Trump can’t deliver Ukraine to Putin — and he should stop trying to
Putin is losing ground, the piece insists, and that's the hinge of the whole argument. If true, it makes Trump's push for a quick deal look less like pragmatism and more like a giveaway. But I'd want to see the numbers before I fully sign on. The claim that Russia is being ground down has been made before, and the front lines have shifted in ways that don't always match the headlines.
What matters here is the timing. The article's point is that concessions now would reward aggression at a moment of weakness, and that's hard to argue with on its face. Still, I'd want to know what Trump's team thinks they're getting in return. If there's a real off-ramp that saves lives, that's worth weighing. But if it's just handing over territory to a leader who's already losing, that's a different story.
I land somewhere in the middle. I don't think anyone should hand Ukraine to Putin, and the piece makes a fair case that Trump's approach risks exactly that. But I'd want more detail on what the actual deal looks like before I call it a disaster. The facts will tell.