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Trump’s Trumpy Ukraine Gambit
Wall Street Journal ^ | February 25, 2025 | Holman W. Jenkins

Posted on 02/26/2025 7:22:19 AM PST by karpov

Let’s not be squirrels who find the same nut over and over and are surprised each time.

Donald Trump’s latest outburst represents, by my count, the third round of Mr. Trump popping off at Ukraine’s President Zelensky, perhaps for no reason deeper than Mr. Zelensky’s spurning of a Trump proffer on minerals.

Mr. Trump’s all-purpose strategy when frustrated is tit-for-tat. It fills his need to dominate the news constantly while he fumbles around for a laurel to award himself in place of the one that got away. Where press disingenuousness bleeds into dishonesty is treating his every ad lib as if it carries the same weight as the carefully scripted and planned statements of an Obama or Bush. A Trump blather blaming Ukraine for not negotiating segued into something he didn’t clearly mean, yet now his team must mumblingly agree Ukraine started the war.

On negotiation, however, he has a point. When Joe Biden’s chief military adviser urged talks in November 2022, he exposed a problem: Here was Ukraine’s chief ally recommending peace with its Russian occupier after carelessly suggesting Russia could be expelled, reparations could be extracted, and Vladimir Putin could be rung up before a war crimes tribunal.

Ukraine’s supporters never came close to willing the means to support these ends. With his army splayed out on Ukraine’s roads, Mr. Putin made garish nuclear threats precisely because he couldn’t protect his troops from NATO air power. When he was discombobulated by early failure, the West could have taken advantage but didn’t. The Biden administration could have called for a significant increase in U.S. defense spending. It didn’t.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: 202211; bidenswar; holmanwjenkins; trump; ukraine
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1 posted on 02/26/2025 7:22:19 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

>> Let’s not be squirrels who find the same nut over and over and are surprised each time.

For just that reason, Jenkins, I’ll NEVER subscribe to your f’n “news” paper. Don’t want to see your nuts on my doorstep. Ever.

Now GFY.


2 posted on 02/26/2025 7:25:21 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Hope, as a righteous product of properly aligned Faith, IS in fact a strategy.)
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To: karpov

This Holman W. Jenkins must go through life as an insufferable fag.

Sucks to be him.


3 posted on 02/26/2025 7:26:06 AM PST by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: karpov

Twisted neo con article praying for WWIII.


4 posted on 02/26/2025 7:27:32 AM PST by nwrep
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To: karpov

Biased junk from thr first sentence.

Not even worth reading.


5 posted on 02/26/2025 7:30:44 AM PST by Red6
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To: Red6

BARF-WORTHY article.


6 posted on 02/26/2025 7:32:57 AM PST by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA-PRO-MAX)
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To: karpov

Trump used to pop off about Little Marco, too. Now Little Marco is Trump’s SoS.


7 posted on 02/26/2025 7:33:03 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: Red6

His therapist is probably Dr. Bandee Li.


8 posted on 02/26/2025 7:34:57 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Privatize the administrative state!)
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To: karpov

Where would one even start?

Try this - Zelensky cancelled elections. That defines him as a dictator

What do people want from him? From this destructive hopeless war against Russia?


9 posted on 02/26/2025 7:35:09 AM PST by stanne (Because they were mesmerized by Obama, the man for whom this was named, whose name they left out of )
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To: karpov

WSJ: “We could have beaten Russia in a war on their border, if only we had tried harder!”


10 posted on 02/26/2025 7:39:12 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Nervous Tick

Globalist media organization says what?


11 posted on 02/26/2025 7:39:38 AM PST by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: karpov

The WSJ repeatedly condemns Trump’s strategy on a Monday, and sullenly reports the resulting success on a Wednesday.

Losers.


12 posted on 02/26/2025 7:41:02 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (No American money or lives for Europe’s censorious, socialist, anti-democratic islamophiles!!!)
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To: stanne
Try this - Zelensky cancelled elections. That defines him as a dictator

Not even close. Zelensky is following the constitution during a state of war and has the full support of the parliament which just confirmed that he is the legitimate and elected president. Even the opposition is against holding an election during the time of war.

13 posted on 02/26/2025 7:48:34 AM PST by Petrosius
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To: karpov

Biden and the Deep State were looking to skim money from the aid packages to Ukraine. Therefore, there were many of them to increase their ability to skim off them. Giving Ukraine the military aid it needed to stop Russia or force them to the negotiating table was never the plan. In fact, the Bidet Regime put limitations on the use of the military materiel provided, i.e., don’t bomb the refineries.


14 posted on 02/26/2025 7:56:16 AM PST by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
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To: stanne

well, it is in the Ukrainian constitution ( https://rm.coe.int/constitution-of-ukraine/168071f58b ) prohibits the holding of elections during martial law, which was extended in July 2023, one year after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Article 83 of the Ukrainian constitution states: “In the event that the term of authority of the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine’s parliament] of Ukraine expires while martial law or a state of emergency is in effect, its authority is extended until the day of the first meeting of the first session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, elected after the cancellation of martial law or of the state of emergency,”

Article 19 of Ukraine’s martial law legislation explicitly prohibits holding national elections while the country remains under wartime restrictions. The law states: “Under martial law, the following are prohibited: holding elections of the president of Ukraine, as well as elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local self-government bodies.”

Note that these articles were validated in 1996 as the constitution of Ukraine.


15 posted on 02/26/2025 8:02:56 AM PST by Cronos
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To: Petrosius

Full support of parliament. Ok. You know he has a 4 (four) % approval rating among Ukrainians. Right?


16 posted on 02/26/2025 8:03:49 AM PST by stanne (Because they were mesmerized by Obama, the man for whom this was named, whose name they left out of )
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To: stanne
You know he has a 4 (four) % approval rating among Ukrainians. Right?

Incorrect! Before Trump calling him a dictator his approval rating was in the mid to high 50's. It actually soared afterwards but this was only the people rallying around the flag and will not last. Do not listen to Russian propaganda. Zelensky is actually popular in Ukraine, although not universally, just as you would expect in a democracy.

17 posted on 02/26/2025 8:16:17 AM PST by Petrosius
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To: stanne

Is the Journal worth $1/week? Gotta admit it’s higher-level informative even if they don’t get it right too often. Still $52/year doesn’t seem too expensive.

My problem is canceling. These people don’t make it easy. Netflicks screwed me out of $15.


18 posted on 02/26/2025 8:20:21 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: karpov

Aussie Murdoch’s globalist open border rag.

‘nuff said.


19 posted on 02/26/2025 8:23:08 AM PST by Biblebelter
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To: karpov

Trump is drawing Russia into a settlement.


20 posted on 02/26/2025 8:41:40 AM PST by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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