European officials fear Trump is preparing to blame them for Ukraine failure

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1. European officials fear Donald Trump’s latest rhetoric on Ukraine aims to set them an impossible mission that will allow the US president to shift blame away from Washington if Kyiv falters in the war or runs short of cash.

   After months of pressing Ukraine to settle with Moscow and give up Russian-occupied territory, the US president stunned European capitals on Tuesday by declaring on social media that Kyiv could “fight and win” all its land “with the help of the EU”.

   While Trump’s new stance was welcomed in some quarters, several European officials concluded he was handing them responsibility for Ukraine’s defence with expectations that Europe would find hard to meet.

   “This is the start of a blame game,” one official said of Trump’s abrupt change of heart. “The US knew that the China and India tariffs would be impossible” for the EU to accept.

   Trump “is building the off ramp” so he can blame Europe when and if he needs to, a European government aide said. The shift was “spectacular” and “generally good”, but Trump was “setting a very high bar,” a German official noted.

2. Seriously, why do we have to take seriously anything Trump has to say?

3. Isn’t he a clown?

4. Well it is their fault. Europe let their militaries degrade while simultaneously buying hundreds of billions in Russian oil and gas despite the warnings of literally every US president. Even now Europe is having trouble finding enough peacekeeping forces to entertain the possibility of a post war occupying force. They drag their feet at every step. Even after Crimea and the Donbas war Europe merely shook their fists in the air.

   Credit where credit is due, Europe is taking steps to right this (slowly) but it is absolutely valid to put some of the blame on them for the current state of affairs.

5. “Coalition of the willing” until the time comes to actually do something

6. It is Europe’s failure. Ultimately they funded the Russian war machine through oil and resource purchases, and then never funded their own militaries even though Russia was clearly building up theirs.

7. Europe demilitarizing was a problem

   Not supporting Ukraine for so long

8. Its time for Europe to step up. Do you want to win the war? Then go on war footing (or at least something closer to that).

9. What ~~asset Krasnov~~ Trump says changes by the week, sometimes by the day. One second he’s praising someone for their effort, the next second he’s throwing them under the bus. It all depends on who he has been talking with, or what he’s seen on the news.

   In the end, Trump will throw *everyone* under the bus.

10. Who cares. If Ukraine wins, Trump will say it’s because of him.. it doesn’t matter.

11. Maybe European officials should stand up to Trump instead of appeasing him. Just a thought.

12. It is definitely Europe’s failure. And Trump has been beyond useless as well.

13. I’m sure they could give a shit. They’ve moved on.

14. Seems like some officials are finally getting wise. Probably smarter to start their own negotiations with Russia at this point. 

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