Trump’s ‘come to Jesus’ moment on Ukraine, at Pope Francis’s funeral

Amidst the pageantry and centuries-old ritual on display at Pope Francis’s magnificent funeral, politics, of course, intruded. 

Until the funeral, President Trump had seemingly, albeit oddly, sided with Russia for its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2022.

Trump appeared oblivious to the truth that Russia had blatantly attacked Ukraine. The pundits opined that the attack was precipitated by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s stated desire to join NATO.

Big whoop.

Almost all Western European countries are members of NATO. But Germany had blocked Ukraine’s NATO membership, citing its famous corruption.

Putin most likely wanted the restoration of the old Soviet borders, which saw its vast empire break into numerous smaller states on its peripheries. Ukraine had ancient ties to Russia dating from its origins. And perhaps Putin just wanted to flex and show that Russia could attack any nation it wished.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Russia’s predatory takeover: Ukraine pushed back.

Yes, Ukraine’s President Zelensky had theretofore been marked as a corrupt clown, and was deemed a pushover whom Russia would crush quickly.

Surprising his detractors, and Russia, Zelensky turned out to be a worthy defender of Ukraine. Backed by untold billions of foreign ‘loans,’ and tens of thousands on both sides dead, the war wages on.

President Trump, even before his inauguration, boasted that he would have the Ukraine-Russia conflict over quickly — even before his inauguration.

But nearly 100 days after being sworn in, Trump has not ended the conflict.  Pressuring Zelensky, Ukraine has agreed to most of a peace deal, but approximately a month since Ukraine’s capitulation, Russia has not agreed to peace.

Perhaps feeling played, and after an impromptu meeting with Western European leaders at the funeral of Pope Francis, Trump appears to be changing sides, now favoring Ukraine.

That would be a wise decision.

Equally confounding is Trump’s sudden desire to engage in negotiations with Iran after appearing on the verge of agreeing that Iran’s nuclear capacity had to end. For years, it has been announced that Iran is weeks or a week away from full nuclear capability. Why are we to believe that Iran isn’t already there?

Up until about a week ago, the story was that Israel, with the United State’s approval or assistance, was to attack Iran’s nuclear capability, whatever it was,  and destroy it.

However, suddenly, President Trump has pulled back, stating there was an opportunity to negotiate with Iran.

It is obvious that Trump prefers negotiation to confrontation, but change makes little sense. Iran is faltering economically. Inflation is high. There is a new report that an explosion has occurred at a southern port in Iran with almost 20 dead and over 700 injured.

While it is too soon to divine if the explosion was an accident or deliberate, the intelligence consensus is that Iran is in a tough spot.

So why give them assistance through negotiation? It makes no sense.

It appears that Trump has somewhat shifted his foreign policy lens — let’s hope he does the right thing in dealing with both Zelensky and Iran.

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