‘No Other Choice’: Trump Issues an Ultimatum to Pal Putin
Trump tried to bend the strongman leader’s arm over the war in Ukraine.
Getty Images
Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to his one-time ally Vladimir Putin, threatening him with retribution if he doesn’t make a deal to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In an apparent effort to make good on his already-broken vow to end the war within 24 hours of becoming president, Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday to try and bend the strong-man leader’s arm.
“I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War!,” Trump wrote. “IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”
“It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL,’” he added “NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!”
The threat comes a day after Trump, who has long drawn criticism for his amiable relationship with the Kremlin, issued a rebuke to Putin, saying from the Oval Office that the war was “destroying Russia.”
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Trump did, however, cushion the blow of his ultimatum with a healthy amount of boot-licking.
Putin and Trump were close allies during the American’s first term in office.
Anadolu/Getty Images
“I’m not looking to hurt Russia,” he wrote in the post. “I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin - and this despite the Radical Left’s Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX. We must never forget that Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process.”
Trump sustained a friendly—and occasionally fawning—relationship with Putin over the course of his first presidency.
That connection reportedly didn’t completely dissipate when Trump left office in 2021. Putin and Trump exchanged as many as seven secret phone calls between 2021 and 2024, according to a book released by legendary journalist Bob Woodward in October of last year.
On the campaign trail, though, Trump, who opposes America’s aid to Ukraine’s war effort, often bragged that he would bring a quick end to the conflict that has raged for nearly two years.
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