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Trump’s Political Waltz with Putin and Zelensky As Election Day Approaches

Oct 28, 2024 | Foreign Policy

Trump’s Political Waltz with Putin and Zelensky As Election Day Approaches

Trump’s Political Waltz with Putin and Zelensky As Election Day Approaches

Foreign Policy #165 | By: Yelena Korshunov | October 29, 2024
Featured Photo: vanityfair.com

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Trump on Putin. “I’m going to hit you…”  

Former US president and incumbent Republican candidate for the presidency, Donald Trump has never hidden his enthusiastically warm attitude towards Russian president Vladimir Putin. The  influence of Russia on the course of the presidential elections in 2016 has been investigated by the FBI, and 11 suspects are wanted in relation to this case. Trump denies any Russian interference in this matter and, on the threshold of the 2024 presidential elections, feeds voters new details of his past interaction with Putin in regards to the war in Ukraine. 

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on October 18th, Trump said that he threatened to strike Moscow if Russia attacks Ukraine, “I said to Putin, ‘Vladimir, if you go after Ukraine, I am going to hit you so hard, you’re not even going to believe it. I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow.’” According to Trump, Putin’s answer was “No way”. Trump’s private relationship with Putin could be different than what he presents to the public. It’s unclear how the conversation was developed after Putin’s ambiguous response.  

What’s remarkable is that in February 2022 Trump described Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius” and “savvy” that sounds very contradicting to his own words about threatening Russia’s dictator.  

In an interview with Elon Musk in August, Trump said that while serving as US president, he warned Vladimir Putin that “bad days would come” if Russia attacks Ukraine. According to the former president, this was the last time he spoke with Putin. 

John Micklethwait, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg, interviewed Trump asking him about a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward that includes an unnamed aide saying Trump and Putin had spoken as many as seven times since Trump left office in 2021. The editor posed questions about his and Putin’s long-scrutinized relationship, particularly in light of Mr. Trump’s criticism of military aid to Ukraine. However, Trump declined to comment on whether he’d talked with the Russian president since leaving the White House. However, he added, “If I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing.” 

Trump on Zelensky. “The greatest salesman I’ve ever seen…” 

Donald Trump recently stated that Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky bears personal responsibility for the fact that he “allowed” the Russian invasion of Ukraine to begin. In an interview with a republican PBD podcast author Patrick Beth-David, Trump said, “I think Zelensky is one of the greatest salesmen I’ve ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him $100 billion. Who else got that kind of money in history? There’s never been. And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him, because I feel very badly for those people. But he should never have let that war start. That war is a loser.” 

At the end of September, Zelensky and Trump met at Trump Tower in New York. This was their first face-to-face meeting in five years. Speaking to reporters at the beginning of the meeting, Zelensky said that “we have a common view that the war in Ukraine must be stopped, and Putin cannot win.” Trump stated that if he wins the election, he will “quickly resolve the issue” with the war. He told reporters that “we have very good relations [with Zelensky], and I also have very good relations, as you know, with Putin. And I think if we win [the elections], we will solve this very quickly.” As Zelensky commented later in October, at a meeting with Trump, he [Zelensky] said that to protect Ukraine, it [Ukraine] needs to either join NATO or have access to nuclear weapons. He later made an additional comment that this does not mean that Ukraine is going to produce nuclear weapons itself. Recently, Zelensky told the New Yorker [magazine] that he believes Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war” and called Trump’s running mate JD Vance “too radical” and “dangerous” for suggesting that Ukraine should give up its territory to end the conflict. 

Policy Analysis 

The atmosphere of the presidential race is heating up as the date of elections gets closer. The latest survey published on Monday, October 21st by The Washington Post shows that the candidates are racing neck-and-neck across the country’s seven states that can swing in favor of either candidate. The other Harris-Trump polls across the country demonstrate nearly the same picture. A promise to end the war in Ukraine is a winning point designed to attract votes. On the one hand, Trump wants to show that he is a strong leader who threatened Putin, warning him to not even think about invading Ukraine. But at the same time, his position to stop the war consists of leaving the conquered territories to the invader– that is actually a direct demand made by Putin. Getting an official recognition of the right to annex the violently captured lands to Russia, Putin would achieve his goal.  

This political waltzing on debris of the ruined cities and thousands of taken lives seems to have nothing in common with establishing peace in the world. Many politicians, not only in Ukraine, but throughout the world agree that this step would only temporarily stop Putin, who would win time to strengthen his position and accumulate weapons. His next attack on the territory of European states will not be long in coming. 

 

Engagement Resources 

 

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