Trump Refuses to Pick a Side in Ukraine-Russia War
Donald Trump refused to pick a side in the Ukraine-Russia war. Instead he said he doesn’t “think in terms of winning and losing” and claimed he would end the conflict within a single day if he is re-elected in 2024.
“I don’t think in terms of winning and losing,” Trump said during a CNN town hall on Wednesday night when asked about the war. “I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people.”
Trump also claimed, “If I were president this would have never happened.”
This is not the first time Trump has stated that the war in Ukraine would not have happened if he were still president. It’s also worth noting that Trump is refusing to take sides in a conflict where Russia, without provocation, invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine — and that Trump benefitted from Russia President Vladimir Putin’s meddling in the 2016 election. Trump was also impeached for trying to pressure Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky into manufacturing dirt on the Biden family. Trump has also praised Putin as a “genius” for sending troops into Ukraine.
When moderator Kaitlan Collins tried again to get Trump to choose a side, he responded, “I want everybody to stop dying. They’re dying. Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done in 24 hours I’ll have it done. You need the power of the presidency to do it.
Collins asked again, “But you won’t say you want Ukraine to win?”
To this, Trump responded that Europe should “put up more money.” “I want Europe to put up more money. They’re laughing at us. They think we’re a bunch of jerks. We’re spending $170 billion for a faraway land, and they’re right next door to that land, and they’re in for $20 [billion]. I don’t think so.”
The former president also couldn’t help singing Putin’s praises when Collins asked if Trump still “respected” Putin as he said he did during his presidency.
“He made a tremendous mistake,” Trump said of the Russian president. “He’s a smart guy. I remember I said he was smart, [China’s President] Xi [Jinping] was smart… He’s the ruler of 1.5 billion people. He’s a smart guy. How dare he say he’s smart. Of course he’s smart. They want you to say he’s a stupid person. He’s not a stupid person. He’s very cunning.”
But, Trump added, “Putin made a mistake” by “going in” to Ukraine. “He would have never gone in if I was president,” Trump said.
“All those dead people, both Russian and Ukrainian, they wouldn’t be dead today and all those cities that are blown up and disintegrated right to the ground, that wouldn’t have happened, OK?” he added.
When Collins asked he if he believes Putin is a war criminal, Trump dodged the question, saying that using that term “is something that should be discussed later.”
“Right now, if you say he’s a war criminal, it’s going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to get this thing stopped,” Trump said. “If he’s going to be a war criminal, people are going to grab him and execute him. He’s going to fight a lot harder than he’s fighting under the other circumstance. That’s something to be discussed at a later date. Right now we want to get that war settled. I’m not talking about the money, either, I’m talking about all the lives — the number of people being killed in that war is far greater than you hear. When they blow up the city and the buildings come down, hundreds of people are killed, and we have to get that war settled.”
With that, CNN cut to commercial.