Critical Error: How Russia Got Trump Hooked on Meaningless Negotiations and Non-Existent Victories

Donald Trump had been preparing for his second presidential term for many years. Ever since losing the election to Joe Biden, the Republican Party leader has been working to dismantle any checks and balances within government institutions upon his return to the White House. The 47th U.S. president filled every position with exclusively loyal individuals. With a majority in both houses of Congress, he made it extremely difficult to oppose his decisions at every level and began to act with extreme vigor without any analysis of the consequences.

Statements about his intention not to defend NATO allies destabilized the Alliance and significantly reduced the number of European orders placed with U.S. defense contractors. The tariff wars unleashed by Trump proved to be extremely ineffective and, moreover, harmful, as they led to price increases for a wide range of goods out of the blue. Numerous decisions by Trump led to a rapid deterioration of the economy and destroyed global trust in the United States.

Few things can compare in terms of consequences to the disastrous decision to start a war in Iran, since instead of a brilliant and swift victory, the Americans suffered a protracted defeat. The zugzwang Trump has driven himself into effectively spells the end of the Republicans’ prospects in the midterm elections, as there are no viable solutions to the problem. That’s why the “dealmaker” is on edge, trying to grasp at any straw and shift the blame for high gas prices onto anyone he can. Ukraine has become the “scapegoat,” onto which Trump is now trying to shift the blame for his own chaotic actions, while the main beneficiary of the U.S. president’s and his team’s appalling unprofessionalism is Russia.

Channel 24 explains why Russia is completely outplaying the West, how Putin is selling Trump air, and how the situation in Hormuz could ultimately lead to a crushing defeat for the United States.

The White House is desperate for any kind of victory

Due to a significant decline in Americans’ purchasing power – caused exclusively by the Trump administration’s actions – the approval ratings for the Republican Party and the president personally have plummeted to record lows. Even in traditionally Republican states like Texas, according to polls, MAGA’s standing has dropped significantly. So the closer the election gets, the more desperate measures the American leader is willing to take.

Even before his election victory in the fall of 2024, Trump was, for some reason, confident that he would be able to reach an agreement with Putin and Zelenskyy; however, Russia consistently thwarted any U.S. attempts to bring the war to the negotiating table. However, his American counterpart never once saw any fault in the Kremlin dictator. Instead of putting pressure on Russia, he repeatedly chose the tactic of siding with the aggressor and trying to force Ukraine to make concessions that were impossible to fulfill.

In this way, the Russian dictator easily implemented his strategy – to pull the wool over people’s eyes and stall for time. Putin benefits from negotiations about nothing – concessions from Trump in exchange for imaginary business projects that can never be realized.

Moscow failed to defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, after which it simply decided to employ a strategy of undermining allies to get them to refuse or reduce aid to Kyiv. This approach proved surprisingly effective, since – at least until the campaign of strikes on oil refineries – Russia was not risking anything at all: hostilities took place exclusively on Ukrainian territory, and the infrastructure affected was by no means critical to the aggressor. Among Western societies, which still have not grasped the level of danger they face, resistance to providing funds to Ukraine has gradually grown, and the Russians had no choice but to play into these sentiments.

Trump is in big trouble / Photo – Getty Images

Parties directly funded by Putin’s regime have begun to gain popularity in key European countries, and in the coming years they will undoubtedly exert a serious influence on politics in their respective nations. So, in addition to any possible support for far-left and far-right political forces, Putin also needs to weather Trump’s term in office with minimal losses – or even with some gains.

As recent years have shown, in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the current White House administration is doing more to help the Russians than to put pressure on them. This is precisely what allows Moscow to forge ever-deeper criminal alliances with Iran and North Korea, intensify shelling of Ukraine, and have absolutely no fear of additional sanctions or any other restrictions. This is especially true given that Tehran and Moscow are extremely successful in playing the card of the blocked Strait of Hormuz.

No matter what Trump says in his speeches, Iran currently controls a waterway that is strategically vital to the entire oil industry, and has no intention of making any concessions to help its American opponent potentially retain absolute power. Following the disastrous election, the U.S. is highly likely to face both the launch of impeachment proceedings and high-profile investigations into Trump’s enrichment and that of his inner circle. All of the West’s enemies are well aware that the U.S. could become mired in internal strife, become even more isolated, and further undermine its already weakened alliance with Europe; therefore, their main priority is to stay out of the way.

Putin views Trump’s emissaries as nonentities / photo – Kremlin

In this context, Kushner and Witkoff’s trip to Moscow, Putin’s flirtation with his transatlantic counterpart, and all sorts of backroom deals between Washington and the Kremlin look like a drowning man's attempts to breathe through a leaky straw. Trump’s policy of simple solutions has proven to be a failure on nearly every level, so on the eve of the election, he is happy to grasp at anything that might offer him hope.

