FROM JEFF CHILDERS

How long have we waited for this particular Emperor-has-no-clothes moment? During his epic, worlds-defining, Mar-a-Lago press conference earlier this week, another narrative that President Trump effortlessly sliced into ribbons was the Proxy War in Ukraine. Reuters ran the story earlier this week under the headline, “Trump says he sympathizes with Russia’s opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine.”

CLIP: President Trump explains Russia’s opposition to NATO expansion in Ukraine (0:56).

https://x.com/Glenn_Diesen/status/1877727286981460439

One of the dumbest narratives we’ve been forced to tolerate for years, on pain of cancelation, until our brains bled, were the moronically oversimplified claims that Russia invaded Ukraine for no reason, Putin is a dictatorial madman, and my personal favorite, Russia hates democracy.

It’s simply marvelous how unquestioningly arrogant progressive elitists adopted these stupid slogans as if they were scientific truths. It tells you everything you need to know about progressivism. (Plus, I’m old enough to remember back when the left swooned over Russia and wanted to marry it. The irony.)

Even here on C&C, there are (were?) at least two (one?) reader accounts that loudly and regularly reinforced these oversimplified narratives in the comments. But on Tuesday, President Trump just shattered all the progressive permission structures and narrative is in a shambles.

Here’s what Trump told the seemingly unsurprised reporters:

For many, many years, long before Putin, Russia said you could never have NATO involved with Ukraine. That’s been, like, written in stone.
It was always understood. They had a deal, and then Biden broke it. Somewhere along the line, Biden said no. They should be able to join NATO. They had a deal that would have been a satisfactory deal to Ukraine and everybody else. But then Biden said no, you have to be able to join NATO.
Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep. And I can understand their feelings about that.
In other words, Trump wadded up the insane narrative of “unprovoked Russian aggression” and tossed it into the shredder. It’s gone, never to return. Russia was provoked. And Russia’s reaction was understandable. None of the reporters challenged him. The geopolitical significance of this one tiny, official admission of truth cannot be overstated.

Trump knew exactly what he was doing. He was doing diplomacy.

Obviously, the folks listening most intently to Trump’s comments were the Russians and the Ukrainians. Until this week, the Russians never heard a scrap of sympathy from the United States government. Not from Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Austin, Nuland — none of them excreted a single ounce of diplomacy, never allowing for even a hint of legitimacy in Russia’s concern about NATO’s eastward expansion.

Instead, Team Biden was all about blamesmanship, passive-aggressive sabotage (e.g., Nordstream bombing), and childlike escalation (i.e., “he’s making me touch him!”).

The worst part is that the Ukrainians never even wanted to join NATO. A well-accepted but officially unconfirmed story says Britain’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson went to Kiev right before the Ukrainians signed a peace deal with Russia in 2022. Johnson talked the Ukrainians into breaking off negotiations, probably by promising them every weapon in the NATO arsenal. That’s the ‘deal’ Trump referred to.

President Trump also shattered another narrative construct, merely by acknowledging another obvious truth, which was that Biden’s brinksmanship could be catastrophic.

It turned out to be a very bad war. That war could escalate, and it could be much worse than it is right now.
This remark isn’t a throwaway line. Trump wasn’t just pointing out the obvious or scoring points off Biden. The President-Elect identified his mandate to make a deal. In other words, making peace isn’t only about ending Ukraine’s war, it’s also about keeping the world from burning.

Trump signaled to Russia and to Ukraine both that it is now time to put the weapons down because there’s no need to fight. NATO is back on the table. Despite the U.S. deep state’s heavy investment in Ukraine, both during and before the war, Trump just said that he understands Russia doesn’t want NATO there. Which was a half-step to agreeing it won’t happen, but more importantly a signal that NATO is negotiable.

And that one concession —the negotiability of NATO— gets the parties more than halfway to a deal

……………

I’ve had the opportu ity to discuss the Ukraine war with a few Libtardians

I open with Yes I am Glad Trump won because he will end the war in Ukraine . There was NO war in Ukraine when he was President

They always reply How ? as if that were not possible

The Answer : Negotiate

With Putin ?

Of Course

He invaded them …they will never negotiate with that tyrant Slava Ukraine

No he did not invade them…He was Provoked…Then I cite the Civil war Nazis vs The Donbas and the 2014 Coup and the fact that the eastern Provinces are populated by Russians and the NATO thing

So how will he end the war ?

Give the Russians the 4 Eastern Provinces…No NATO and whatever the hell else Putin wants because he has already won the war and there are millions dead and more every day

Always the same response….dead silence

Libtardians …sheesh