Russia sanctions on ice: How Trump is moving closer to Putin

Recently on CNN: James Talarico, Democratic candidate in Texas for a seat in the US Senate, discusses with citizens. A student asks him, "Why should we give all this money to Ukraine instead of putting it into our communities and helping our fellow citizens in Texas?"

Talarico replies: "We learned in World War II that if we don't stand up to an aggressor in Europe, we'll get revenge later. We need to strengthen Ukraine and our NATO allies as they stand up to Russian aggression - so we don't have to."

In a way, he sees this as a cost-saving measure.

MAGA movement pro-Russian

In the USA it is now primarily the Democrats who stand by Ukraine. And some Republicans know that until Donald Trump came onto the scene, their party was fighting for freedom and democracy. Leading figures in Trump's MAGA movement, however, are pro-Russian.

On Thursday, the president told Newsmax: "If you tell me that (Ukrainian President) Zelensky is shooting at refineries again - he is causing the world oil price to rise. That's a disgrace. There are many other goals too." In any case, the Ukrainian president does not want an agreement to end the war.

The events of the past few days show: Trump has changed sides. The USA is now buying Russian diesel again, and the White House - according to media reports - has throttled the Starshield satellite system. However, Trump denies this. Ukraine uses the system to attack Russian targets inside Ukraine.

"This fits well with the pattern of US foreign policy"

Richard Haass, a former diplomat and employee in the George W. Bush administration, is not surprised. "This fits too well with the pattern of US foreign policy over the last year and a half in relation to this war. Time and time again we have done things for Russia - and things against Ukraine. This is just the latest development in that series."

This betrayal will live in infamy, says conservative journalist Charlie Sykes. Historian Anne Applebaum notes that Trump's actions look like an attempt to force Ukraine to surrender.

"Putin's best friend"

Phillips O'Brien, also a historian, says that the lying is over - and Trump is free to be what he always wanted to be: "Putin's best friend"; the USA would be ruled by a “useful idiot” from the Russians.

An editorial in the conservative Wall Street Journal speaks of a “moral and strategic mistake” by the president.

Ex-diplomat Haass made a similar statement: "That makes no sense, strategically, ethically and morally. The United States is moving closer to Russia. This is a moral and strategic bankruptcy for the country."

Private business as motivation?

This could be an attempt to explain Trump's Russia policy: For about a year there have been repeated reports that Trump is negotiating joint deals with the Kremlin. This involves, among other things, the sale of assets belonging to Russian oil companies.

The beneficiaries would be investors with connections to the US president and his family. But these systems can only be sold if Ukraine doesn't shoot them up.

That could explain Trump's continued pressure on Kiev to spare Russia's energy infrastructure. In the past, the President has also repeatedly spoken about the great economic opportunities that he believes exist in Russia.

Trump seems to have identified Ukraine's stubborn resistance to its integration into Putin's empire as an obstacle.