Trump A Big Talker But Pitiful Leader

Most people, when having to solve a difficult problem, figure out a way to decide what to do. Claiming particular skill at this, former President George W. Bush even called himself “the Decider.” The current President of the United States, whenever his own personal – usually either vengeful or money-making — interests are not involved, does not seem able to do this. But he has to, because it’s in his job requirements.

Trump’s latest pronouncement about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – Russia’s military is floundering, Ukraine could regain its territory from Russian occupation – suggests that he has at last understood, after months of denial and kowtowing to Putin, that it is important to America that Russia’s attempt be defeated to destroy the international norm forbidding aggression against other countries.

One could suppose that he now intends, in consequence, to take steps to achieve such a result, such as resuming arms deliveries to Ukraine, lifting restrictions on their use against Russia, throwing vigorous U.S. support to NATO efforts to support the Ukrainians, and exerting meaningful pressure on Russia to abandon its goal of subjugating Ukraine.

It would be nice to believe all this. It might yet happen. But two things should give us pause. Trump is famous for professing to believe what he heard from the last person to have his ear. In this case, it was Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who despite having been abominably treated and thrown out of the White House last February, has been trying for months to explain to Trump the facts of life.

But in a broader sense, Trump is badly fumbling this crucial national security issue. He came into office loudly insisting that he could resolve the conflict in twenty-four hours. Of course, that was a ridiculous claim, but he chose to nail it to his chest. He tried browbeating Zelenskyy, he tried begging Putin, only to admit that the problem was “a bit more difficult” than he thought. He was forced to come to this conclusion because he does not read, does not want the intelligence and advice which professionals in the U.S. government are ready to give him, and has no comprehension of the complex mixture of needs and motivations of allies and adversaries alike. He seeks to discard complexity and ambiguity, in favor of personal self-interested deal-making, not realizing that his counterparts know better and could not afford to do the same even if they wanted to. Last month in Alaska, we saw the pattern repeated: he stood by grinning as Putin humiliated him again.

The truth is that Trump has no idea how to end this war, no idea what to do to get there, no idea under what terms it should end, and no idea what a resultant peace should look like. Trump says he wants to end the killing, a praiseworthy sentiment and one he seems to feel genuinely. But given his responsibilities for developing strategy to further American national interest and American well-being, it is woefully inadequate. That an American president should have proven to be so hapless, and publicly to boot, is a humiliation – and bodes ill.

Tom Wolfson is a former senior U.S. diplomat who has lived and worked in six foreign countries, occasionally multiple times. His work representing the U.S. has included assignments at the United Nations, in the U.S. Congress, and with an international democracy-building organization. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 300 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions