President Trump is trying to end the Ukraine War. Earlier this week, Vice President J.D. Vance proposed that the fighting stop with Russia keeping the ground it’s gained and Ukraine pledging not to join NATO.
Obviously, President Trump’s hand is strengthened if the mainstream media and the nation’s political leaders are united behind him. Unfortunately, Trump’s detractors don’t like the Vance peace proposal. German Lopez, writing for the New York Times, implied that Trump favored Russia over Ukraine:
Russia invaded Ukraine, but you wouldn’t know that from the peace negotiations. At every step, President Trump has pushed the victim to give ground, while the aggressor has given little of substance.
Prominent Democrats have also criticized Trump for not being more supportive of Ukraine and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Last month, Senators Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Chris Murphy denounced President Trump and Vice President Vance on television talk shows for ganging up on Zelensky when he visited the White House. As reported by the World Socialist website, all three “backed the Democratic Party’s pro-war line, calling for stepped-up military aid to Ukraine and intensive efforts to defeat the Russian forces . . . .”
Zelensky insists there can be no peace until Russia withdraws from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. He surely takes solace from the Democrats’ opposition to Trump’s peace initiative, which allows him to stubbornly resist a reasonable end to the war.
Zelensky and the Democrats argue that prolonged warfare is justified because Ukraine is the innocent victim of Russian aggression. But of course, Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t see things that way.
From Putin’s perspective, the United States meddled in Ukrainian politics in 2014, when the CIA engineered the overthrow of a popularly elected, pro-Russian Ukrainian president. Russia, reasonably alarmed, invaded Crimea, where it had a significant military presence, and annexed it to the Russian motherland.
Zelensky and the Democrats believe Ukraine deserves better than Trump and Vance’s proposed peace deal. But, to quote Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven, “Deserve ain’t got nothing to do with it.”
The Ukrainians can fight on indefinitely so long as the U.S. provides them with financial assistance and copious military aid. But the casualties will be enormous, and Ukrainian cities will lie in ruins.
Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. will all be better off if the Ukraine war is brought to an end. Unfortunately, Zelensky and his Democratic Party allies have selfish motivations for opposing a reasonable peace deal.
