Russian President Vladimir Putin has been given a deadline of 50 days to reach and sign a peace deal or risk the U.S. unleashing massive 100% tariffs against any nations that trade with Russia.
Call it Donald Trump’s new Putin pressure campaign, as he has grown increasingly frustrated with the Russian strongman’s game of talking nice but acting the opposite. “I speak to [Putin] a lot about getting this thing done, and I always hang up saying, ‘Well, that was a nice phone call,’ and then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and I’d say ‘strange,’” Trump explained. “And after that happens three or four times, you say, the talk doesn’t mean anything.”
It’s a reality that American presidents have collectively run into in dealing with Putin. The man will talk a promising game, but one can never be certain that he will follow through on his words. In fact, the more likely scenario is that he will say what Western leaders want to hear and then do as he pleases.
Will Putin take Trump seriously? Well, he should, given the fact that the last time Trump issued a deadline, the failure of Iran to take it seriously resulted in MOP bombs being dropped on its most secure nuclear facilities, wiping them out. In other words, the message is that if Trump tells you to jump, your response should be, “How high?”
However, perhaps even more impressive is how Trump has strengthened and rejuvenated America’s relationship with NATO. Trump, who had bemoaned the majority of NATO nations’ failure to live up to their defense spending agreements, is now seeing alliance members not only commit to the originally agreed-upon spending of 2% of their GDP on defense, but they have also agreed to increase that number to 5% by 2030.
The big irony here is that while much of the Leftmedia, Democrats, and Europe’s leftist elites have wrung their collective hands over Trump’s supposed threat to NATO and Europe’s security, what he has ended up producing is the exact opposite of their loudly voiced frets. Rather than weakened, under this latest deal, Trump is making NATO stronger than ever.
Furthermore, Trump’s main gripe — that NATO countries have not been pulling their weight but have been freeloading off of America’s military might — has been addressed and corrected. With that correction, Trump is more than willing to embrace NATO, no longer calling the alliance “obsolete” but rightly contending, “NATO is now becoming the opposite of that” in that they’re now paying their own bills.“
Then there’s Trump’s transition on Putin, a man he has previously praised. Interestingly, Trump credits his change regarding Putin at least in part to his wife. As he said, “I go home. I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really? Another city was just hit.’” And on another occasion, “There are times I’d get home. I’d say, ‘First lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we’re finished.’ And then I’ll turn on the television, or she’ll say to me one time, ‘Wow, that’s strange because they just bombed a nursing home.’I’d say, ‘What?’”
Once again, Trump is utilizing his own “art of the deal” business acumen and reestablishing U.S. leadership worldwide. America and our allies’ enemies are being put on notice. The sheriff is back in town, and he’s not playing around.
