[nathanbedford]

As much as I have praised Trump for his economic policies in a reply just a few minutes old, that much and more I condemn him for a misguided and failed policy concerning Ukraine.

Macron is not a jerk, he is a politician who is doing what he must do in the wake of Donald Trump's remarks. Any European leader who dutifully agrees to buy American arms with no commensurate contribution to the cause of the war by the US, will be run out of office as a patsy for Trump.

Trump profits while French taxpayers pay? Few European leaders will be politically foolish to take that proposal to their people.

This is not a transactional situation. The amount of money that the United States is spending on the Ukraine war is trivial when one considers the sheer tonnage of waste that our government indulges every year, all as exposed by DOGE. We have not spent $380 billion, Trump has continually misled the nation by parroting that number.

We are at risk of being miserly, penny wise and pound foolish, even greedy, at a time when we need statesmanship. Our alliances, especially those alliances in the Pacific rim where we desperately need allies against China, are watching us.

First, Trump excoriates our ally, Ukraine (yes our ally!), Negotiates against Ukraine's interest, he accedes to all Russia's demands at the beginning of negotiations, he humiliates the President of Ukraine in an effort to bludgeon that country into accepting Russia's demands, when this campaign fails, he flip-flops and takes the other side.

But he takes the other side only at profit. Our allies, our potential allies around the world, are not blind to this travesty.

[PGR88]

But he takes the other side only at profit. Our allies, our potential allies around the world, are not blind to this travesty.

The upshot being - Trump is OK with the war in Ukraine, and confronting nuclear-armed Russia, as long as others will buy the equipment from us when doing so? It seems absurd.

[Alberta's Child]

1. Ukraine is not an ally of the United States.

2. The country is led by a guy who made campaign appearances on behalf of Kamala Harris in 2024.

3. There is no compelling national interest at stake for the U.S. in this Russia-Ukraine debacle.

There isn’t an issue that defines the utter corruption of the U.S. political establishment more clearly and thoroughly than Ukraine.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone who even remotely identifies with the MAGA movement would give one tenth of a sh!t about a country’s leaders and U.S. handlers have gone to such great lengths to engineer a coup against Donald Trump since 2019.

[Williams]

You are a bit mistaken. If Trump had agreed to all of Russia’s demands, the war would have ended on those terms. It hasn’t.
Trump has tried to broker a deal for both sides with a ceasefire in place a the centerpiece.
Russia is greedy and doesn’t want to stop.
We will have to see if the other NATO counties sign onto the deal. That means mainly Germany and England.
As for Macron, he’s perhaps the biggest cheerleader against Russia in Ukraine. If he wants to provide French weapons instead, that’s fine.
But if he’s not going to provide his own weapons in place of the Trump deal then my criticism stands.

[CrimsonTidegirl]

Screw Ukraine and Screw Western Europe.

They aren’t allies in any way, shape or form.

Europeans sneer and look down their noses at us, yet demand that we pay for their defense and their social programs. Enough!

Ukraine has already taken billions of dollars from the US taxpayers. NO MORE!

We owe Europe, including Ukraine, absolutely nothing.