'Flailing and thrashing around' Trump buried by conservative for Ukraine 'betrayal'

Both Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were raked over the coals by a longtime columnist for the conservative National Review for nothing less than their "betrayal" of the people of Ukraine.

According to National Review's Jim Geraghty, Trump and Rubio are getting played by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and getting nothing in return for turning their backs on Ukraine and the NATO countries that are battling Russian expansionism.

Reacting to comments from both Trump and Rubio on Tuesday, Geraghty wrote, "... so far in his second term, regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump has offered to Vladimir Putin that Ukraine will not retake all its annexed and occupied sovereign territory, that Ukraine will not join NATO, that there will be no U.S. troops on Ukrainian soil after the war, and that the U.S. will lift sanctions on Russia." before noting, "And in exchange, Putin offered . . . well, nothing, really."

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With that in mind, he singled out Rubio telling reporters he agreed with the Russian delegation to “lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine.”

That led the conservative columnist to bluntly ask, "What 'mutual geopolitical interest' do we have with the regime that fired a missile into Kyiv’s main children’s hospital? " before adding, "Russia has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, and more than 6 million Ukrainian citizens live under the brutal hand of occupying Russian forces, and our government is talking about 'historic economic and investment opportunities' with them?"

As he noted, Russian has little to nothing that America needs by pointing out, "Grain? Oil? Natural gas? We already have that stuff; there is more than we need, and plenty is available for export. I thought the Trump plan was to build us into an energy production superpower."

Reporting that Rubio also stated a peace settlement would be brought about in "a way that’s enduring and acceptable to all the parties engaged,” Geraghty questioned Rubio's wisdom.

"Does Rubio envision Putin recognizing Ukraine as a legitimate and independent country? He has never done that. Down to the marrow in his bones, Putin sees Ukraine as part of Russia that can never be allowed to pursue its own separate path," he wrote.

As for Trump's demands that Ukraine hold a new election as part of the settlement, Geraghty wrote that the mere thought of that being acceptable when nearly 20 percent of Ukraine is living under a Russian occupation is absurd by pointing out, "This would be akin to running an American presidential election with only 40 of the 50 states able to participate."

Noting Trump's claims that the Ukraine president is unpopular in his own country, the columnist concluded, "Trump’s absurd claim that Zelensky has a 4 percent approval rating is a hint that Trump is flailing and thrashing around, trying anything to justify his current de facto pro-Russian stance."

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