Donald Trump may not have the kind of debate performance that he and his supporters were hoping for. My PJ Media colleague Matt Margolis nailed it when he wrote that Trump's performance was "undisciplined."
However, when asked directly about the war in Ukraine, the former president was sharp and nuanced in his response.
Moderator David Muir asked Trump, “You have said you would solve this war in 24 hours. You said so just before the break tonight. How exactly would you do that? And I want to ask you a very simple question tonight: Do you want Ukraine to win this war?”
Those are two totally unrelated questions, but no one's keeping score on that front. The question of whether Trump wants Ukraine to "win" the war is supercilious nonsense. Does Trump want Ukraine to remain a sovereign state? Of course he does. Can either side "win" the war? That's eminently debatable, considering the stalemate over the last year and a half.
Trump responded, “I want the war to stop,” as any sane person does. No one knows the body count on either side, but it's got to be closing in on 100,000 combat deaths each. The number of civilians made refugees in their own country is approaching four million.
Eastern Ukraine is a moonscape. The economy is a wreck. The World Bank estimates that rebuilding Ukraine will cost at least $480 billion. I don't have to tell you which nation will offer the most money for reconstruction.
Ukraine must remain a sovereign nation. Russia cannot be allowed to get away with naked aggression. But Ukraine cannot defeat Russia in a test of arms. The only possible way that Ukraine can prevail in this war and achieve victory is if the U.S. and NATO intervene on their behalf. And joining a war with nuclear-armed Russia is madness.
“I know [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy very well, and I know Putin very well, Trump said. "I have a good relationship. And they respect your president. OK? They respect me. They don’t respect Biden. How would you respect him? Why? For what reason? He hasn’t even made a phone call in two years to Putin."
“I will get it settled before I even become president. If I win, when I’m president-elect, and what I’ll do is I’ll speak to one, I’ll speak to the other, I’ll get them together,” Trump continued.
“Just to clarify the question," Muir asked, "do you believe it’s in the U.S. best interests for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no?”
“I think it’s in the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. Alright? Negotiate a deal. Because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed,” Trump replied.
Has anyone asked Joe Biden about his negotiating strategy with Hamas? Did Muir bother to ask Harris what her negotiating strategy would be in Ukraine? Did Muir ask Harris how, in God's name, it would be possible for Ukraine to defeat Russia?
Trump brought up the issue that Biden and his entire administration never quite manage to address: Russian nuclear weapons.
Trump was also exceedingly direct about something Biden and most U.S. leaders dance around — Russia’s nuclear deterrence — and signaled that in his assessment, it’s not worth cornering Putin.
“He’s got a thing that other people don’t have. He’s got nuclear weapons. They don’t ever talk about that. He’s got nuclear weapons,” Trump said. “Nobody ever thinks about that. And eventually, uh, maybe he’ll use them. Maybe he hasn’t been that threatening. But he does have that. Something we don’t even like to talk about. Nobody likes to talk about it.”
And for all of Harris and Biden’s public support for Ukraine, Trump is saying loudly something that at least some members of the current administration say softly: that a negotiated end to the war may ultimately be in all sides’ interest.
What Trump has been saying for two years is quietly being adopted by the Biden administration. Even Putin now appears to be angling for a negotiated settlement after Russian troops have occupied most of the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. His opening asking price may be too high, but it would be a start.
This rah-rah rooting for Ukraine's victory is surreal. Trump is correct in not calling for an unachievable "victory" because he knows the only way that's happening is if he would send American troops to help Ukraine win.
And no one wants to know the consequences of a U.S. intervention against Russia.
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