The argument I made in 2024 was that Trump wouldn't be able to end the war, because while he'd have a lot of leverage over Ukraine in theory, in practice he wouldn't be able to use it because if he tried it would cause a massive backlash in the US and the political cost would just not be worth it.
To be honest, I think I had underestimated how much personal antipathy Trump had for Zelensky and the Ukrainians in general, but I think the way in which nobody is willing to own the decision to cut Ukraine off from Starlink and it had to reversed almost immediately is a good illustration of what I was talking about.
Conversely, Trump could in theory induce the Russians to compromise by promising to deliver on some of the things they care about (such as sanctions or the European security architecture), but in practice he can't because he'd need the support of Congress and US allies for that and they will never go along with that. So they will just see it through.
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Joe Barnes
@Barnes_Joe
EXCLUSIVE: Elon Musk came to Donald Trump with the plan to throttle Ukraine’s use of SpaceX’s Starshield satellite internet network, sources have told the Telegraph.
The tech billionaire made the proposal during the US President’s row with Volodymyr Zelensky over strikes on
