Trump's rhetoric on Ukraine is now alarming

Over the past few days, Donald Trump’s actions and words have been so skewed against Ukraine and in Russia’s favor as to elicit outrage even among some conservative pundits who are generally sympathetic to the president — and to prompt many commentators to say that Trump is not simply a bad ally to Ukraine, but a friend to Russian President Vladimir Putin. That's a sharp turn from last week, when Trump’s moves toward negotiations to end the war in Ukraine by pushing for a settlement that could preserve Russia’s ill-gotten gains looked potentially worrying, but not enough to justify urgent alarm.

Trump has opened preliminary negotiations between Russia and the United States in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia without Ukraine’s participation. He has not only signaled a readiness to lift sanctions on Russia but opined that Russia should be admitted to the G-7, the group of the world’s leading industrialized democracies from which it was expelled in 2014 after seizing Crimea and sponsoring an insurgency in Eastern Ukraine.

The rare minerals agreement Trump offered Ukraine as a condition of continued aid turned out to be so exploitative that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign it, especially since it framed a U.S. grab of its minerals and even its ports as compensation for aid already received.

Then, apparently infuriated by Zelenskyy’s refusal — and by his comment about Trump being influenced by Russian misinformation — Trump made a series of bizarre and outrageous statements, both in person and on social media.

He claimed that Ukraine "shouldn’t have started" the war, even though the conflict started with Putin’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. It’s hard to say whether Trump is blaming Ukraine for fighting back or accepts the nonsensical Kremlin narrative that Putin had to invade due to Ukrainian provocation. Trump also demanded elections in Ukraine — again echoing Putin who hopes to use such elections to install his own puppet. Trump referred to Zelenskyy as a "dictator" — even though the Ukrainian Constitution forbids wartime elections — and claimed that Zelenskyy's current approval rating is 4%; polls show it at 52 to 57%.

Now, the U.S. is reportedly refusing to participate in a G-7 statement calling Russia the aggressor on the anniversary of the invasion. Meanwhile, Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who traveled to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy, abruptly canceled a joint news conference, apparently at the White House’s direction.

All this is vastly alarming news, which has prompted some American, Ukrainian, and dissident Russian observers to say that Trump is directly doing Putin’s bidding. But that theory can’t account for Trump actions that are not particularly beneficial to Russia — such as his current push for a deal that would have India buy more oil from the U.S. and less from Russia.

Others proposed a different and plausible explanation: Trump is frustrated because his desire for a peace deal he could tout as a triumph is thwarted both by Zelenskyy’s independence and by Russia’s aggressive demands. As a bully, his response is to berate, and try to cow, what he sees as the weaker party: Zelenskyy.

A few cautiously optimistic analysts argue that it’s too early to talk about Trump throwing Ukraine to the wolves: Negotiations haven’t fully started yet, and Trump hasn’t moved to stop aid deliveries to Ukraine or hobble it with demands to stop strikes inside Russia.

Perhaps the extreme pessimism is premature. But what Trump has said and done so far demonstrates a shocking contempt for American alliances and American values.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.