In a Masterful Sleight of Hand, Trump ends U.S. Involvement in the Ukraine War
Magicians use sleight of hand to manipulate objects (like cards or coins) in a way that fools the audience into seeing something different from reality.
In case you missed it, President Trump just pulled off the most masterful sleight of hand in the history of geopolitics.
In essence, U.S. military involvement in the Ukraine war is over.
Let me repeat that. U.S. military involvement in the Ukraine war is over.
Remarkably, amidst the brouhaha over the Zelenskyy Oval Office meltdown, the most significant development has been largely ignored. Namely, the U.S. is no longer an active participant in the war.
In the immediate aftermath of Monday’s announcement from the White House that “We are pausing and reviewing our aid (to Ukraine) to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” Europe and Ukraine freaked out.
For years, the EU has skirted its financial responsibilities to NATO, investing a paltry 1.9% of GDP on defense. Meanwhile, the U.S. is spending 3.49% of GDP on defense, which includes substantial costs associated with defending French, German and English snobs.
European leftist elitists brag about their compassion and lavish entitlement programs, including free health care and generous benefits for illegal aliens, but much of that money is available because they don’t invest in their own defense. Part of our cost in defending Europe is reflected in our $37 trillion debt.
Trumps Brilliant Sleight of Hand
Seemingly unprepared for a second Trump term, Europe has been gobsmacked by the reality they are not dealing with another U.S. stooge president willing to make bad deals in exchange for tacit approval by Europe’s aristocracy. Instead, Trump is throwing haymakers, and Europe is staggering on the ropes.
What do they do?
On the one hand, they want to continue supporting the forever war status quo because there’s money in it. Led by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, a “coalition of the willing” has been formed in Europe with the intent to put “planes in the air and boots on the ground,” according to Starmer. The coalition wants to provide Ukraine with a $2.8 billion loan backed by frozen Russian assets and $2 billion for air defense.
Honestly, let them have at it.
The brilliance of Trump’s magic is multifaceted. Whether Zelenskyy was goaded into his Oval Office rupture or it happened spontaneously is irrelevant. It provided Trump with the excuse he needed to extricate the U.S. from the quagmire war. Zelenskyy, Ukraine and Europe are left with two limited choices, and both are uncomfortable.
If Zelensky decides to go it alone, he will be relying on an unreliable Europe. The EU is not a military governing body, so when the “coalition of the willing” was announced, it was not unexpected that several countries, including Italy, Poland, Spain and Germany, all said they won’t be participating. Estimates are that without U.S. military support, Ukraine may be able to continue fighting for only a couple months.
If Zelenskyy comes groveling back to Trump for forgiveness, which appears to be the most likely outcome, he will have lost all dignity and leverage. If he ultimately signs the mineral deal, it will be a signal that he has fully capitulated to Trump and peace is at hand.
This will open the door to negotiations and an end to the war as Ukraine will have no choice but to accept whatever deal Trump cuts with Putin. In the most likely scenario, Russia keeps the captured land, the U.S. gets rare earth minerals and a smaller Ukraine is allowed to exist. Peacekeepers will come to Ukraine from somewhere, maybe the U.N., but the U.S. nor Europe will be involved.
Instead, Trump will use the good will he has accumulated with Putin to achieve his larger objective, trade and military disarmament agreements that will weaken Xi Jinping. Expect simultaneous agreements that favor America’s objectives to be signed in tandem with the Ukraine deal, which will allow Trump to claim victory.
One way or another, the Ukraine war is over for the U.S., and Trump accomplished it without anyone even suspecting what his end game actually was. History will correctly identify the Zelenskyy humiliation as a masterful sleight of hand that David Copperfield would be proud of.
Donald Trump may go down as the most crafty, cunning and creative president in the history of the republic.
