Trump is doing the right thing in pushing back on Putin to support Ukraine

Boston Globe

5 days ago

Trump made his announcement during an
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US arms shipments to the beleaguered Ukrainian troops came to a virtual halt following Trump's
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It was a time when Trump thought his well-publicized bromance with Putin would help bring the Russian leader to the bargaining table — even if Trump's pledge to end the conflict on
'I felt we had a deal about four times,'
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And as Trump told reporters Sunday in Washington, Putin 'talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening.'
And that certainly has been
For years, Trump has managed to look beyond Putin's blatant flouting of international law — his targeting of Ukraine's civilians and its critical infrastructure and even his encouraging the
The question remains: Will this change in attitude be too little, too late?
The weapons deal, of course, has a certain transactional appeal to Trump, who has harped on NATO nations paying more to assure European security going back to his first administration. And as the threat from Russia, beyond its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, becomes ever more real to the rest of its neighbors, so did the need for a response. That is now a done deal.
'We'll send them a lot of weapons of all kinds,'
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Trump's threat of tariffs of as much as 100 percent on those nations that do business with Russia remains just that, a threat, unless the Senate, which has been working on a bill since April, moves to make it real.
It would target countries like China, India, and Brazil, which continue to
buy oil, gas, and other products from Russia despite existing sanctions that were imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
'That's the money Putin uses to prosecute the war,' Graham said Sunday on 'Face the Nation.'
The Senate sanctions bill would give the president the power to impose tariffs of up to 500 percent on any nation doing business with Russia. That kind of economic pressure might encourage more Russians to oppose Putin's war, given how dearly the country has already paid in rubles and lives. Russia has lost as many as
Graham and Representative French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, also promoted the possibility of using seized Russian assets to help the Ukrainian war effort.
'I think it's time for the president to convert those seized assets to a trust account for the benefit of Ukraine,' Hill said on 'Face the Nation.'
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It would be encouraging for Congress, a coequal branch of government let's not forget, to show some backbone here by passing the Senate bill — which is tougher than Trump's proposal — rather than play 'May I,' awaiting orders from the president. And wouldn't that be an encouraging sign, one that even Putin could read.
Absent that two-pronged show of commitment, it's entirely likely Trump's 50-day deadline will come and go without bringing Putin to the table even as those Russian drones keep up their nightly killing spree.
Trump can be justly proud of the arms deal with NATO and its potential impact. He should also know by now that the only thing Putin understands is force, whether military or economic, and how essential that sanctions 'sledgehammer' from the Senate can be.
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