February 12, 2025

Trump's new and unqualified Secretary of Defense held the Press briefing and, in his remarks, handed Ukraine over to Putin.

Pete Hegseth bound America's hands around their backs with duct tape and left them with virtually no bargaining power in any peace negotiations.

HEGSETH: We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.

The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops.

Trump is washing his hands with Ukraine and continues his assault on the NATO alliance. He gave idiotic excuses as to why that was so.

CNN reported on Trump and Hegseth:

So Hegseth is essentially completely washing the United States' hands here of the conflict in Ukraine. So all of this to say, he did reiterate that the U.S. remains committed to NATO, remains committed to the European Union and that partnership, but that the alliance itself has to step up, has to spend more, has to do more, and that they can no longer rely on the United States to play that leading role that it really was playing and was a cornerstone of the previous administration's foreign policy.

That is not going to fly anymore, he said.

Quietly, Hegseth announces a major policy change, ruling out Ukraine joining NATO. This is a capitulation to Putin, justifying his wars of aggression starting with Georgia in 2008. This will embolden Putin & undermine the interests of peace in Ukraine & Europe. A major blow to US national security.

Alexander S. Vindman (@avindman.bsky.social) 2025-02-12T14:12:36.187Z

Trump’s “America First” just became “Ukraine Last.” Hegseth ruled out NATO for Ukraine, no new U.S. aid, and no path to pre-2014 borders. Putin couldn’t have written a better speech himself.

H. John Tran (@johnhtran.bsky.social) 2025-02-12T15:46:55.833Z

I like to use UTL: Unqualified Trump Loyalist

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