Trump admits he miscalculated: it turned out to be completely ineffective
September 23 report, during the United Nations General Assembly, U.S. President Trump showed signs of frustration when meeting with French President Macron.
He said he originally thought that his personal relationship with Putin would make the Ukraine-Russia war the easiest issue to resolve, but now it seems this relationship is meaningless.
As a leader who strongly advocates transactional diplomacy, such self-negating statements reflect his helplessness and surprise in the face of international reality.
Over the past few years, Trump has always regarded his good relationship with Putin as an important component of his diplomatic capital.
In his first term, he repeatedly publicly praised Putin as a smart and visionary strong leader, and tried to bring closer U.S.-Russia relations through personal interactions.
During the 2024 campaign, he even repeatedly claimed that if he were in charge, the Ukraine-Russia war would have already ended.
Trump thought that once he took office, just by meeting Putin, Russia would give him some respect and stop fighting, but in the end, he found that his charm was completely ineffective.
This incident reveals more than just a president's miscalculation; it also exposes the fundamental limitations of governing by personal relationships in modern great power rivalry.
Trump has long handled foreign affairs with a business mindset, believing that personal relationships can replace complex negotiations and institutional arrangements.
However, the brutal reality of the Ukraine-Russia war has proven that when a war involves NATO expansion, energy strategy, geopolitical security, and civilizational narratives, any personal friendship becomes insignificant.
Moreover, Putin is facing a whole Western bloc's encirclement, and his decisions have long ceased to be influenced by personal relationships.
The problem that Trump considered the easiest to solve is actually the most complex and far-reaching crisis in the world today.
No matter how strong a president is, he ultimately cannot use friendship to offset the logic of war. This is not only his miscalculation, but also a reflection of the overall decline of American power.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1844114170898439/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.