“When Donald Trump met President Zelensky in New York last September, the then US presidential candidate exuded confidence he could bring the war in Ukraine to an early end. “If we win, I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly,” he said.
How quickly he meant varied over time. In a TV debate a few days earlier, Trump had promised he would “get it settled before I even become president”. This was an escalation on his previous commitment in May 2023 to stop the fighting in the first 24 hours of his presidency.
Trump has now been in office for more than two months and the penny may be beginning to drop in the White House that trying to end a conflict as bitter and complex as this may take time.”
First of all, he completely underestimated the problem. He thought he could just tell Zelenskyy to stop and the war would be over.
Second, as he is obeying the commands of Putin, he simply wants Ukraine to surrender, completely disregarding that Russia is the aggressor here, and their role in crimes of war and crimes against humanity.
If he had any clue about striking deals, he would be aware that telling one party to just roll over and die is not a successful strategy.