On Thursday, VP JD Vance told the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. sending troops to fight Russia in Ukraine remained on “the table.” In the interview, Vance said, describing the possible pressures the U.S. could apply:
“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage. There are any number of formulations, of configurations, but we do care about Ukraine having sovereign independence.”
This statement of extensive involvement in Ukraine's fate is a spectacular 180 from Vance’s previous positions on the subject. If flip-flopping were an Olympic event, Vance would be a strong contender for the silver medal. It is the best he could hope for. Trump has a lock on the gold.
Before his saber-rattling, Vance made clear he was agnostic, at best, on the conflict. In 2022, he told Steve Bannon:
“I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.”
By February 2024, he had adopted a position — which was basically: 'Ukraine is fucked. They outta make the best of it.’ Specifically, he said:
"Given the realities that we face, the very real constraints in munitions and [Ukraine's] manpower, what is reasonable to accomplish and when do we actually think we're going to accomplish it? And my argument is, look, I think what's reasonable to accomplish is some negotiated peace.
In April 2024, he was adamant the US should have nothing to do with the war. He told the New York Times:
“The Biden administration has applied increasing pressure on Republicans to pass a supplemental aid package of more than $60 billion to Ukraine. I voted against this package in the Senate and remain opposed to virtually any proposal for the United States to continue funding this war.”
This previous antipathy to getting America’s shoes dirty in Eastern Europe makes his current suggestion that the US should have boots on the ground in Ukraine puzzling. However, he has been forced to take this position by the profound incompetence of an accused rapey and drunk ex-Fox News propagandist.
On Wednesday, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s unqualified Defense Secretary, told NATO that the US had problems more pressing problems than fighting despotism. The AP reported:
Hegseth told almost 50 of Ukraine’s Western backers on Wednesday that he had joined their meeting “to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.”
“The United States faces consequential threats to our homeland. We must — and we are — focusing on security of our own borders,” he said.
Reading the riot act to U.S. allies, Hegseth said that Ukraine will not get all its territory back from Russia and will not be allowed to join NATO, which would provide the ultimate security guarantee to ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin never attacks it again.
(Bolding mine)
Based on Trump’s campaign rhetoric, this is not surprising. The GOP wants the Ukraine war gone. They do not care who ends up with what in a place few of them could find on a map. However, Hegseth’s doomsday pronouncement is a dagger in the back of Trump’s most egregious self-promotion — the claim that he is a master negotiator.
Trump does not want any old end to the war. He wants a peace agreement that shows him as a global statesman with the power to control national destinies and bend other Heads of State to his will. Giving Russia everything it wants — much as Trump might like to — does not show the ‘legend in his own mind’ as a tough guy. Instead, it reduces him to Putin’s rubber stamp. Why?
Because Hegseth’s unforced error — his ill-considered capitulation on Ukraine — gives Putin free aces at the global poker table. If Hegseth is correct, the Russian bantam can wait for Ukraine to bleed to death while the US focuses on deporting hard-working foreigners who picked the wrong skin color.
After Hegseth had screwed the pooch, you can safely bet two things happened. One: Trump began to wonder if picking a complete moron as Defense Secretary was in his best interests. Two: Trump got on the phone with Vance, or sent a message through back channels to tell his VP, “Clean up that fucking idiot’s mess.”
JD being the good neo-Nazi followed orders. Resulting in two senior officials in the Trump administration taking contradictory positions. In other words, the gang that can't shoot straight continues to put bullets in their feet. Unfortunately, when you have morons shooting indiscriminately, innocent bystanders — in this case, the Americans who didn’t vote for a con man — get injured, and worse.
