Siding with Putin, Trump Blames Ukraine for War
Despite Russia invading Ukraine and Putin having a warrant out for his arrest, Trump continues to side with Putin.
Despite the clear and present reality of Russia’s war of aggression and war crimes, the Trump administration has switched sides, parroting Putin’s fascist propaganda and calling the duly elected President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a dictator.1 This shift away from supporting Kyiv is not only a sign of the ever-present fascist and oligarchic core of the Trump administration but also a sign of how the Commander in Chief is compromised by Russian propaganda and lies. This compromise with authoritarianism is unacceptable and will only lead to capitulation to Russia’s aggression.
Abandoning an Ally
Trump has long had an issue with Ukraine but has also been remarkably fond of Vladimir Putin, referring to the Russian dictator as “so nice” and a “strong leader.” By contrast, he has lambasted Ukraine and even blamed it for its current occupation by an alleged war criminal, saying:
“I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat…Well, they’ve had a seat for three years. And a long time before that. This could have been settled very easily. Just a half-baked negotiator could have settled this years ago without, I think, without the loss of much land, very little land. Without the loss of any lives. And without the loss of cities that are just laying on their sides.” 2
Trump is ignoring the fact that Ukraine has repeatedly tried to negotiate with Russia to maintain its sovereignty. In 1994, Ukraine, with the assistance of the United States and the United Kingdom, signed the Budapest Memorandum, in which they agreed to hand over their nuclear materials in exchange for Russia recognizing their borders.3 Russia agreed to the terms of the treaty and signed it, but has repeatedly violated their borders, not just in their illegal war of aggression in 2022 but also in their illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.4
To argue that Ukraine created the conditions for their invasion and refusing to condemn Putin, who ordered the invasion, is absurd. It ignores the long-standing fight Ukraine has endured to keep its sovereignty. Whether it was the Soviet Union forcing the Ukrainian people into subservience or the Russian Federation interfering in their elections and attempting to poison opposition in their elections, Ukrainians have had to resist Russian tyranny and abuse. Not the other way around.5 6
I could go into how Putin has a warrant out for his arrest for the illegal deportation and kidnapping of Ukrainian children, but at this point, it is painfully obvious that Republicans who support Trump’s approach don’t care about the facts on the ground.7 They are either isolationists or have bought into Trump’s lies about Putin and his actions.
Conclusion
The painful reality is that Trump will almost certainly suffer no consequences for his decisions or his desire to cozy up to the Russian dictatorship. He will ignore the fact that the Ukrainian constitution prohibits elections under martial law, blaming Zelenskyy.8 He will pretend that Putin isn’t a war criminal or that he was somehow a victim of aggression by Ukraine when he started the war. So long as morally compromised Putin-lovers occupy the GOP like Trump and his allies, nothing will change. The GOP is broken, and it shows.
Mike Pesoli et al., “Trump Warns Zelenskyy to Quickly Negotiate War’s End with Russia or Risk Not Having a Nation to Lead | AP News,” The Associated Press, accessed February 21, 2025, https://apnews.com/article/trump-zelenskyy-ukraine-russia-war-7d18400b935166773bbd3b3323c8aa5f.
Peter Baker, “Trump’s Pivot Toward Putin’s Russia Upends Generations of U.S. Policy,” The New York Times, February 19, 2025, sec. U.S., https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/us/politics/trump-russia-putin.html.
Ukraine: The Budapest Memorandum of 1994, 1994. Harvard. https://policymemos.hks.harvard.edu/files/policymemos/files/2-23-22_ukraine-the_budapest_memo.pdf?m=1645824948
John Simpson, “Russia’s Crimea Plan Detailed, Secret and Successful,” BBC News, March 19, 2014, sec. Europe, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26644082.
“Russia Was Likely behind Poisoning of Former Ukrainian President Yushchenko in 2004 – US Intelligence,” Ukrainska Pravda, November 23, 2024, https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-likely-behind-poisoning-former-121236680.html.
Conor Kelly, “What Is Going on in Ukraine Explained,” The UIS Observer, February 15, 2022, sec. Interview, https://uisobserver.com/news/2022/02/15/what-is-going-on-in-ukraine-explained/.
Frank Gardner and Antoinette Radford, “Putin Arrest Warrant Issued over War Crime Allegations,” March 17, 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64992727.
Roman Goncharenko, “Ukraine: No Presidential Election in 2025?,” DW, sec. News, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-no-presidential-election-in-2025/ar-AA1yF4LQ?ocid=BingNewsSerp.