Trump’s Ukraine rhetoric a dangerous turning point

Donald Trump is far from alone in wanting peace in Ukraine. But as he pursues that goal he is making a grave error in failing to comprehend the immense damage being done to perceptions of the US as a stable, reliable and trustworthy ally. It may be, as is often said, that Mr Trump has never come across a dictator he doesn’t admire. But he is undermining Western strategic interests, including those of the US, and playing into the hands of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin by heaping calumny on Ukraine’s brave fight for survival as an independent, democratic nation in the face of Moscow’s drive to subjugate it. Kyiv, its brave leader Volodymyr Zelensky and the free world, of which Mr Trump is supposed to be the leader, deserve better than the US President’s parroting untruths from Moscow’s playbook. He is tilting towards “a Ukrainian sellout” that would give Putin what he wants. Excluding Ukraine from peace talks is wrong.

Mr Trump should not forget the lesson of the Biden presidency, which tried to wash its hands and skedaddle from Afghanistan, but set in motion a series of crises that came to define the Democrat’s ill-starred White House incumbency, reinforcing the view of those who believed the US was in decline.

It is nonsense to assert, as Mr Trump did, that Mr Zelensky is a “dictator” who “started” the war in Ukraine and snookered the US and other Western nations into supporting a conflict, at a cost of $US350bn ($549.6bn), “that couldn’t be won”. The truth is the war, which started three years ago when Russian forces swarmed across the border, had its genesis in Putin’s ambition to re-establish the former Soviet Union that he served as a brutal KGB colonel. Has Mr Trump forgotten that Putin, in 2014, overran and seized Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, defying international law?

It is absurd to claim, as Mr Trump did, that Mr Zelensky has just 4 per cent approval in polls and condemn him as a “dictator” fearful of holding an election (another Kremlin propaganda claim). Ukraine has delayed elections while it is under martial law, fighting a war for survival. Like many countries, its constitution allows this. Britain did not hold an election during World War II. Did that make Winston Churchill, whose effigy Mr Trump has in the Oval Office, a dictator?

The US President should note recent polling in Ukraine showing Mr Zelensky with a popular approval rating of 57 per cent. That is better than Mr Trump’s current rating of around 50 per cent. As The Times editorialised: “Even allowing for Mr Trump being thin-skinned, his remarks (about Mr Zelensky and Ukraine) were appalling, and it must be hoped they will be retracted. He should reflect on the dark reality of Mr Putin’s regime” – a regime ruling “a pariah state (that) is a criminal enterprise (which) murders opponents, undermines democracy and invades weaker neighbours”.

Mr Trump would do well, too, to reflect on what Ukraine’s defence of its sovereignty has done for the West. “The West has massively benefited from it: Kyiv’s efforts have weakened Moscow’s military capabilities, and the war is tanking Russia’s economy … Ukraine has paid in blood – an estimated 46,000 of its soldiers are dead, another 390,000 have been wounded, not to mention tens of thousands of civilian deaths. (But) most importantly, helping Ukraine defend itself from Vladimir Putin’s illegal, barbaric invasion was the right thing to do, ” Mr Trump’s favourite newspaper, the New York Post, wrote on Wednesday.

Mr Trump’s transactional view of Ukraine fails to reflect broader strategic issues that matter to democracies and the rules-based order everywhere. It ignores the reality that Ukraine is almost certainly the first domino in Putin’s desire to recreate Moscow’s imperial domination of its region. The Baltic states and Poland could be the next targets. It is also trashing US standing as a credible ally, especially in Taiwan, which relies heavily on Washington.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as he considers his long-threatened invasion of Taiwan, will be buoyed by Mr Trump’s disdain for Kyiv’s fightback. A similar invasion by China, and a similar response from Washington, would change the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and the world. That is how grave the effect of Mr Trump’s rhetoric could be. Tony Abbott, not normally a Trump critic, got it right when he said the US President is “living in fantasy land” on Ukraine and Mr Zelensky. The free world will pay a heavy price if he continues to do so. Mr Trump needs to learn, like Neville Chamberlain in 1938, that peace at any price is not the answer when dealing with tyrants.