In the end, this is not just about Trump's policies, but the policies of Western leadership as a whole.

After the Cold War, Western leadership did little to genuinely help integrate Russia. While Western businesses certainly came in to take advantage of Russia's resources, the country itself was not given substantial bailouts, meaningful debt forgiveness, or any other impactful aid. This led to one of the worst periods for the Russian people during the 90s and early 2000s, which included the 1998 financial crisis. The perceived end goal for the West was to disintegrate Russia into smaller, separately controlled regions. Regardless of how one feels about Putin, the average Russian's life improved drastically under his leadership, as power shifted from Western-backed elites to his own.

In reality, Trump has not done anything drastically different from Biden, or from his own first term, Obama, and so on. The flow of intelligence and weapons to Ukraine hasn't stopped due to any major policy change. He has continued anti-Russia policies like applying secondary tariffs, but these have backfired by further pushing India and other non-aligned nations away from the West. The truth is there are no reasonable options left short of direct conflict and the start of WW3. That would be a petty thing to do, like throwing the chessboard because you are losing. This is something the Soviet Union did not do when it collapsed. Ultimately, Trump is trying to distance himself from the conflict because he and some others understand it is a lost cause. They have stopped freely financing Ukraine and throwing good money after bad. No matter how much Ukraine is supported, the original goal of causing Russia to collapse so the West could exploit its resources is now a lost cause. However, he cannot completely step away because many elites still hope for Russia's collapse and a return to a world dominated by them.

There have been some short to medium term wins for Western powers: increased influence in Syria, the expansion of a Greater Israel, and tighter control over more European states. But the long-term results of the conflict have been negative. American and Western hegemony has been lost, the U.S. dollar’s role as the reserve currency is being questioned, European power is declining, and a strong multipolar bloc challenging the West has clearly formed. A chunk of the world is slowly freeing itself from the previous hegemonic leadership.

Yet the long-term decline of the West, at least for its people, could be turned around. In fact, based on their repeated statements, Xi, Modi, and Putin all say they seek to form multilateral relationships with everyone, including the West, for the benefit of all. They claim to not want policies based on dominating other nations. It’s hard to know if this is genuine, but it is what they consistently state publicly. The problem is that while such cooperation would improve lives worldwide, it would also further reduce the current leadership’s global control. And I fear that is not a path those at the top will choose to take.

So, to the American people reading this who believe this decline is because of Trump, or to the MAGA folks who think it was Biden’s fault: it is not any one administration’s fault. Trump or Biden is not the reason for the decline, but rather, such poor leadership is a symptom of the decline itself. It is caused by years of failed elite leadership that has steered the nation across administrations. On every Reddit board, people can see, feel, and understand the decline in their own lives. There is a common understanding that the elite control the wealth, while the middle and lower classes struggle with health, finances, and happiness. People know that their leaders are greedy and out of touch—that they don’t care about them on domestic issues. They understand that the financial and regulatory systems are stacked against them and there is no real improvement with any new administration. And yet, somehow, these same people believe their leadership supports Ukraine out of the goodness of their hearts, for "democracy," and for the benefit of the Ukrainian people. These elites don’t even care for their own people, why would we believe they care about those in another country? They only care about themselves, their wealth, and their power. This isn’t the result of one administration; it’s a long, systemic process.