Over and over, Trump has taken Putin’s side. He brushed off Russia helping Iran target American troops. He threatened our NATO allies and squeezed Ukraine. He’s easing sanctions so Russia can sell diesel and keep paying for the war.
What he’s doing is clear. Why he’s doing it remains a mystery.
IllustrationToll from the Defense Department, reported by Stars and Stripes.
Stars and Stripes (opens in new tab)NBC News (opens in new tab)CNN (opens in new tab)March 2026
Much of what Russia passed to Iran was satellite imagery, CNN reported. When reporters asked about it, Trump said:
“What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time.”
Oct. 12, 2026
Days after the diesel deal, with reports of Russian help to Iran still coming in, Trump wrote:
“If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all. They have too much to lose, and we would know about it, and know about it very fast!”
A Ukrainian soldier launches a Sting interceptor drone, June 2026.
Photo: Ukraine’s General Staff, CC BY 4.0 (opens in new tab)Feb. 10, 2024
Here’s what he said he’d tell a NATO ally that hadn’t hit its defense spending target:
“No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”
Oct. 10–14, 2026
U.S. officials told Ukraine to stop hitting Russian energy sites or risk losing access to American intelligence and weapons, CBS reported. Days later, the SpaceX satellite service Ukraine’s military relies on was capped. It dropped the link whenever a drone flew faster than about 100 mph. That hobbled the interceptor drones Ukraine uses to stop Russian attack drones before they reach its cities. Zelensky said Russia moved to exploit it. On Oct. 14, Russia sent at least 269 drones at Ukraine and killed six people in Lutsk.
After 9/11, NATO invoked its mutual-defense pledge for the only time in its history. Our allies then spent two decades fighting alongside Americans in Afghanistan. Britain alone lost 457 service members in that war.
In 2024, Trump said he’d let Russia go after NATO allies he thinks haven’t paid enough. Those are countries that buried soldiers who fought beside ours.
Russia is already pushing on that door. Britain’s spy chief says Russia is stepping up what he calls hybrid warfare: attacks that stop short of open war. Last year, Russian drones crossed into Poland, and NATO jets shot several of them down. Poland says Russian intelligence was behind a bomb on a rail line that carries aid to Ukraine. Polish prosecutors say fire bombs mailed across Europe were test runs for attacks on cargo flights to the U.S. and Canada. In October, Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel anyway.
The SCF Pechora, an oil products tanker in the fleet of Russia’s state shipping company, Sovcomflot. Photo: Calistemon, CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in new tab)
NBC News (opens in new tab)Reuters via The Moscow Times (opens in new tab)Oct. 9, 2026
In 2022, Congress banned imports of Russian oil products, including diesel. On Oct. 9, after a call with Putin, Trump said Russia would supply up to 4.8 million tons of diesel. The same day, Treasury, acting “at President Trump’s direction,” issued a license allowing Russian diesel sales, including into the U.S., through April 2027. Senators from both parties said that “runs directly counter” to the 2022 law.
Oct. 13, 2026
Twelve senators, six of them Republicans including Mitch McConnell, warned that the Kremlin’s revenue from the deal would “undoubtedly finance its desired war of attrition and advance its security cooperation with China, Iran, and North Korea.” They called the deal
“a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”
May 2026
A Russian boxing executive close to Putin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the celebrations after Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding, ProPublica reported. The couple called it “an extraordinarily generous wedding gift.” Four days after the story broke, Trump said his son had paid it back.
Feb. 22, 2022
Two days before Russia’s full invasion, after Putin declared two regions of Ukraine independent, Trump said on the radio:
“I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent.”
This isn’t America First.