Donald Trump had long insisted that if he were president, Russia would never have invaded Ukraine. “This war would have never happened if I were president,” he declared in 2022, suggesting that his “tough” negotiating skills would have deterred Vladimir Putin. Yet reality has a way of exposing such boasts – especially now, as Russia launches its largest-ever drone attack on Ukraine… while Trump is, in fact, president.
Wait – what?
The timing of Russia’s massive 90-drone assault this week is a brutal irony for his claims. If his logic held – that strong leadership alone prevents war – then why is Putin escalating now, with President Trump in office? The answer is simple: Trump’s theory was always a fantasy.
The Flaw in Trump’s Logic
Trump’s argument hinges on the idea that Putin invaded Ukraine because he saw weakness in Biden. But history tells a different story. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 – while Barack Obama was president and Biden was vice president – and fueled separatist wars in eastern Ukraine for years. Putin’s ambitions didn’t begin in 2022, and they weren’t deterred by Trump’s presidency either. In fact, during Trump’s term, Putin tested limits with cyberattacks, election interference, and the poisoning of dissidents – hardly signs of intimidation.
Worse, Trump’s own actions may have emboldened Putin. He repeatedly praised the Russian leader, dismissed Russia’s bounties on U.S. soldiers, and even threatened to withhold military aid from Ukraine unless it investigated Biden. If anything, Putin may have seen Trump as an ally – or at least an unpredictable figure he could manipulate.
The Drone Attack That Undercuts Trump’s Narrative
This week’s assault – targeting Kyiv, Lviv, and critical infrastructure – shows Putin’s war is far from over. If Trump’s mere presence in the Oval Office was enough to stop the invasion, why didn’t Putin pause hostilities after Trump’s return? Because wars aren’t decided by one leader’s “toughness.” They’re shaped by geopolitics, military strategy, and long-term goals – none of which hinge on who sits in the White House at a given moment.
Trump’s claim was always more about self-promotion than reality. The war didn’t start because of Biden, just as it wouldn’t have magically vanished under Trump. And now, as Ukraine fights off Russia’s largest drone strike yet, one thing is clear: empty boasts don’t stop wars. Only sustained resolve does.
Also by Roswell: Trump’s reckless defiance is turning U.S. Courts into a toothless tiger
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One recalls the calls of ‘weak’ being projected onto the Obama administration by FoxNews when Putin invaded first time 2014, Crimea and eastern Ukraine; not a whisper of or about Ukrainian victims….
Meanwhile in Oz, conga lines of US led faux anti-imperialist sh*theads of the left (imo right?) writing in support of Putin using Kremlin talking points, like FoxNews?
RW electoral opportunism and Kremlin astroturfs….
This article unfortunately contains mainstream media misrepresentations, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how they managed to insert themselves.
I’ll just address two of them.
The article linked to the annexation of Crimea states in regard to the 2014 referendum for Crimea to re-join Russia, “the ‘referendum’ was not recognised by Ukraine or any other nation.”
From Jacques Baud, “Crimea was separated from Ukraine by referendum in January 1991, six months before Ukrainian independence and under Soviet rule. In fact, it’s Ukraine that illegally annexed Crimea in 1995.”
An illegal annexation by Ukraine that is of no interest to the Western media.
The only interest from the West in this, is the status of a 2014 referendum that merely confirmed the result from one in 1991, while Ukraine was a Soviet republic.
The article linked to the annexation of Crimea states “2014 Feb/March Russia invades and annexes Crimea.”
From Jacques Baud — “In 2014 there was Russian military in Crimea under the Status of Forces Agreement that was signed with Kiev in 2010 and valid until 2042. When Ukrainian nationalist paramilitaries began violently confronting Crimean self-defense militias, (after unrest following the banning of the Russian language) the Russian military (legally stationed in Crimea) intervened, invoking the principle of “responsibility to protect” (R2P).
Thus, neither for the Donbass nor for the Crimea, was there a Russian invasion in 2014. Despite their repeated allegations, the West has never provided concrete evidence confirming a Russian “invasion”, or even a “landing” of special forces. But the lie of a Russian invasion was necessary to bolster the more general lie of Russian aggression.”
The science fiction writer Philip K Dick once wrote “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”
But perhaps a better way to put it is “Reality is that which persists despite what you want to believe”.
Yes
Zelensky offers an unconditional ceasefire.
Putin avoids a ceasefire and just repeats his original demands
But somehow the pro Putin brigade continues to claim this is the fault of Ukraine
Yes SD, despite America breaching / frustrating all arms treaties with Russia, all matters between Ukraine and Russia were slowly but surely being wrangled by Russia and Ukraine, that is before America’s NATO put its ballistic bib in.
BTW. Who and what is the ‘pro Putin brigade’? What defines them?
BTW. Who and what is the ‘pro Putin brigade’? What defines them?
I presume the question is directed to me.
I’ve previously explained my view that the pro Putin brigade is a weird coalition of anti vaxers, ill informed and unintelligent Trump supporting fascists, conspiracy theorists, old fashioned communists that yearn for the return of the Soviet Union, people with an oddly placed mistrust of democracy, whining types that are endlessly critical of western prosperity without being able to coherently articulate an alternative.
Apologies if I’ve omitted anyone
An alternative way of looking at such questions is to ask- why do so many of Russia’s neighbours seek to look to a future free of Russian domination?