Key Points
- Donald Trump has argued Ukraine should’ve made concessions to Russia in the months before its February 2022 attack.
- The US Republican presidential candidate said that even “the worst deal would’ve been better than what we have now”.
- Former treasurer and US ambassador Joe Hockey has said negative polling for Trump could be inaccurate.
Donald Trump has described Ukraine in bleak and mournful terms, referring to its people as “dead” and the country itself as “demolished”.
His remarks on Wednesday further raised questions about
Trump argued Ukraine should have made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the months before Russia’s February 2022 attack, declaring that even “the worst deal would’ve been better than what we have now”.
Trump, who has long been critical of US aid to Ukraine, frequently claims that Russia never would have invaded if he was president and that he . But rarely has he discussed the conflict in such detail.
Former treasurer and US ambassador Joe Hockey weighs in
Speaking to the National Press Club today, former treasurer and US ambassador Joe Hockey said Trump remains “very competitive” in November’s US presidential election.
“Polls have just been consistently wrong about Trump. Take Wisconsin; they underestimated Trump’s vote by 7 per cent in 2016 and they underestimated by 5 per cent in 2020,” Hockey told the press club.
“I think out of every 100 people voting for Trump, four to five would not admit it. They’re just going to do it,” he said, as reported by the Guardian.
Trump was the most influential man in US politics in a generation, with more than a third of voting Americans saying they would vote for him regardless of whether he was a Democrat, Republican or independent, Hockey said.
“You’ve never seen anyone with that influence,” he said.
There’s “no doubt” Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was “winning the enthusiasm battle”, Hockey said but, as the first woman of colour running for president, she faced significant hurdles.
“There is still an element in the United States that is both misogynistic and racist and, because of voluntary voting, it’s really hard to work out what the turnout is going to be.”
While Harris was tapping into a groundswell of people supporting the right to choose an abortion, Hockey argued that not everyone who turned out for Joe Biden in 2020 would turn up for her in November.
While Trump has made “absurd” comments, including unproven and racist claims about immigrants eating cats and dogs, he had cut through, Hockey said.
US voters would be thinking about illegal immigration — even when Trump’s claims were openly mocked — and that debate favoured the Republicans, who are generally seen as better communicators on immigration and the economy, Hockey said.
He also weighed in on the speculation that Labor is considering changes to negative gearing,
He said any changes to negative gearing could go on to affect the rental market.
“If you’re going to tinker with negative gearing, don’t look first at the housing stock, look at the impact on rents, because landlords who are struggling to pay the interest on a loan against a property will increase the rents,” he said.
Trump refuses to support Ukrainian victory
Trump’s remarks, at a North Carolina event billed as an economic speech, come on the heels of a debate this month in which he pointedly refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war.
On Tuesday, Trump touted the prowess of Russia and its predecessor Soviet Union, saying that wars are “what they do”.
The Republican, notoriously attuned to slights, began his denunciation of Ukraine by alluding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent criticism of Trump and running mate JD Vance.
Zelenskyy, who is visiting the US this week to attend the UN General Assembly, told The New Yorker that Vance was “too radical” for proposing that Ukraine surrender territories under Russian control and that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.”
Trump said: “It’s something we have to have a quick discussion about because the president of Ukraine is in our country and he’s making little nasty aspersions toward your favourite president: me.”
Trump painted Ukraine as a country in ruins outside its capital, Kyiv, short on soldiers and losing population to war deaths and neighbouring countries. He questioned whether the country has any bargaining chips left to negotiate an end to the war.
“Any deal — the worst deal — would’ve been better than what we have now,” Trump said.
“If they made a bad deal it would’ve been much better. They would’ve given up a little bit and everybody would be living and every building would be built and every tower would be aging for another 2000 years.
“What deal can we make? It’s demolished. The people are dead. The country is in rubble.”
Zelenskyy seeks to convince US of Ukrainian victory plan
Zelenskyy is pitching the White House on what he calls a victory plan for the war, expected to include an ask to use long-range Western weapons to strike Russian targets.
Trump laid blame for the conflict on President Joe Biden and vice president Harris. He said Biden “egged it all on” by pledging to help Ukraine defend itself rather than pushing it to cede territory to Russia.
“Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding ,” Trump said.
Notably, Trump did not attack Putin’s reasoning for launching the invasion, only suggesting Putin would not have started the war had Trump been in office.
He did say of Putin, “He’s no angel.”