The World Is Watching. So Should American Voters.
Trump’s Betrayal of Ukraine Has Consequences Beyond Europe
Every concession to Putin and every affront to Ukraine sends a message about American reliability. Voters should consider not only what Trump is doing to American democracy at home, but also what his foreign policy is doing to the country’s standing and security abroad.
Since returning to office in January 2025, Donald Trump’s mistreatment of Ukraine and his coddling of Vladimir Putin have evinced an approach to Ukraine that is less a policy and more a series of impetuous uncoordinated acts of annoyed irritation that have seriously undermined the international reputation of the United States as an ally, a reliable interlocutor, and as a paradigm of democratic values. The greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War is consistently addressed in impulsive decisions, far too uncoordinated to be dignified as “policy,” indisputably taken to cripple Ukraine’s defense efforts against a vengeful invader bent on crushing its independence and returning its citizens to a subservient and exploited existence.
Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine is consistent with the authoritarian instincts that permeate both his domestic and foreign actions. At home, through a series of misguided and often unconstitutional executive orders, he has deliberately pursued a sustained erosion of the checks and balances embodied in the Constitution; he has unleashed a vindictive immigration program executed by a masked force of undertrained, unqualified thugs; he has ignored court orders and sent American troops into American cities to intimidate lawful protesters; and he has sought to unconstitutionally interfere both in the conduct of American elections and even in defining American citizenship itself. This, of course, is regrettably only a partial list of the indignities his authoritarian policies have inflicted upon his own people.
His actions towards Ukraine reflect an even coarser, more malevolent approach; one embodying traits drawn from Trump’s attraction to those sharing his authoritarian instincts, Putin, principally, but certainly Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, and the now the democratically dispatched Victor Orbán as well.
On the campaign trail before the 2024 American presidential election, Trump promised that he would end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours” - a vow that, according to CNN, he repeated at least 53 times leading up to the election and one that offered a presentiment of his amateurish grasp of the details of the conflict and his disinterest in the important ethical, diplomatic, and security principles at stake. From the beginning of his second presidency, Donald Trump has seen Ukraine as a personal affront viewing its right to self-determination and its defense of that right as an act of defiant impudence, not against the marauding Russians who have invaded Ukraine, but against Donald Trump himself. Ukraine, with its stamina, its determination, and its unflagging resolve, irritates Trump who assigns no value to these attributes; he simply wants Ukraine to go away.
Trump’s dismissive attitude was embarrassingly reflected in the execrable conduct Trump and his hand puppet, Vice President, J.D. Vance, exhibited toward Ukrainian President Zelenskyy during a February 2025 meeting in the Oval Office where Trump and Vance berated Zelenskyy and accused him of failing to express, with the sycophancy and groveling they considered their due, the requisite gratitude for American assistance. The confrontational exchange was an embarrassment to American diplomacy leaving nations around the world to wonder what treatment they might expect from the American government if this was the its response to a sovereign allied nation invaded by a belligerent neighbor, and longstanding U.S. adversary, indisputably violating international law.
Trump compounded this abasement of Ukraine by inviting Putin to a summit in Alaska to discuss his proposals to end the Ukraine war without the involvement, or even the presence, of Ukraine’s president. Trump literally rolled the red carpet out for Putin’s arrival in Alaska, while Russian drones and missiles mercilessly savaged Ukrainian cities. It was the most enthusiastic embrace of a ruthless European dictator since Hitler welcomed Vyacheslav Molotov to Berlin to celebrate the signing of the secret pact with the Soviet Union to carve up Poland.
More recently, the duplicitous Trump has
(1) cut a deal with Putin to buy Russian diesel oil in a move that will bring almost no economic relief to American farmers but will supply essential funds to Putin to continue killing Ukrainians,
(2) demanded Ukraine stop bombing Russian diesel refineries to facilitate his deal with Putin, and (3) “suspended” the provisions of the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026,” legislation he signed into law only a month ago that was crafted specifically to cut off the funding and resources used to sustain Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Having been told by Trump on multiple occasions that they “don’t have the cards” needed for leverage in any negotiation, Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians are understandably reluctant to sit at any table with the depraved Putin while Trump plays the role of dealer. For Ukraine, the time-worn adage has never been more fitting: With friends like this, who needs enemies?
Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to American national security and diplomatic efforts and will remain so for as long as he is in office. Trump’s character as president is indelibly stamped as a capricious, self-dealing charlatan interested solely in self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. He cares nothing about self-determination, the maintenance of the peace, the elimination of corruption, or the debasement of the rights of peoples through the authoritarian suppression of human rights.
Donald Trump’s stain on the long-held principles that have defined us as a nation will take a concerted effort to remove. The midterm elections represent an essential opportunity provide the Congress with the backbone to start scrubbing.
HOLD FAST and VOTE
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 450 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.