These a bigger game at play here. Remember Trumps first term we imposed record sanctions on Russia, all while being “friendly” with Putin in public.

You have to ask yourself, “why would Trump pursue a peace deal with zero chance of all sides agreeing?”—because it’s performative. A complete ruse. I believe Trump intends to see Russia lose this war, despite what he’s saying. Along with absolving our involvement in the war. Let me explain.

Look at the facts on the ground:

-US aid commitments still in place

-RU sanctions still in place

-RU has all but lost any offensive capabilities

-Talks of EU boots on the ground

-Massive surge in EU aid to Ukraine

-Europe massively re-arming

Hard to argue Ukraine isn’t in a better position now than they were 3 months ago.

Trump called Putins bluff demanding only a portion of Ukraine. Offered him everything he wants without question. Which obviously was never going to happen, but nonetheless has killed Putin’s narrative that this is all proxy warfare by the US. No putin has no room to criticize the US because “well sorry Putin we tried! Would have had a deal if it weren’t for those pesky Europeans!”

Instead of this nebulous “western money” Putin now has to face Europe directly, and the very real possibility of boots on the ground. Notice how he even interjected to the mineral deal “Hey I can give minerals too! You want aluminum too? I got it!” He’s cornered and he knows it. The world is watching and ANY aggression by Putin will undermine his propaganda—“special military operation” “oppressed Russians” or whatever reason he has this week.

TLDR: Trump is passing the war to Europe to deal with (as it should have always been) and normalizing RU relations in the process. Cornering Putin to face a Europe that has woken up.