Roman Sheremeta

April 1st, 2025

Why is today’s Trump so different from the Trump of his first term?

A sobering explanation by a Ukrainian journalist and activist Nadia Palyvoda:

A lot of people (everyone) are now racking their brains over the question: why is today’s Trump so different from the Trump of his first term? Why was foreign policy one of his strongest suits back then, while now all his decisions are catastrophic?

What happened to him over these 8 years? What changed?

Pro-Ukrainian Trump supporters often cite several commendable actions from his first term:

1. The strike on a Syrian airbase where about 300 Wagner mercenaries were present (which Obama didn’t do).
2. The provision of lethal aid to Ukraine (Javelins) (which Obama also didn’t do).
3. Sanctions against the russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline (again, Obama didn’t).

People expected similar decisive actions from Trump this time around. They thought he’d come in after the spineless Biden and really show putin who’s boss. Because Trump is decisive, goal-oriented, and loves to win.

Instead, what emerged was some pitiful figure parroting Putin word for word, bowing before him, whining about the horrors of World War III, promising russia lifted sanctions and “great joint economic projects.”

What happened to Trump? Why has he become so pro-russian?

Turns out, the answer is very simple.

Nothing happened. He was pro-russian all along. He always loved russia, adored Putin, and planned to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. We just didn’t notice, because the team around him was different.

They were sane, professional people who — and this is the key — weren’t afraid to disagree with Trump when he was wrong, and pushed him toward reasonable decisions, especially in foreign policy.

This conclusion comes from analysis by several commentators I listened to — they live in the US and understand the situation better than we do. They’re Trump supporters, by the way, who are now turning into former Trump supporters by the hour.

They thought that during the first term, Trump was “unpredictable and flexible” — that is, one day he’d be showing love to Putin, and the next, unexpectedly striking Wagner mercenaries.

But how can that be? Turns out, the love for Putin was real, and the strike on the Wagner group was someone else’s decision.

1. Provision of lethal weapons (Javelins).

The real initiator was Kurt Volker, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine, along with pro-Ukrainian Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and a very pro-Ukrainian Secretary of Defense, James Mattis.

They pushed the relevant bill through Congress, which voted and allocated the funds.

For Trump to block the aid, he would have had to clash with all these people. Since the Javelins were framed as “defensive anti-tank weapons,” and since Trump didn’t really understand it all — he just agreed.

2. Trump issued a declaration that Crimea would never be recognized as part of russia.

The main author of this declaration was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Behind him stood the National Security Council and the U.S. Congress.

This followed a meeting with Putin in Helsinki, where Trump expressed doubts about whether russian intelligence interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections.

This was bizarre and pro-Putin behavior — he dismissed the intelligence given to him by U.S. agencies and instead cited Putin’s word.

There was also a strange moment — I don’t recall who recorded it — where Trump, sitting next to putin, leaned over and said “I’m going to say bad things about russia in my speech, but don’t worry — it’s not for real.” This nearly caused a scandal in the U.S., so to smooth things over and relieve political pressure, Trump was handed a pre-written declaration about Crimea to read. He had nothing to do with writing it.

3. Sanctions against Nord Stream 2.

These were spearheaded by two Republican senators — Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.

They drafted the bill, it was supported by the State Department and Mike Pompeo, the same National Security Council and the Pentagon (led, as you remember, by a pro-Ukrainian guy). Plus, there was heavy pressure from Poland and other Eastern European countries.

But the key point: Trump was told this would be profitable for the U.S., because Europe would buy American LNG instead of russian gas.

Congress passed the bill, and Trump signed it — because how could he oppose extra profit for America?

4. Strike on Wagner fighters in Syria.

The decision was made by Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Trump was simply informed.

Yes, he gave the green light — but if he hadn’t, he would’ve had to clash with his own subordinates.

Same goes for all the other international decisions from 2017–2020 — they were made by competent anti-russian people around him.

For instance, his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, disagreed with Trump so much that he once called him a “moron” at a Pentagon meeting. He supported the UK’s claim that russia was behind the poisoning of the Skripals with Novichok, while Trump was against it.

