America First and Dealing With a Recalcitrant Putin

Originally published by American Greatness

It has now been three weeks since the historic Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, where the two leaders met to discuss how to end the horrific war in Ukraine. President Trump has extended to Putin hospitality, patience, and incredibly generous terms to provide him with an off-ramp to end the war and Russia’s isolation. Despite Trump’s peacemaking efforts, Putin has not only spurned him and continued the war but also attended a showy summit convened by Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Putin expressed his defiance of U.S. peace efforts and flaunted a closer relationship with China and North Korea.

Putin’s recalcitrance requires a robust response from President Trump to promote peace and reaffirm America’s global leadership. This should be a carefully calculated America First policy initiative to pressure Putin to end the war and promote diplomacy while keeping U.S. troops out of Ukraine. Trump also must demand that Europe do much more to pressure Russia to end the war.

Naturally, President Trump’s political opponents and the mainstream media are blaming Trump for Putin’s decision to continue the war. This criticism is unfair. Trump and his senior officials went to great lengths to give Putin an honorable way to halt the war, along with post-war diplomatic and trade opportunities to end Russia’s isolation and bring prosperity to Russia. God gave man free will and the ability to make right and wrong decisions. President Trump is not responsible for Putin’s choice to make the bad and irrational decision to ignore his peace offer and continue the war.

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