At a time when our nation is seeing a peak in political partisanship, Congress is definitely talking with a bipartisan voice about punishing Russia with sanctions, as a method to pressure an finish to the warfare.
Are Trump’s Nobel Prize hopes shaping Ukraine talks? What we all know now.
President Donald Trump’s rush for a Ukraine peace deal raises considerations amongst European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Here is what we all know.
- President Trump set and missed a number of deadlines for Russia to finish the warfare in Ukraine.
- Congress has launched bipartisan payments to sanction Russia, however Trump has not taken vital motion.
- Trump’s inaction emboldens Putin to proceed assaults in Ukraine, escalating the battle.
In the present day, Sept. 2, was presupposed to be “Russia ends its atrocious and illegal warfare in Ukraine” day.
What? Did you overlook that President Donald Trump laid down a 50-day marker on July 14, a hard-and-fast deadline for Russia to finish the hostilities and remake the peace it destroyed by invading Ukraine?
Possibly it slipped your thoughts as a result of Trump stripped that deadline from his calendar simply two weeks after asserting it, reducing that timeframe down to “10 to 12 days” on July 28 earlier than letting that day move 10 to 12 days later with no vital final result.
Here is what we learn about Trump and the warfare he once claimed he could end in a single day: He has no clue how one can resolve this difficulty and nil fortitude for ever holding Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable.
Here is one thing else we have discovered about Trump – he units deadlines not as a method to perform one thing within the definable future however as a way to escape from immediate pressure to take motion within the second.
Congress might pressure Trump’s hand by making life harder for Putin and the Russian economic system. However that may require Republican leaders in Congress to face as much as Trump for being unwilling to face as much as Putin.
Congress is beginning to unite in opposition to Russia and Putin
At a time when our nation is seeing a peak in political partisanship, Congress is definitely speaking with a bipartisan voice about punishing Russia with sanctions, as a method to pressure the tip of the invasion and warfare.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced identical bills on April 1, referred to as the “Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025.”
These payments would impose limits on visas for Putin, Russian army commanders, and any particular person from different nations who help Russia’s assaults on Ukraine. Additionally they embody asset freezes and tariffs of “a minimum of 500%” on items and providers exported to or imported from Russia.
And they might inflict tariffs of a minimum of 500% on any nation that buys “Russian-origin uranium and petroleum merchandise.” That might be a shock to the system for Russia’s already precarious economy.
The House bill has 45 Democratic and 44 Republican cosponsors, whereas the Senate version has 42 Democratic and 41 Republican cosponsors, plus one unbiased signed on.
So, the place is Trump on this?
President Trump stays all over on sanctioning Russia
On model, Trump is all over the place on sanctioning Russia. Every new deadline he units comes with the threat of imposing the sanctions Congress is asking for. But nothing happens. It is all discuss.
That is crucial right here as a result of each chambers of Congress are, in idea, managed for now by Republicans. However these politicians have, for now, surrendered their perform as a coequal department of presidency. They present no indicators of taking motion, unbiased of Trump.
Trump’s shifting deadlines are at all times excellent news for Russia. He voices the emptiest of threats. He talks powerful about sanctions however then shrugs them off and whines about how hard it is to end a war that he repeatedly claimed, whereas campaigning final 12 months, would be an easy task.
And Putin walks away, a winner each time. Generally with a big smile on his face.
On Aug. 26, Trump was nonetheless enjoying the identical shiftless recreation, telling reporters on the White Home that he’s mulling “very severe” sanctions for Russia.
“We now have financial sanctions,” Trump said, according to Reuters. “I am speaking about financial as a result of we’re not going to get right into a world warfare.”
Why would Putin consider that Trump is severe now, or ever? Why would anybody consider it? Trump has at all times appeared much more prone to flip his again on Ukraine than to show his fury on Russia.
Putin is aware of Trump will not take motion as Russia continues its onslaught
That was one of many takeaways from Trump’s Aug. 15 summit in Alaska with Putin.
Trump went in all hell-bent on securing a ceasefire, which Ukraine and that nation’s European allies see as a crucial first step towards peace. He got here out just a few hours later mouthing phrases that ought to have had a Russian accent, since they had been an exact match to Putin’s predetermined rejection of a ceasefire.
Putin does not should concern Trump on sanctions or the rest. He retains on killing civilians in Ukraine assaults and now widens his warfare with intentional, worldwide targets.
His military launched a pair of cruise missiles two weeks in the past at an American-owned electronics factory in western Ukraine. A Russian air bombardment final week killed at least 21 people, whereas damaging the European Union mission and a British Council workplace.
Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland, on Aug. 28, posted this on social media about Russia bombing civilians in Ukraine: “Putin understands solely energy. The one factor that may carry him to the negotiating desk is strain.” Finland shares a border of greater than 800 miles with Russia, so Stubb would know.
French President Emmanuel Macron posted this the same day: “629 missiles and drones in a single evening over Ukraine: that is Russia’s thought of peace. Terror and barbarism.”
Over on the White Home that day, Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt equated the Russian slaughter of Ukrainian civilians of their properties with current Ukrainian military strikes on Russia’s oil trade infrastructure. She actually used the phrase “either side” to place equal blame on the invaded nation and the invaders.
Congress cannot look forward to Trump to seek out the braveness to carry Putin accountable. That day is just not coming. So the Republican leaders in Congress should stand as much as Trump to punish Russia.
Comply with USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, previously often known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Join his weekly publication, Translating Politics, here.
