A vital struggle just exposed the breadth of this dark Trump threat

If Ukraine ends up capitulating to Russian demands to end the war, give the self-proclaimed peacemaker Donald Trump the lion’s share of the credit. Since he took office, Trump has done nothing but strengthen Russia’s hand while putting Ukraine in its weakest negotiating position.

Trump is far from an honest, impartial broker. He has been a great admirer of Russia’s murderous dictator, Vladimir Putin, for more than a decade, and in 2022 called Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “savvy.” Trump has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — thereby putting the U.S. in league with countries including China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and Nicaragua.

On the other hand, Trump has treated Ukraine’s courageous president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as a minor-nation inferior, someone purely to bully. In 2019, Trump withheld military support from Ukraine for 55 days while trying to extract damaging information from Zelenskyy on political rival Joe Biden. In March this year, Trump berated and humiliated Zelenskyy at the White House.

He has called him a “dictator,” and criticized him for not showing sufficient gratitude for U.S. peace efforts.

Since Trump took office, the U.S. has reversed course on support for Ukraine. Under Biden, commitment to Kyiv was unwavering. Biden harshly condemned Putin, provided essential, reliable military aid, and was a unifying force in ensuring NATO support.

The Trump administration suspended military aid to Ukraine, saying it was “pausing and reviewing” the aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” Trump has splintered the NATO alliance by going it alone, presenting a pro-Putin peace proposal rejected strongly by European countries and Ukraine. He has put the burden of funding military aid to Ukraine on European allies.

When Trump and Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, in August, they ostensibly agreed that Putin’s wish list for ending the war would be part of a U.S. peace proposal. This wish list included the industrial-heavy Donbas region of Ukraine becoming a part of Russia, the Ukrainian army reduced significantly, and Ukraine never being allowed to join NATO.

To Ukraine, these demands landed in a 28-point peace proposal like exploding drones.

Naturally, Ukraine rejected the proposal, European NATO nations huddled quickly to reject it, and Trump re-framed the proposal as a starting point for talks. A second, 20-point U.S. proposal was next offered — containing the same poison pills. It was another pro-Putin proposal, aimed at getting Ukraine to capitulate.

As Ukraine refused to meet Russian demands, Trump implied that Zelenskyy was the obstinate party that didn’t want peace and bore responsibility for the war dragging on, by not agreeing to Trump’s Russo-centric peace proposal.

“It takes two to tango,” said Trump — meaning that to end the war, Zelenskyy must dance the Russian polka.

Music to Putin’s ears, Trump has been telling Zelenskyy and the world that Ukraine can’t win, that Russia “has the cards,” and that for Kyiv, fighting on is a lost cause. Trump has put Ukraine in a weakened military and political position, empowering Putin to press the battle with renewed vigor. At some point, Zelenskyy may have no choice but to capitulate and cede a part of his country to Russia. If that occurs, a brutal aggressor will have been rewarded for invading a sovereign nation — with a huge assist from Trump.

Had Trump not been elected, the U.S. no doubt would have continued its commitment to helping defend Ukraine and working within the NATO coalition to put maximum military and economic pressure on Russia. Ukraine would be in a much better place today to sue for a just peace, one that doesn’t reward the invader and that addresses the horrendous atrocities committed against Ukraine and its people.

When Trump was elected in 2025, Putin was given the greatest gift he could ask for since his invasion of Ukraine: an ally in the White House. Putin knew Trump’s loyalty would lie with Russia given Trump’s friendship, his long-time business dealings with Russian banks, and Russian elites’ investments in Trump properties. He also knew that to Trump, Ukraine was a small, dispensable piece of the political puzzle.

Trump’s insatiable quest for a Nobel Prize drives him to seek peace at any cost to Ukraine. In addition, he has accomplished what Putin could never do by himself: splintering the NATO coalition, pitting Trump’s pro-Russian peace efforts against European nations’ pro-Ukrainian works. Thanks to Trump, Putin could now blame NATO for hindering U.S. peace efforts and claim European nations are “on the side of war.”

While Trump is selling out Ukraine, European allies are increasing military aid to help fill the gap left by U.S. disengagement. Unlike Trump, leaders in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, and Demark, along with Canada and Australia, refuse to turn their backs on an ally in its time of greatest need.

Historically, though imperfect in its efforts, America has been a staunch defender of democratic countries against totalitarian aggression. Under Trump, the U.S. has aided totalitarian aggression against a sovereign democracy by cutting off support essential for an ally’s defense.

If a perfidious land-for-peace appeasement agreement is reached, who would rule out Putin rewarding Trump with a deal providing U.S. access to critical minerals in Russia’s new Donbas region? One filthy hand washes the other.

• Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor