In a dramatic press conference with the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, President Trump made it clear that he has lost patience with President Putin, believes Mr. Putin can no longer be trusted, and is now arranging a significant sale of Patriot  missiles to NATO — which will then send them over to Ukraine.

Basically, we are sending the weapons, and the Europeans are going to pay for them. Ukraine will be re-armed in a significant way, and perhaps that will finally bring Mr. Putin to the negotiating table.

Mr. Putin made a big mistake trying to play Mr. Trump. He can’t do it.

After three or four cease-fire-related phone calls, or maybe even more, each time Mr. Putin then just goes back and starts bombing Ukrainian civilians. That’s an absolute no-go for Mr. Trump.

Here’s how Mr. Trump put it at this morning’s presser in response to a question from Jacqui Heinrich, who asked: “How did you tell Putin this was coming?”

Mr. Trump replied: “I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done, and I always hang up and say, ‘Well, that was a nice phone call.’ And then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city.” 

Then, Mr. Trump added: “I go home. I tell the first lady I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation and she said, ‘Oh, really?’ And then the city was just hit.” 

The president concluded: “At a certain point, you know, ultimately talk doesn’t work. It’s got to be action. It’s got to be results.”

Mr. Trump made it clear that he wants to stop this war — one that he has inherited from President Biden. 

Mr. Trump believes, and I’m sure he’s right, that Mr. Putin just waited for Mr. Biden to come into office, and then he invaded Ukraine.

Certainly, Mr. Biden’s decision to flee from Afghanistan had a lot to do with Mr. Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

And we can all remember how pathetic Mr. Biden’s response was, as hundreds of thousands of Russian troops amassed on the Eastern border of Ukraine, when Mr. Biden said: “Don’t.”

Which, as one wag put it, is what you say to your dog who’s pulling a sock away.

“Don’t” didn’t stop Mr. Putin — and nothing else Mr. Biden did stopped Mr. Putin, either.

And Mr. Biden’s appeasement of Iran didn’t stop Mr. Putin. Nor his appeasement of Communist China.

Mr. Trump is really the first president since Ronald Reagan with an effort to check Russia and its grandiose empire ambitions.

Mr. Trump also announced a 100 percent secondary tariff on Russia — but not for another 50 days. Personally, I think it should be a much shorter period.

Also impressive was Mr. Rutte, a former conservative prime minister of the Netherlands, and a Trump friend and ally.

Even more than that, the NATO countries agreed with Mr. Trump to seek a defense spending target of 5 percent of GDP — which will also signal a strong, tough response to Mr. Putin’s phony ambitions.

More than at any time I can remember, America is now working in tandem with Europe.

There will always be differences, but, interestingly, in response to a question on tariffs, Mr. Trump reiterated his 30 percent EU proposal — before suggesting that it was a work in progress and trade negotiations are ongoing.

Both the stock market and the dollar rallied over the course of the Trump-Rutte press conference.

More than anything, Mr. Trump wants peace, not war. He tried to negotiate with Mr. Putin, but it didn’t work out.

He has inherited a war that never would’ve happened if Mr. Biden were any kind of a strong president. Yet Mr. Biden was a weakling, an appeaser, and Mr. Trump has to pick up the pieces and end this Russian problem.

If America and Europe’s NATO members act in concert, new weapons and all, it will mark the first major show of strength against the dictator Putin.

And it’s high time this happens.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business Network.