Is he lying or is it possible for a commander of the US armed forces, Trump, to ignore what the Pentagon is doing? | Credit: Anelo/Shutterstock
President Volodymir Zelensky and his unwavering allies in the European Union might be pleased to hear Donald Trump say his frustrated with the “bullshit” Vladimir Putin continously spews regarding the war with Ukraine and his decision to reverse once again his stance on military shipments to the missile-battered country.
However, Trump’s continuous shifts and back-and-forths regarding Putin, whom he at times calls his “friend” and at others threatens with sanctions and weapons shipments to Ukraine, has many EU contries, Zelensky and experts wondering if that’s his way to pressure and negotiate as he’s done with trade and tariffs, or if he’s simply an incompetent “clown”.
Journalist and war-themed author Fred Kaplan wrote an article on Slate, entitled ‘Trump’s Latest Ukraine Reversal Reveals a Disturbing Truth About the Administration’, which he led by saying, “We didn’t quite know the extent to which no one is in charge. Kaplan essentially describes the Trump Administration as a “clown car (that) keeps sputtering along, impervious to speed bumps, red lights, fire truck sirens, and other warning signs of dangers and detours ahead”.
‘Why don’t you tell me?’
As an example of how clownish Trump and his cabinet are, he says, “Take the latest mind bender: the on-again, off-again, on-again release-then-cutoff-then-release of U.S. weapons to Ukraine”.
And Kaplan is so right, pointing out that he had no clue the Pentagon had halted arm shipments to Ukraine right as Russia launched thousands of missiles and drone strikes across Ukraine, killing dozens and wreaking havoc.
In a highly and pointedly contested claim by analysts, Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon boss, said they could no longer send shipments to Ukraine because it put the US’s wartime stockpiles at risk of “dangerous” depletion.
Worse yet, after a phone call with Putin, who told him he had no intention of ceasing attacks on Ukraine, Trump spoke to Zelensky to say to him he was not responsible for halting the weapons shipments to Ukraine. And even more horrifically, Trump, the commander in chief of the US Armed Forces, insisted he had no clue the arms shipments had been halted.
On Tuesday, with Hegseth sitting next to him, Trump reiterated he did not know who ordered the pause in the weapons shipment last week. “Why don’t you tell me?” Trump said to a reporter, half-jokingly.
“So what’s going on here? Was Trump lying to Zelensky? Had Trump forgotten about the arms cutoff, an order that had reportedly been issued a month earlier—a long, long time ago by the measure of this president’s density of newsmaking? Or is Hegseth a rogue actor, perhaps creating policy that he assumes Trump would approve, but without getting formal approval?” All questions by Kaplan.
$2.4 trillion on military contracts
Kaplan is right to ask these questions, more so now when a new study of US defence department spending shows that the Pentagon has spent over $2.4 trillion, mostly in weapons manufacturing”
Furthermore, the report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Costs of War project at Brown University said that the Trump administration’s new Pentagon budget will push annual US military spending past the $1-trillion mark.
Regardless, Zelensky can celebrate, at least for now and until Trump decides to make another u-turn on his stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, that the US president said on Monday that he will have to send more military equipment to the war-torn country, according to AP.
“We have to (send weapons to Ukraine),” Trump said. ”They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily.”
‘Putin is killing a lot of people’
Immediately after Trump’s call for more military equipment for Kyiv, the Pentagon confirmed it would resume weapons shipments to Ukraine “to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.”
Trump later once again vented his growing frustration with Putin. Trump has struggled to find a solution for peace between Ukraine and Russia. “Putin is killing a lot of people …. his soldiers and their soldiers, mostly, and it’s now up to 7,000 a week,” Trump said. “I’m not happy with him at all.”
Following those comments, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Trump greenlit him to push forward with a bill he’s co-sponsoring that calls, in part, for a 500 per cent tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil. The move would have significant ramifications for China and India, two major economic powers that import Russian crude.
