Trump Blocking Ukraine from NATO Isn’t Strategy—It’s Submission

Trump handed Putin a big win on a silver (or likely, gold) platter.

Donald Trump is still reeling from the embarrassment Putin handed him in Alaska—and last night, he handed Russia another massive win. On Truth Social, he declared that under no circumstances would Ukraine be allowed to join NATO—just hours before meeting with President Zelensky and European leaders.

That’s not just weak. It’s reckless. It tells every authoritarian on Earth that under Donald Trump, the U.S. can be bullied. And it’s a strategic faceplant that gives Putin exactly what he’s wanted for years: a permanent veto over Ukraine’s future.

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Let’s be clear: peace comes through strength and unity. Russia only escalated when it sensed division and weakness in the West and saw an opportunity. Biden and European leaders called that bluff by rallying behind Ukraine, exposing Russia’s military as inept and weak. Trump, for both economic and diplomatic reasons, brought that weakness back—first by getting worked by Putin last week, and now by handing him his biggest ask on a silver (or likely, gold) platter.

Letting Ukraine into NATO wouldn’t inflame this war—it would help prevent the next one. It would slam the door on future invasions and send a clear message to every power-hungry war criminal: mess with our allies, and you pay the price. A strong, united front. That’s why Putin fears it.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not driven by fear of “security” but by fear of what Ukraine symbolizes: a sovereign, thriving democracy choosing its own future on Russia’s border. To Putin, Ukraine is not a nation but a threat to his autocracy—a living refutation of his empire’s myths. He does not seek compromise; he seeks subjugation—whether by erasing Ukraine in one brutal blow or dismantling it piece by piece. And to feed that ambition, he has condemned more than a million of his own citizens—young men and women—to die, and more to be broken, in a senseless war, their futures sacrificed on the altar of his selfish obsession.

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Let’s not forget who’s actually been doing the fighting. Ukrainians are standing toe to toe with what was supposed to be the world’s second-largest military. They’re already doing what NATO was built for. They’ve bled for this moment—over 400,000 of them. Ukrainians are literally dying to defend the same freedoms we claim to believe in. If that doesn’t qualify a country for NATO, what does? Ukraine is not ‘baggage.’ They’d make NATO stronger. Battle-hardened military. Unshakable motivation. Strategic geography. They’re not a charity case. They’re an asset. They’ve earned their seat at the table.

This war isn’t about land or resources. It is about power, control, and—above all—the choices made in its course. How this conflict is navigated, by every party involved, will shape the foundation of the emerging world order.

What do we value as Americans? We stand with our allies. We do not bow to dictators. We lead with our principles. For generations, America upheld these values—until Donald Trump. He is a weak man: shortsighted, easily manipulated, and reckless. That weakness doesn’t just endanger Ukraine or Eastern Europe. It threatens the very foundation of Western democracy itself.

And here’s the brutal truth: deterrence is cheaper than war. Every dollar and weapon we send now is a fraction of what a wider European conflict would cost if Putin isn’t stopped in his tracks. Contain the fire now—or watch it burn down the whole block. That’s been Biden’s strategy, and it was right then to rally the West behind Ukraine—and it’s still right now. That cannot change.

The old Cold War fantasy—that Eastern Europe exists to be Russia’s buffer zone—is gone. Buried with the Iron Curtain. Ukraine is not a “gray zone.” It is a sovereign nation that has chosen liberty, dignity, and democracy. And it deserves not just to survive, but to thrive as part of the new world we are building together.

And this fight is bigger than Ukraine. NATO’s resolve is a message to the world. If we waver—if we hesitate—then the lesson to every dictator is simple: aggression works, invasion pays, democracy can be strangled if your army is big enough. Don’t think China isn’t taking notes. Meticulously. But if we bring Ukraine in, we flip the script. Aggression isolates you. You lose. You pay.

The promise of freedom did not stop at Berlin. It runs through Kyiv. Ukraine belongs in NATO—not tomorrow, not at some vague future date. Now. Every delay, every equivocation, every failure to stand squarely on the side of freedom only gives Putin exactly what he wants—and puts every nation on democracy’s frontier at greater risk. Delay does not buy peace. It buys danger. And with every hesitation, the world becomes less safe.