Tillerson also stated that U.S. sanctions against russia would not be lifted until russian troops left Crimea and Donbas. He criticized Trump’s attempts to cozy up to Kim Jong Un, arguing that relations with dictators should be built not on friendship, but on superior force.

Trump fired him via Twitter — the most humiliating way possible, without even informing him in person.

Trump’s National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, publicly contradicted him when Trump claimed there was no russian interference in the elections. McMaster cited intelligence data showing the interference did occur. He also vehemently opposed Trump’s plan to invite the Taliban to Washington for peace talks (as we now see, Trump has always had a soft spot for befriending dictators). McMaster said, “Over my dead body.”

Trump fired him — again via Twitter — and then went ahead with cozying up to the Taliban (and you’ve seen the results of that).

The list of high-ranking officials fired during Trump’s first term is enormous. He was constantly clashing with those who opposed his pro-russian stance.

And back then, Congress could still block any crazy Trumpist initiative, because the Senate was controlled by Democrats.

Today, both chambers — the House of Representatives and the Senate — are under Republican control.

Congress is basically dead until the next elections (in 2 years). It now acts like Ukraine’s Rada — “servants of the freak” push through whatever idiotic decisions they want, like appointing Tulsi Gabbard, a friend of russian oligarch Malofeyev, as head of national intelligence.

Trump also learned his lessons.

A now powerless Congress allowed Trump to appoint whoever he wanted to key positions. And who did he want? People who would never argue with him.

Their professionalism doesn’t matter to Trump at all. What matters is: Loyalty — agreeing with his every word, praising and glorifying him — for a narcissist, this is paramount; everything else is secondary. Shared views — all these people are pro-russian and have been for a while. He chose them from that small group who voted in April 2024 against the $61 billion aid package for Ukraine.

So now Trump has surrounded himself with clueless people who have no idea how to run the agencies they’ve been appointed to — the national security advisor adds some random journalist to a classified Signal chat, the head of the Pentagon leaks top-secret info about a U.S. military op in that same chat, and the head of intelligence says, “I didn’t know about this.” Trump says: “It’s no big deal, the main thing is they’re good people.”

Oh, and by the way — I finally figured out how Trump plans to “defeat Putin.”

I used to think he’d actually defeat him.

But no — he’s just going to call everything a win, no matter what happens. And if something clearly isn’t a win — he’ll pretend it doesn’t exist.

Like when Putin humiliatingly made Vitkoff wait for 8 hours and met with Lukashenko instead, and the media reported it — Trump said it was fake news, it never happened, the media made it up. (Even though we literally have the flight log showing Vitkoff landed in Moscow 8 hours before the meeting — come on.)

Just recently, during his flamboyant trip to Greenland, JD Vance said that the ceasefire with russia is working, everything is great.

Hundreds of Shahed drones fly over Ukraine every night, killing people and destroying cities — but Trump’s team says the ceasefire is holding.

We kept wondering — how is the Trump administration going to stop the russian war?

Well, here’s how: they’ll just pretend it already stopped.

Because if Trump admits that Putin is violating the ceasefire — then he’s no peacemaker, just a fool being played.

And that’s a truly dangerous position.

Our only hope now is that the whole thing will collapse under its own weight. The process has already begun.

We’ll keep watching.

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The percentage of U.S. voters over the years who consider Canada and the EU to be ‘unfriendly’ or ‘an enemy’.

It is very surprising that in less than a year so many Americans suddenly realized that Canadians and Europeans are their enemies.

……..,,,,,,,,,

Jim Cramer comments on the stock market performed under Trump: “The market was doing great — until the Trump Administration sowed a level of uncertainty I haven’t seen since Jimmy Carter… I cannot think of another president in my lifetime who could knock down the stock market simply by opening his mouth.”

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Fed has lowered its Q1 2025 GDP estimate again — now predicting a drop of 3.7%. I think it is time for all of us to “say thank you.”

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