I don't often talk about President Trump. He does many things I like, and a lot of things I don't. But I'm intrigued by his negotiations to end the Ukraine war.
Donald Trump may be the only political figure brazen enough to force an end to the war. That's not because Vladimir Putin is suddenly trustworthy. He isn't. Putin is a murderer, an opportunist and an unreliable human being. But wars don't end when everyone finds morality. They end when someone with leverage forces the bully into a corner.
Critics point to Trump's summit with Putin last week and sneer that it accomplished nothing. In a conventional sense, they're right. There were no binding agreements, no great breakthroughs, not even a ceasefire. But Trump doesn't work like a State Department careerist. He works in phases — establishing dominance, rattling cages and leaving opponents uncertain about what comes next. What looked like a dud was actually groundwork.
Trump thrives in a world where diplomacy is theater and power is currency. He doesn't deal in niceties or traditions that Putin already knows how to exploit. He deals in blunt force and transactional politics. Trump is willing to apply pressure in ways others just won't.
Putin cannot be trusted — but he can be cornered. And Trump, unlike anyone else on the stage, enjoys the corner fight.
I'm Bill Lamb, and that's my Point of View.
