Press Review: Trump Is in the Driver’s Seat as Biden’s Ukraine Policy Stalls and European Politicians Jockey for Pole Position

Soon after Vice President Harris’s last-minute cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live ahead of Tuesday’s vote, NBC aired a classic clip of President Trump during the network’s Nascar Playoffs coverage. Fittingly it seems, because with Ms. Harris out of the game Trump is now securely in the driver’s seat — at home but, less visibly for now, also abroad. The initial shock of the new Trumpquake was met with equanimity — mostly — in other latitudes. During a press conference the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said “There is no reason to worry” about Trump’s election victory. She added that “We will need meetings, high-level exchanges to make known what has been done in Mexico both in terms of the fight against drug trafficking and to prevent Fentanyl from reaching the United States, as well as in terms of migration.”Brazil’s leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, congratulated Trump, remarking that “the voice of the people has spoken.” Japan’s Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, told reporters that “I congratulate Trump on his victory and pay tribute to the democratic choice of the U.S. people.” President Macron, with a healthy dose of his own ego, stated that he stands “ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine.”Italy’s Corriere della Sera noted the historic nature of Trump’s comeback, reminding that before him only Grover Cleveland had managed to get elected for two non-consecutive terms, in 1885 and 1893. Elsewhere in that paper a columnist compared Mr. Trump to the Count of Monte Cristo, who “comes back rich and ruthless,” while stating that “the real leader of the new global right is Elon Musk.”France’s reliably left-wing newspaper Le Monde, meanwhile, sniffed that Trump’s win spells “the end of an American world.” An assessment not shared by Hungary’s iconoclastic prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who declared it “The biggest comeback in US political history” and called Trump’s win “a much-needed victory for the world.”President Zelensky congratulated Trump with a message of “peace through strength,” echoed by the NATO secretary-general, Mark Rutte. From President Putin though, not yet a word. Silence from the Kremlin, of course, can speak volumes. The question of Ukraine and of how to rein in Russia is close to the top of the list of the incoming administration’s foreign policy priorities.Could a sea change be coming even before Inauguration Day? As the Wall Street Journal reported, throughout his campaign “Trump bashed Biden’s handling of Ukraine, warning that it made World War III more likely and that Kyiv fleeced the U.S. by obtaining weapons worth billions of dollars free of charge.” The contours of how Trump could deal with these issues are now coming into view, and they are a clear repudiation of President Biden’s “as long as it takes” approach. One possibility is the creation of a 500-mile long demilitarized zone along the frontline and the preservation of some Russian control in portions of eastern Ukraine as well as the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. According to some sources, Ukraine would hold its bid for NATO membership for at least 20 years and in exchange, Washington would continue to supply Ukraine’s armed forces with the weaponry it needs to bolster its security. While those are chess board discussions at this point, it is not only the White House and the Kremlin eyeing each other’s moves. For Trump, the notion of loyalty and legacy of relationships will figure prominently in all his dealings with foreign heads of state. Navigating the enduring animosity between Kyiv and Moscow will be easier said than done. That is precisely why some European leaders with whom Mr. Trump is said to be close, such as Mr. Orbán and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, are likely to be in strong positions.Even for them, it will be tricky. In recent times Hungary almost always goes against the grain, and its Euroskepticism may even get a boost from a new Trump administration. Budapest is something of an outlier, but Rome could quickly emerge as a bridge between the White House and Brussels.Signora Meloni has previously said that she is “nobody’s cheerleader,” but in Trump she will find a natural conservative ally. The Italian press reported that during a phone call on Wednesday the two leaders “expressed their willingness to work in close coordination on all the main international dossiers, starting with the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East.”While Signora Meloni is a staunch supporter of Ukraine, one of her key coalition partners, Matteo Salvini, is less so. Last month Mr. Salvini’s League party abstained on a vote for a $48 billion loan to Ukraine. In a video message this week an ebullient Mr. Salvini, sporting a red tie, said that “we have always helped Ukraine and will always help it as long as it is a question of aid to defend itself, never to attack” and that he “expects there will be no need for an eleventh, twelfth or thirteenth package of weapons.”Mr. Salvini also announced plans for an official visit to the White House in the first part of 2025 — apparently trumping any similar travel plans Signora Meloni may have in the works.

Press Review: Trump Is in the Driver’s Seat as Biden’s Ukraine Policy Stalls and European Politicians Jockey for Pole Position

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