Editorial: After a disastrous Alaska summit, a feeble Trump looks poised to complete his sellout of Ukraine

The Inquirer Editorial Board, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 20, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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President Donald Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin was an epic failure on several fronts.

Now, he appears poised to complete the sellout of Ukraine. In doing so, he will abandon Europe and open the door for China to invade Taiwan. Worst of all, Trump continues to show the world that he is a paper tiger.

Could Trump have made himself — and the U.S. — look any weaker in front of Putin and the world?

He rolled out a red carpet for the former KGB spy, who has been accused of committing war crimes. After the two leaders arrived at the military base in Alaska, Trump exited his plane first — a sign of complete deference.

Then Trump stood and applauded as he waited to greet the international pariah who has presided over decades of mysterious deaths of his critics.

Trump was not done humiliating himself or the U.S.

He welcomed Putin with a military flyover before giving him a ride in the back of the presidential limousine as the two shared a laugh.

Trump’s feeble and embarrassing stagecraft was a prelude to backstabbing Ukraine — along with the rest of Europe and the more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting to preserve democracy and freedom against fascism and militarism.

The Alaska summit was little more than a show. Trump set low expectations going into the meeting, and the results were worse.

A big part of the problem is that Trump’s position on Ukraine keeps shifting. Throughout the war, he has largely sided with Putin, who launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine in February 2022.

When he was running for a second term, Trump repeatedly claimed he would end the war in a day. Of course, that didn’t happen.

In March, Trump and his lackeys shamefully ambushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — an important ally and a hero who has led his country throughout the bloody war — in front of TV cameras during a meeting in the Oval Office.

For a brief time, Trump talked tough about Putin, claiming he was “playing with fire” and that he was “not happy” with him.

In July, Trump threatened “very significant” sanctions on Russia if Putin did not stop the killing in 50 days. Last week, he called for “severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire.

But Trump is more like the little boy who cried wolf. After the Alaska summit, he backed away from calls for a ceasefire and again sided with Putin, who demanded Ukraine give up land for peace.

In return for major territorial concessions from Kyiv, Trump made some vague promises to Zelenskyy on Monday about the U.S. being “involved” in keeping the peace in Ukraine.

If that horrible deal goes through, Trump would essentially reward Putin for invading a sovereign nation, committing war crimes, kidnapping children, raping women, killing at least 45,000 Ukrainians, destroying cities, and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage to the country.

No wonder Russian state TV continues to laugh, mock, and poke fun at Trump.

Moscow celebrated Putin’s triumphant trip to Alaska. Russia’s foreign minister underscored how the U.S. had “rolled out” the red carpet for Putin.

While Trump’s submission is a betrayal of his presidential oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S., other presidents also failed to stop Putin’s aggression.

In 2014, then-President Barack Obama was slow and ineffective in stopping Russia from annexing Crimea. That laid the groundwork for the invasion of Ukraine eight years later.

Former President Joe Biden then failed to provide Ukraine the military support needed to defeat Russia — especially when its military was faltering. The Republicans in Congress played a role in blocking the aid, as well.

Even if Trump strikes a peace agreement now, there is nothing to stop Putin from eventually invading the rest of Ukraine or other countries. His goal, after all, is to rebuild the Russian empire.

Meanwhile, China has learned that Trump’s tough talk is meaningless. That could influence China’s decision about whether to invade Taiwan — which produces most of the chips needed to power computers.

In the end, the cost of stopping Russia would have been cheaper and more impactful than the appeasement plan now in the works.

The United States paved the way for peace, prosperity, and democracy following World War II. That is a lesson Trump failed to learn.

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