considers the balance acceptable. This is not diplomacy rooted in law or deterrence. It is diplomacy rooted in ego preservation.

Putin does not “get along” with Trump. Putin assessed Trump. He measured his need for validation, his hostility to alliances, his contempt for democratic norms, and his allergy to accountability. And like every authoritarian strategist before him, Putin understood that a man who believes he is uniquely respected is often the easiest to manipulate.

Trump’s refusal to imagine confronting Putin is not about peace. It is about fear of exposure. Real confrontation risks rejection. It risks being ignored. It risks discovering that personal flattery does not translate into geopolitical control. Trump has always chosen the safety of illusion over the risk of reality.

Trump’s peacemaker fantasy is not benign. It teaches Americans to believe that global order can be managed by vibes, that dictators can be neutralised by compliments, and that international law is negotiable if the right man feels admired. History is unkind to this belief. The world does not descend into chaos because leaders are too strong. It collapses when leaders mistake being liked for being feared, being tolerated for being respected, and being spared confrontation for having achieved peace.