With tariffs and failed Ukraine ‘peace’ talks, Trump is the emperor who has no clothes
Seduced by his inflated ego and Vladimir Putin's lures, he makes awful economic and foreign policy decisions, yet, like the fairy-tale character, sycophantic aides enable his ignorance.
In Hans Christian Andersen’s famous fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a child sees the ruler’s nakedness and cries out, “But he has nothing on!”
In today’s America, supine GOP legislators, greedy billionaires, unhinged conspiracy theorists, and a craven cabinet cheer on a naked emperor as he starts a senseless, destructive global trade war. They cheer or stay mum as he undermines U.S. security, shreds America’s military alliances, and bows to the Kremlin.
None have the honesty (or courage) to shout: But he has no clue about what he is doing.
Convinced he knows better than anyone, surrounded by sycophants and unchecked by Congress, President Donald Trump wants to single-handedly reshape the world. Instead, he is en route to wrecking America’s economy and its global standing, while strengthening the influence of Russia and China.
Even as Trump’s tariffs tank the stock market, his nakedness is most evident in his failed pursuit of ending Russia’s war on Ukraine.
» READ MORE: Signalgate leak reveals a worse intelligence disaster than most Americans realize | Trudy Rubin
Candidate Trump promised to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours (while refusing to admit Russia was at fault for invading). But his so-called peace talks, conducted by real estate crony Steve Witkoff, have achieved nil.
The president has made concession after concession to Vladimir Putin, barring Ukraine from NATO, and accepting Russian claims to most of the territory it seized by conquest. He has bowed to Putin before Moscow has signed on to anything. Yet, the Kremlin czar refuses to endorse Trump’s request for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, which Ukraine has agreed to. Instead, Putin keeps adding more conditions and heavily bombing Ukrainian cities.
What kind of master dealmaker gives up all his leverage before the bargaining even begins? An honest observer would shout: This emperor has no idea how to make a deal.
Unsurprisingly, Russia continues to string Trump and Witkoff along, promising partial ceasefires that are never delivered.
First was Moscow’s supposed agreement to stop bombing Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Never happened. As is Russia’s modus operandi, last week it struck a children’s playground in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown with a missile, killing nine kids.
Then came the supposed partial ceasefire in the Black Sea, which would have benefited Russia greatly, but harmed Ukraine. Ukrainians, with no navy, had already driven Russia’s fleet out of the western part of the Black Sea with sea drones and established a safe route to export their grain and steel. Witkoff’s deal attempted to replace that safe route by restoring a Russian-controlled route under U.N. auspices that had failed badly. The deal offered up front to help Russia’s grain exports, yet it neglected to prohibit Russia from blockading Ukrainian ports or lobbing missiles at them from across the Black Sea.
But never mind. Running circles around Witkoff and Trump, Putin is demanding even more concessions before implementing a useless and partial Black Sea ceasefire.
Part of the problem is Witkoff’s stunning ignorance about Putin’s brutality and past record of breaking deals with Ukraine. The real estate mogul appears to know nothing at all about Ukrainian or Russian history. A perfect twin of his boss.
In a March 22 interview with Tucker Carlson, Trump’s negotiator displayed a level of naivete so shocking as to be almost unbelievable. “Putin’s got a huge respect for the president,” Witkoff babbled. “I think we have moved Russia in ways that no one thought possible.”
Witkoff, who met with Putin twice, went on to parrot Kremlin talking points, claiming Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine have held referendums “where the overwhelming majority of the people indicated that they want to be under Russian rule.”
Of course, these referendums were supervised by Russian-controlled security police. Ukrainians who object are tortured or deported to prisons in Russia. Those same regions voted heavily for independence in an internationally monitored free election after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Yet, Witkoff was so besotted by meeting Putin that he gushed about “a beautiful portrait of President Trump” the Kremlin czar gave him to take back to the White House. He swooned over Putin’s tale of meeting with his priest and praying for Trump after he was shot at in Pennsylvania. Vladimir Lenin labeled foreigners who swallowed such Russian propaganda “useful idiots,” and rightfully so.
» READ MORE: ‘Now we are fighting against a dictator supported by a traitor’ | Trudy Rubin
The murderous Putin — a former KGB colonel who has his opponents poisoned — must have laughed himself silly over Witkoff’s adulation. This is the same Witkoff whom Trump assigned to negotiate his mad plan for a Mideast Riviera in Gaza and is now dispatching for indirect nuclear talks with Iranian officials in Oman.
Despite a moment of pique with Putin, Trump remains unwilling to pressure him for any concessions. He continues to offer more gifts to the Kremlin, hinting at lifting sanctions and restoring direct U.S. flights to Russia.
Meantime, Trump didn’t impose any tariffs on Moscow but hit Kyiv with a 10% levy. Yet, he is trying to force Ukraine to accept a draconian “minerals deal” that would compel the country to repay three times what the U.S. has delivered in aid and weapons. This punishment — equivalent to what a conqueror imposes on a vanquished enemy — would threaten Ukraine’s sovereignty and make it impossible for the country to recover economically when the war ends.
What anyone with eyes can see is that Trump doesn’t give a fig about “peace” in Ukraine. If he could get a temporary ceasefire and a photo op with Putin that he thinks would earn him a Nobel Peace Prize, that would be sufficient — even if Putin later restarted the war.
Failing that, it is now pipe dreams of huge business opportunities offered by Putin that have caught the eye of a venal U.S. president.
Last week, the administration lifted travel sanctions on Putin’s investment adviser Kirill Dmitriev so he could come to Washington — the first official Russian visit since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Dmitriev’s mission: to discuss with Witkoff the supposed bright prospects for U.S. investors in Russia — if Trump lifts sanctions on Moscow and ends the country’s international isolation.
Never mind Putin’s Russia has a history of forcing U.S. investors to turn over their assets or expropriating them outright. As Bill Browder, once the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia, told CNN Sunday: “It is an exercise in masochism for anyone to go to Russia [for investment]. This time you don’t just risk losing your money, you risk losing your life.” Browder’s Russian tax lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was jailed and beaten to death in prison after he alleged fraud by Russian tax officials.
Yet, Trump let himself be hornswoggled by Putin, even as he is slapping close allies with prohibitive tariffs and working hard to turn them into enemies — while aiding Putin’s efforts to destroy Ukraine.
In Andersen’s fairy tale, the emperor is nude because he listened to con men. They convinced him they could weave him a suit of special cloth that would be invisible to those who were unfit for their job or unpardonably stupid. The emperor’s courtiers pretended to see the “invisible” suit because they feared being labeled unfit.
Trump is wide open to swindlers like Putin — along with ignorant advisers — who encourage him on his path toward destruction. As shown by a growing number of protests, civil society is beginning to rally against the Trump bulldozer. It is past time for any sane GOP legislators and moneymen who want to save their country, their souls, and their purses, to stand up and shout before the emperor destroys them: But he has nothing on.