How America lost the war in Ukraine

Wars rarely have a real winner. That's certainly true for Vladimir Putin's illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

After four and a half years of fighting, Putin has come close to bankrupting Russia, shredded a military machine once feared across Europe, and sent over 1.4 million men off to become casualties. Had some other great power invaded Russia, they could scarcely hope to achieve the level of damage that Putin has accomplished.

But Putin isn't the only loser.

For all their determination and accomplishments in the face of overwhelming odds, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the people of his nation can't really be exalted as winners; not when they are daily watching Russian missiles smash into apartment buildings or Russian artillery slowly converting homes into rubble. They're stopping Russia on the battlefield, but the cost is so very high.

And then there's Donald Trump. Trump and the American military. Trump, the American military, and every American at home and abroad. We're also losers in this war, and long term the damage may be worse than what's happening in Moscow,

Following the extraordinarily embarrassing behavior of Trump and J.D. Vance when Zelenskyy paid a visit at the White House, Trump smugly reposted a quote from an Arizona DJ and "lifelong practitioner of martial arts" who declared that Vance's insults and Trump's shoddy treatment of the Ukrainian leader were actually genius.

“Now, Zelenskyy will have no choice but to back down and accept Trump's terms. …

Trump played both sides like a master chess player. In the end, Zelenskyy will have no choice but to concede, because without U.S. support, Ukraine cannot win a prolonged war against Russia. And once U.S. companies have mining operations in Ukraine, Putin will be unable to attack without triggering massive international consequences.

Don’t underestimate Donald Trump. In this game of chess, he’s 10 moves ahead of everyone.”

That was a year and a half ago. Ukraine isn't just still fighting, it's winning.

Instead of forcing Zelenskyy into a corner that would allow Trump's pals to treat Ukraine as their plaything, while surrendering huge swaths of land to Putin, the Ukrainian military is burning down Russia's "shadow fleet" of illegal oil tankers, isolating areas that Russia has held since 2014, and bringing Putin to the end of his long, bloody career.

Scenarios for his end range from quick assassination to a show trial, with triggers including more Ukrainian attacks, internal unrest, or China withdrawing support. His downfall is predicted within three years.

This moment should be a victory for America. We should be celebrating Ukraine's achievements and the destruction of a threat that's hung over everyone since the end of World War II. Instead, Trump has determinedly driven America to the sidelines while repeatedly attempting to force Ukraine to accept Russian rule over much of its territory. Rather than taking the lead in assisting Ukraine, Trump has surrendered both moral authority and the perception of American power.

On Monday, a new "coalition of the willing" met in Paris to announce a ballistic missile shield that would erase Russia's ability to turn its weapons of war on civilian populations.

Ukraine and nine other countries including the UK, Germany and France are to build a shared protection programme for Europe against ballistic missiles, using Kyiv’s experience in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four years.

The United States was not present for this announcement, because we are not participating. The technology being developed to end Russia's increasingly desperate attacks on Kyiv and other cities is being developed in Ukraine and deployed in other nations, for other people.

Eighteen months after his "Zelenskyy will have no choice" post, Donald Trump is still staring at his chess board, realizing that he doesn't even know the rules of the game. No one underestimated Trump. Their estimates were exactly right: He's a feckless dumbass whose only move is to bluff.

A lifelong bully surrounded by men who can't wait to deliver a daily tongue bath, Trump recently insisted that he belonged at the top of a list containing history's most powerful dictators and butchers.

In “Regime Change,” New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reveal that Trump is possessed of an even grander delusion, that he may be the most powerful man in history. Interviewed by the reporters, he unveiled a document arguing he is more powerful than mass murderers Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Adolf Hitler.

The author of this "great man" document? A presidential historian, says Trump. A caddy at Trump's golf club, say Haberman and Swan.

In an interview with Axios, Trump doubled down on his claims. Israel, according to Trump, "would not exist" were it not for him. Netanyahu will "do what I say," the leaders of the G7 nations believe that he is "the boss," and there are "no limits" to his power.

There are a several words that describe Trump's attitude. There's the technical term megalomania, describing a condition in which someone is seized by delusions of grandeur, feelings of omnipotence, and an obsessive desire for power, wealth, and control. There's the more satisfying phrase of arrogant douchebag. And there's the one most accurate for Trump: pathetic. Simply pathetic.

Just as he did in Iran, Trump drastically overestimated his power and ability to control the situation in Ukraine. In the months leading up to the election, he repeatedly insisted that he could end the war in a single day.

"I’ll have that done in 24 hours.” He said that would happen after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he keeps repeating the claim on the campaign trail.

The Great Dealmaker didn't just say this once. He said it at least 53 times.

That would have been quite an achievement. Still, you have to hand it to Trump. He might not have ended Russia's invasion, but he did end the American century much sooner than anyone would have expected.

Maybe he really is powerful.