Today Trump made it clear that he is with Putin against Ukraine.
One month ago I wrote that the U.S. President was now playing on team Putin. Some thought that I was too tough on Mr. Trump. Thoughts now, folks?
BY MICHAEL ANDERSEN
As Maya Angelou said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”.
Today - June 4, 2025 - was the day when U.S. President Donald J. Trump definitively showed us who and what he is when it comes to Ukraine. And human suffering.
If a Marsian arrived on Planet Earth and read the President’s post, our guest would think that it was Ukraine that had started the war. And that Vladimir Putin was a valuable and trustworthy partner for the U.S. interested in peace on earth etc.
Today, Trump really took his cynicism to new heights. On the one hand, he declares that “President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent [Ukrainian] attack on the airfield.” In other words, Putin informs Trump that he will go bomb and kill yet more Ukrainians. However, this doesn’t faze the U.S. President who still considers that “It was a good conversation …”
In a post from late April called “Trump has chosen side: The U.S. President is on team Putin now,” I laid out a string of indications for Trump having chosen side. Putin’s side. Some thought that I was too tough on the U.S. President. Since then, every week has only piled on more evidence.
Trump’s post (above) was posted around lunchtime Washington time - and then something weird happened. Even weird for Trump. The post was deleted. Only for it to be re-posted one hour later - no changes, no explanation.
My first thought when the post disappeared was that the U.S. President had realised that he had gone too far this time. Even for him.
My second thought was that maybe the post had been taken down, because Putin did not want the support from the U.S. President to be that obvious? (wink-wink)
Why do I say that Trump today definitively showed his true colors? Let’s look at the facts vs the fiction.
The facts
On the one hand, we have the facts, the numbers, the dates, the course of events. In olden times, people like me would use those to make a persuasive analysis or argument. You could then disagree with my conclusions, but not with the facts. (I know, I know, terribly old-fashioned, but we liked it that way 😉)
Russia invaded Ukraine: on the morning of February 24, 2022, we could all watch on TV/internet the Russian dictator declare that he had just ordered Russian troops to cross the border into Ukraine.
The Russian invading forces have committed massive war crimes. This is according to the UN. We have all seen the videos of the raping, torturing and killing in places like Bucha, Irpin and Mariupol and many other places. The British government estimates that more than 100,000 war crimes have been committed.
Russia has now killed more than 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and tens of thousands of civilians, 12-14 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes.
On March 11, 2025, Ukraine declared itself willing to commit to an unconditional ceasefire.
Russia did not, and has not.
In May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Turkey, declaring himself willing to meet with Vladimir Putin. But Putin stayed at home.
After the bust-up in the Oval Office in February, Trump even went as far as directly punishing Ukraine - by pausing the intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians and thereby making it easier for Russia to hit targets in Ukraine. ‘“As a result of this pause, there are hundreds of dead Ukrainians,’ one of the officers told TIME in an interview.”
The spin (what we used to call ‘lies’)
Trump justified Putin’s absence in Turkey with “he didn’t come because I didn’t come.” But stressed that Putin was still very much interested in peace.
In general, the U.S. President has explained the Russian President’s policies more than the Russian has bothered himself, often displaying great sympathy and ‘understanding’ for his Russian counterpart.
Today’s phone call and post are only the latest examples: Note that at no point is Trump questioning that Russia has to retaliate. As if Ukraine had attacked Russia unprovoked. Trump stresses that the two discussed “attacks that have been taking place by both sides”. In fact, Trump’s post is tacit ‘permission’ for Russia to bomb Ukraine. (Thanks to my colleague Padraig Purcell for pointing this out). The Ukrainians in their bomb shelters tonight can send Trump a kind thought.
(‘Funny’, but Trump has never mentioned anything about that Ukraine ‘would have to respond’ to the Russian invasion and the killing of maybe as many as 200,000 Ukrainians?)
Trump has several times stated that Zelensky is the main obstacle to peace.
Trump has several times stated that he thinks that Putin wants peace, and that the Russian leader is not an obstacle to peace.
In fact, after the February bust-up, Trump went as far as to accuse Zelensky and Ukraine of actually having started the war.
When asked about Putin taking advantage of the U.S. having paused its intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians to intensify his bombing of Ukraine (which, according to TIME magazine, had cost hundreds of Ukrainian deaths), Trump shrugged his shoulders and stated that “he [Putin] is only doing what anyone would do.”
On other occasions, the U.S. President has excused Russian bombs as mere “mistakes”.
Trump has promised on many, many occasions over almost two years that he would settle the war very quickly when he returned to power, or even that we were almost there. Candidate Trump: “If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours.” President Trump: “Within this week”, which turned into “within the next two weeks”, which turned into “soon, I think, I hope.”
Trump has, of course, on several occasions looked and sounded like – pretended, who knows? – he was exasperated by Putin’s bombings of hospitals, market squares, buses, playgrounds in Ukraine. Trump told reporters that he was “very surprised” about the latest, massive Putin bombing campaign - “We’re in the middle of talking, and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities.”
“He [Putin] has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people.”, Trump posted on his Truth Social on May 26.
Trump has even, during March, April and May, several times threatened to impose sanctions on Russia.
But so far, no sanctions have been put in place. Asked directly why not, the U.S. President explained - again - as late as last week - that he was close to a deal and that he did “not want to screw that up.”
Aha.
There you have it; the facts versus the spin. Today - June 4, 2025 - the U.S. President eliminated my last shred of doubt about whom he supports - the invaded or the invaders, the defenders or the murderers.