Trump "Repositioning" Nuclear Submarines Is Faux Escalation
- john raymond
- Aug 1
- 2 min read
Trump’s announcement that he has ordered the repositioning of nuclear submarines in response to Russian “threats” is not a show of strength—it’s a carefully staged performance. (As I have mentioned.)
This “escalation” is not meant to deter Russia or signal resolve. It’s designed to give Trump and Putin a shared off-ramp from confrontation—without Trump having to do anything damaging to Russian aspirations in Ukraine—or Putin having to make real concessions or suffer material consequences.
To understand this maneuver, we must revisit Trump’s so-called “50-day” posturing, in which he publicly pledged that if Russia did not comply with certain expectations—vaguely articulated and inconsistently enforced—he would take real action. The countdown is approaching its end. But instead of meaningful pressure on Russia, we get theater.
These moves by Trump and Medvedev are not real escalation. It’s a choreographed play. Trump moves submarines he already controls—without changing U.S. nuclear posture in any substantive way—and Medvedev growls in return about "Dead Hand" systems and Cold War nightmares.
Each side raises the rhetorical stakes enough to alarm the ignorant. And then, once the clock expires we see fake “de-escalation.” Both sides can then claim victory: Trump will say he kept his word by “responding,” while Putin gets what he really wants—no sanctions, no weapons, no meaningful U.S. support to Ukraine beyond what was already happening.
This pattern has played out before. It mirrors the “May 9th gambit,” where Trump pretended to talk tough against Russia just long enough to engineer a ceasefire for Putin’s parade. These aren’t policies. They are props.
The submarine announcement is not a sign of bold American deterrence. It’s the middle beat of a staged escalation, de-escalation dance, where the “escalation” is fake, the threat is fake, and the outcome—U.S. inaction—was always the goal.
The submarines move, but nothing changes. The only real result is Ukraine losing time, weapons, and allies.
In asymmetric warfare, watch not what the actors say, but what their actions enable. Here, what is enabled is American inaction. Russia continues its aggression unimpeded, while Trump escapes the consequences of another broken promise.
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