Trump knows who he’s signaling with Iran strike, NATO moves - journalist

This was stated by journalist Vitaly Portnikov on Espreso TV.

“We understand perfectly well that Trump can change his tone at any moment. But the fact that the meeting with Zelenskyy took place in such a comfortable atmosphere is already very good. It is better for us that the U.S. president is positively inclined toward Ukraine rather than seeing it as a problem in building relations with Russia. We must still grasp the logic of the moment — Trump was in The Hague right after Israel’s war with Iran ended, although we don’t yet know with what outcome. At the very least, Donald Trump wanted to see that outcome as the final elimination of Iran’s nuclear program. And at that moment he felt like a leader who could establish peace through strength, though the situation could change within days,” noted Vitaly Portnikov.

In his opinion, Trump may believe that the “peace through strength” approach can be extended to Russian-Ukrainian relations. Most importantly, Trump sent a strong signal to everyone, including the Kremlin leader, that he is not to be trifled with — that he is ready to use force, the unprecedented force of the U.S. military. Trump may believe that this will be properly perceived in Moscow and that, accordingly, Ukraine is no longer an obstacle for him in establishing peace in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

“Many people are discussing the situation that unfolded in the Oval Office between the presidents of Ukraine and the U.S. as if it was undiplomatic behavior on Zelenskyy’s part. But I believe that this is a complete misunderstanding of Trump’s mood. Trump met with the president of Ukraine, and the latter began showing him photos of Ukrainian victims and destruction, while Trump was furious that the war was preventing him from productively negotiating with Russia. And now he clearly realizes that Russia doesn’t want to negotiate with him at all. This is also a significant factor in Trump’s behavior in The Hague,” the journalist noted.

According to him, politicians use the narcissistic tendencies of the American president, manipulating him to achieve their goals — and this is a good formula. But we saw how devoted supporters of Trump from the far-right circles of the Republican Party tried to manipulate him so that he wouldn’t strike Iran — and they achieved nothing.

“Trump accepts compliments only when they align with his intentions. If he has other plans, he couldn’t care less about your compliments. One must understand how he behaves. Therefore, we can say — if Trump calmly accepted the meeting with Zelenskyy, even complimented him, and showed empathy toward a Ukrainian journalist at the press conference, it means that such an attitude toward Ukraine matched his current political interests and was a signal aimed at Russia. Trump definitely understood where he was directing that signal,” Portnikov summed up.

• On June 25, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in The Hague.