WSJ editorial board takes a swipe at 'desperate' Trump 'tilting toward a sellout'

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board expressed serious concerns over President Donald Trump's concessions to Russia on Ukraine this week, writing that he "tilts toward a Ukraine sellout."

In recent days, Trump — who has cozied up with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 presidential election — has backed off the longtime stance the U.S. has held in solidarity with Europe to protect Ukraine from the yearslong, brutal Russian invasion, falsely suggesting Ukraine started the war and offering up "peace" proposals that one-sidedly give all concessions to Russia.

"Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky replied on Wednesday that Mr. Trump was living in a 'disinformation space,' which may have been imprudent but was accurate," wrote the board, which has also been outspoken against Trump's recent economic policies. "Mr. Trump escalated on Wednesday, as he usually does, calling Mr. Zelensky a 'dictator,' and suggesting Ukraine’s leader snookered the U.S. into supporting a war 'that couldn’t be won, that never had to start.' Mr. Zelensky 'refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’'"

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None of this is true, the board wrote.

"The war began not because Mr. Putin had legitimate security fears — but because the aging former KGB agent wants to reassemble most of the Soviet empire he saw crumble as a young man," continued the board. "Ukraine has delayed elections while it is operating under martial law and fighting a war for survival. Its constitution allows this, and Britain under Nazi siege didn’t hold an election during World War II. Was Churchill a dictator? Ukraine’s democracy is fragile and would be stronger if it could affiliate with Western institutions like the European Union. The only dictator in the war is Mr. Putin, who poisons exiled Russians on foreign soil and banishes opponents to Arctic prison camps. Call us when he holds a free election."

The board reiterated their gripes with former President Joe Biden's foreign policy, including following through on the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that Trump initially brokered. Nonetheless, "Americans may have a similar reaction if they see Russia emerge triumphant and realize this wasn’t the peace they had in mind."

The way forward, the board concluded, is "making clear to Mr. Putin the arms and pressure he’ll face if the Russian doesn’t wind down the war to accept a durable peace. As it stands now, Mr. Trump’s seeming desperation for a deal is a risk to Ukraine, Europe, U.S. interests — and his own Presidency."