Russia is receiving preferential treatment without giving anything in return

Donald Trump's announcement of an energy truce following the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel fuel came as a huge surprise to the entire world.

On the one hand, this was no sensation, since the U.S. president’s fondness for the world’s No. 1 war criminal has long been evident. On the other hand, this shift toward such an overt alignment with the aggressor indicates panic within Trump’s campaign headquarters – they see no other options for securing at least something to present to their electorate as a victory in the Oval Office. That is why they have entered into yet another deal with the devil in the hope of gaining at least some political advantage through this “agreement.”

Today’s shift by the current occupant of the White House toward the Kremlin and the beginning of a change in course – from sanctions pressure to the gradual lifting of sanctions – demonstrates the inability of Donald Trump’s team to continue serving as a mediator in the negotiations between Bankova and the Kremlin, that is, the obvious failure of various attempts to achieve even a temporary ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian war, which is now effectively moving to a new level – that of a European regional armed conflict, 
– wrote Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine’s former ambassador to the U.S., in his material for Channel 24.

There can be no economic benefits for the U.S. from a deal with Putin, since there is no physical shortage of diesel in the U.S., and the additional tons of fuel imported from Russia could only have a negative impact on the domestic U.S. market. The volumes allegedly stated in the agreement are by no means sufficient to make up for the oil lost due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, the very possibility of Moscow supplying large volumes of diesel to the market is highly questionable, since Ukraine has significantly damaged Russian refineries and reduced their capacity to export fuel.

On the contrary, the Russians stand to gain from this “best deal”: Putin will secure additional funds for the war by selling “blood-stained” petroleum products, while demonstrating to the entire world that lifting sanctions without a change in the aggressor’s behavior is entirely possible. The Americans, on the other hand, will gain absolutely nothing from such agreements: global fuel prices depend directly on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, and more recently also on shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and no amount of diesel from Russia can influence that problem.

Furthermore, by blatantly playing into the Russians’ hands, the U.S. has once again demonstrated that it is an unreliable ally, and the White House leader himself has shown himself to be more than just a short-sighted politician. After all, the Russian dictator is not currently ready for any real ceasefire; Moscow will continue its terror against Kyiv this winter, and the 47th U.S. president will effectively assist it in doing so.

If Putin does agree to go along with his comrade on at least some points, this will clearly indicate not a desire to stop the destruction of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, but rather an effort to stockpile resources ahead of the elections and the onset of cold weather.

Moscow is shipping missiles to Iran and stepping up its efforts against the West

Furthermore, thanks to Russia’s successful negotiations with Trump, the Russian dictator has gained significant confidence that the empire is capable of waging a war of attrition, and that sooner or later he will succeed in reducing support for Ukraine to such an extent that his victory will become a realistic prospect. Putin is currently banking on undermining unity and weakening support from allies, and to do so, he simply needs to buy time.

Trump, with his “fiasco in the war with Iran,” is literally driving a stake through NATO’s heart, while Europe cannot come to terms with the new reality in which peacetime has come to an end. Meanwhile, in Germany and France, calls to stop arms deliveries to Ukraine and reach an agreement with Putin are growing louder. Moreover, these narratives are being voiced by Kremlin-backed politicians who have every chance of coming to power in the next elections.

The U.S. president’s second term is proceeding without any problems or pressure for the Russians, as they have managed to trap him in a constant cycle: Trump promises to end the war – Russia refuses to make any concessions – Dmitriev and company sell Americans the promise of trillions of dollars in profits from ephemeral joint projects – the U.S. puts pressure on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Moscow, on the one hand, is in severe economic and military decline, while on the other, it is significantly strengthening its ties with China, North Korea, and Iran. At least at the very beginning of the U.S. adventure in the Middle East, not only ballistic missiles and “Shaheds” were flying toward a British base and one of the ports in the UAE, but also "Gerani" supplied by Russia.

In addition, Putin provided the Ayatollahs’ regime with intelligence, particularly regarding the movements of U.S. ships and aircraft, as well as spare parts and various weapons components. However, according to Bloomberg, the Russians went further and began supplying their ally with missiles.

But Trump’s administration is completely oblivious to the fact that representatives of the aggressor country are taking openly hostile actions against the U.S. With one hand, Trump is mired in a war against Iran, and with the other, he is helping Putin arm Tehran. Because he is tempted by the prospect of putting pressure on Ukraine and striking yet another meaningless deal with the Kremlin’s Führer, as well as reaping substantial profits from Russian bribes in the form of the sale of Lukoil’s foreign assets.