HAS TRUMP CHANGED HIS MIND ON RUSSIA?

The French, who always have some colorful expressions, refer to the Trump-Putin interactions on Ukraine as "Trump se fait rouler dans la farine par Poutin," which could be translated as Putin is rolling Trump in flour or dough to make whatever he wants. In plain English, Trump is being swindled or conned by Putin. One way to interpret Trump's inability to recognize what is evident to everybody resides in the fact that Putin, a former KGB officer, has been trained and has been practicing deception for years. At the same time, Trump considers himself the greatest deal maker that God ever created. So, one is playing checkers with the short-term goal of making deals and money with Russia, while the other is playing chess with the long game of re-creating Russia's empire.

Whether or not Trump has recently come to the same conclusion is unclear, as it appears he had just discovered Putin's ambition to resurrect the former Russian empire of Catherine the Great, and that wherever a Russian lives, it is Mother Russia. So, Ukraine, as a national entity, does not even exist.

Now, on the question of whether or not Trump has changed his mind on Russia's intention and desire for peace, let's take a look in the rearview mirror.

• Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump had espoused entirely Putin's rhetoric that it was Ukraine that was preparing to invade Russia.

• In all the peace and ceasefire proposals put forward by the US, Trump conceded to all of the demands made by Russia and basically urged Ukraine to cease resisting and surrender.

• When Trump applied sanctions, Ukraine was always the target, never Russia.

• Of all the Countries targeted by Trump's tariff on "Liberation Day", one single country was spared: Russia.

For those who are still wondering on which side of the Ukraine-Russia conflict Trump's heart is leaning, one only has to recall the February 28, 2025, Oval Office meeting between President Trump, Vice President J.D.Vance, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, orchestrated to humiliate the Ukrainian leader. Since then, nothing has changed. Trump still hates Zelenskyy as much as he loves the likes of Putin, Viktor  Orbán, Tayyip Erdoğan, and  Xi Jinping.

Fast forward to July 15, 2025, with Trump's Grand announcement that he was "disappointed with Putin killing so many people" because he is still "a very nice guy," that he would consider giving weapons to Ukraine on the condition that NATO (meaning Europe) pays for it, and gave Putin 50 days to come to the negotiation table of face 100 percent tariffs on imports from Russia.

So, what are the chances that Trump's proposals have any chance to achieve the desired results?

• Between  January 24, 2022, and December 31, 2024, the United States allocated more than 122 billion US dollars, and members of the European Union allocated 121 billion US dollars to support the Ukrainian war effort. In addition, the EU has spent an additional $131 billion to help Ukrainian refugees. That would put the total EU assistance to Ukraine, including refugees forced to flee the country, at over $251 billion, and contrary to Trump's declaration, far more than the US. Besides that, the United States recently suspended its main program supporting Ukrainian refugees. Since part of the aid disbursed to Ukraine comes in the form of loans to be paid back by Ukraine, if Russia ever conquers the rest of that country, the loan part will be a write-off.

• Most of the money allocated to Ukraine is used to buy US weapons to maintain and create jobs in the  United States. This is the exact reason why Trump is insisting that NATO member bring their defence spending to 5 percent of their GDP, to continue feeding the American Industrial Complex. Consequently, contrary to those who think that supporting Ukraine costs too much to the American taxpayers, war has, as always, already been good for business in America and will even get better now that NATO members will have to buy American weapons before giving them to Ukraine and upgrade their own military capabilities.

• As of 2024, the trade between the US and Russia was a paltry 3.5 billion. Suppose you compare Russia's trade with the US with the 979.9 billion from the European Union. In that case, you will understand why Putin is unfazed by 100 percent tariffs on Russia and considers the trade a joke.

• But the big giveaway into Trump's preference for who should win the Russian-Ukrainian war is his 50-day ultimatum for Putin to come to the negotiation table. There is no doubt that Putin will rightfully interpret this move as a cue to go ahead with his summer great offensive to conquer the rest of Ukraine that would effectively end the war, and a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump.

• The US has real means to put pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table. It could start by preventing Russia's Shadow fleet of hundreds of tankers from continuing to deliver oil to the rest of the world to finance its war. But the Sanctioning Russia Act, introduced as a bipartisan effort to pressure Putin into serious peace negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, has zero chance of being signed by Trump, despite his promise to consider it. Trump will never impose any sanctions on Russia.

What a happy ending for everybody, except for the Ukrainian people, of course. Because Trump does not care if Putin restarts a war after he has had time to rebuild his army to invade another former Soviet Union country. After all, like Trump said, Europe was created to fuck America, and when was the last time after WWII that the US went to war to defend democracy?

So, to answer the question posited at the beginning of this post

"HAS TRUMP CHANGED HIS MIND ON RUSSIA?

The answer is NOT A CHANCE, and for two main reasons:

1. Trump is ideologically more aligned with dictators' way of thinking than any other democratically elected leaders.

2. Trump sees Ukraine as a minor impediment to his primary goal to do business with Russia and enrich himself.

There could, however, be  another reason why Trump would not dare to  do anything to displease  the Leader of the Kremlin:

Trump's business associates' relationship with Russian officials and banks dates back to 2015. Given that at the time, Trump's open admission to one day becoming president of the United States of America, it was unlikely that Trump would not have become a KGB target, just in case. Considering Trump's shady business practices and taste for young girls, it would not have been very difficult for the Russians to find ways to pardon my French, "Hold Trump by his balls," just in case he becomes president.

Of course, nothing of this sort can be proven, and may very well never be, as long as Trump behaves and espouses Russian rhetoric. But short of that explanation, nothing else can explain Trump's submissive attitude towards Putin. Case in point:

When Trump gives an ultimatum to anybody for any reason, the standard time limit is 2 weeks. For Putin, it was 50 days, which miraculously coincided with the number of days he asked Trump to give him to allow his Summer offensive time to finish the total invasion of Ukraine.

It thus remains to be seen if, at the end of the new 50-day ultimatum, Putin finds a new way to

ROLL TRUMP IN FLOUR, AGAIN