“Trump doesn’t know how to play differently”: expert on U.S. President’s stance toward Putin

Political scientist and international affairs expert Maksym Nesvitailov expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

“He (Trump) isn’t exactly indifferent to voters, but there’s definitely some of that. First, he’s in his second term as president. If he plans to follow a democratic path, he won’t stay in power, so he has no reason to care about voters. And if he doesn’t plan to follow a democratic path, then he cares even less — why would he need voters if he plans to usurp power in the United States? Secondly, it’s not a fact that he sees his inaction toward Russia as a weakness. He actually spoke to journalists just yesterday. They asked him about this exact issue. Apparently, he gets annoyed when asked about the new term on Wall Street: ‘Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats.’ And Trump said, ‘Me? Back down? What are you talking about? I’ve never heard anything like that. I imposed tariffs on the EU and everyone else. You’re calling me a coward? Don’t ever say that, don’t repeat what you just said,’” noted Maksym Nesvitailov.

The political analyst noted that, to some extent, Donald Trump may get annoyed, but overall, he always finds ways to portray himself as a winner. The current U.S. president will never admit defeat or that he has been made a fool of.

If action is taken against Russia now, it must be serious: “Approach it systematically and consistently, which is generally not characteristic of Donald Trump.”

“That means you can’t just announce sanctions today, like with tariffs, make a deal with partners, and say: ‘We’re issuing an ultimatum. If you don’t meet it, there will be sanctions.’ Then Putin completely ignores the ultimatum, says: ‘Let’s meet somewhere and talk.’ And that’s it — you forget the ultimatum, the agreements, the plan, the strategy, and you jump to Putin’s side. That’s not how it works; no results with the Russians will be achieved that way. And Trump simply doesn’t know how to play differently. He never showed this during his business career or his first presidential term,” added Maksym Nesvitailov.

• On May 28, Donald Trump said he was ready to hold a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
• On May 28, President of the United States Donald Trump stated that he is unsure whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants to end the war, but if he is deceiving them, Washington will respond differently.