What did Donald Trump do today?

He said he would strike a deal to end Russia's war on Ukraine, but not by supporting Ukraine.

At a press conference today, Trump had this exchange with a reporter.

Q: At this point, would you -- to hold on to leverage in dealing with President Putin, would you make a commitment to the Ukrainians that you will keep supporting them during the negotiations?

TRUMP: Well, I wouldn't tell you if that were the case.

This fits with Trump's Russia-friendly stance during the campaign and his first term. For context:

Trump was elected in 2016 with open and covert assistance from the Putin regime in Russia, and at one point specifically begged Russia for help on live TV in finding supposed dirt on his opponent, Hillary Clinton. He also clearly viewed Putin and his oligarchs as a financial lifeline, and his son bragged about the amount of money that was being directed their way from wealthy Russians. During his first term, he had a relationship with Putin that at times bordered on the obsequious, if not humiliating. 

His relationship with Ukraine has been colder. In 2019, faced with the prospect of running against Joe Biden, he tried to strongarm the government of Ukraine into ginning up a fake "investigation" of Hunter Biden, who at the time was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Trump also demanded that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Ukraine support his false claim that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that had tried to interfere in the 2016 election, and against Trump rather than for him. In retaliation for Zelenskyy's refusal to comply, Trump suspended military aid to Ukraine. He only restored it months later when his actions came to light because of a whistleblower's report. Trump then attempted to conceal evidence, ordered staff not to comply with congressional investigations, and fired those who did. Trump was eventually impeached over his actions against Ukraine, which had been a military and strategic ally of the United States since overthrowing a Russian puppet government in 2014. 

Trump, possibly alone out of all American politicians, has never condemned Russia's most recent invasion of Ukraine. While the stalled and protracted campaign itself has been a costly embarrassment to the Putin regime, which had far more military capability than the much smaller Ukraine, it has been devastating to the Ukrainian people. Between 60,000 and 100,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed, along with tens of thousands of non-combatants from deliberate Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure like apartment buildings and hospitals.

Why does this matter?

• The United States military and diplomatic might is not there to enforce one man's personal grudges.

• A commander-in-chief who cannot bring himself honor America's commitments to its allies is unfit for the job.

• So is a president who is compromised by his personal loyalty (for whatever reason) to the leader of a hostile foreign power.