Dear Paul Warburg, Trump’s Goal Isn’t a Stalemate—It’s Putin’s Victory and His Own Coronation
- john raymond
- Jul 16
- 2 min read
Paul Warburg argues that recent shifts in U.S. arms policy represent a turning point for Ukraine, claiming that Donald Trump’s transactional pivot marks a new era of stable support. But this entire framing collapses under one simple truth: Trump is not improvising. He is executing. His objective is not to merely delay or frustrate Ukrainian victory—it is to prevent it outright. The goal is not a protracted war. The goal is a Russian win, followed by Trump’s permanent installation as America’s "forever president."
Trump’s track record is not that of a fickle actor but a disciplined tool in a larger asymmetric offensive. Every decision he’s made—from attacking NATO, to holding up weapons shipments, to laundering Kremlin narratives about "territorial disputes"—has strategically aligned with Russia’s war aims. This isn’t a coincidence. This is alignment. Trump’s sabotage of U.S. foreign policy is designed to do more than weaken Ukraine—it is designed to erode Western resolve, discredit democracy itself, and clear a path for his own elevation as the autocratic counter to liberalism’s decline.
Warburg, in treating Trump’s behavior as a response to flattery and financial incentives, completely misses the deeper architecture of the crisis: Trump doesn’t just want better deals or good headlines. He wants control. He wants to be the indispensable figure at the center of every negotiation, every alliance, every crisis. In Ukraine, that means manipulating the flow of arms so that only he can claim credit for salvation—or withhold it to force concessions. Domestically, it means using Ukraine’s struggle as a pretext to purge dissent, sideline institutions, and portray himself as the one man who can make peace or unleash war.
Trump’s supposed “support” for Ukraine, funneled through NATO intermediaries, is not an end to the sabotage—it is camouflage. It gives him a lever. And if the West accepts this new arrangement as stable, they are walking straight into the next phase of collapse. The contract isn’t just between the U.S. and NATO. It’s between Trump and Putin: You get Ukraine. I get America.
This is not hyperbole. It is the logic of regime survival. In asymmetric warfare, victory rarely looks like tanks rolling into capitals. It looks like internal fractures, institutional paralysis, and the rise of strongmen posing as saviors. Putin understands this. So does Trump. And their coordination—tactical and psychological—has brought us to the brink of a historic unraveling.
So while Paul Warburg urges optimism, the rest of us should recognize what’s really happening: the lights are going out... And Trump isn’t a wildcard.
He’s the lit fuse on a bomb that he and Putin hope will blow up democracy worldwide.
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