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Donald Trump has spent months arguing that he knows how to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours.” He’s even boasted that it would be “easy” to end the crisis. How? By way of a secret deal that the former president has been reluctant to discuss.
About a month ago, the Republican said there were things he could say to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin that he could “guarantee” would end the war “immediately.” Such as? He wouldn’t say. Two weeks ago, Trump elaborated on the point, saying his secret plan involved getting Zelenskyy and Putin into a room, “knocking heads,” and trying to work out a deal.
Of course, getting leaders into a room and hopefully thinking of something does not a plan make.
All of which set the stage for this week, when the former president added fresh insights to his vision. The Daily Beast reported:
During a radio interview with Fox News host (and longtime confidant) Sean Hannity on Monday, the twice-impeached ex-president finally revealed how he personally would have prevented the war. According to Trump, all he needed to do was let Russia “take over” parts of Ukraine.
As part of the on-air interview, the former president congratulated himself for the fact that Russia didn’t invade its neighbors during his White House term. Trump quickly added, “That’s without even negotiating a deal. I could have negotiated. At worst, I could’ve made a deal to take over something, there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly, but you could’ve worked a deal.”
As it turns out, Hannity aired portions of this interview on his Fox News program hours later, but these comments were omitted from the television broadcast.
Nevertheless, this was probably the most substantive point Trump has raised to date: In his vision, the solution to the crisis is to let Russia “take over” parts of Ukraine. The Republican apparently sees such an approach as credible, because there are “Russian-speaking areas” in Ukraine.
In case this isn’t obvious, let’s go ahead and note that this appeasement plan would reward Russia for attacking its neighbor, signaling to Putin that he can gain greater territory by force with the United States’ blessing. As other countries received the same message, it would likely encourage more wars and additional invasions elsewhere.
In other words, Trump has a vision, and it involves Ukrainian officials giving up parts of their territory to the country that invaded them, in the hopes that might temporarily satisfy Trump’s friends in Moscow. What could possibly go wrong?