Theodore Roosevelt was a believer in speaking softly but carrying a big stick. But where does that leave Donald Trump, who today resorted to all-caps plea, or perhaps demand, that Putin ‘STOP!’ his offensive operations against Ukrainian cities – yet backed up his entreaty with precisely nothing?
‘I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV.’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social after footage emerged of civilians buried under rubble in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa. ‘Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!’
The message was a rare instance of Trump directly criticising Putin. Indeed, just a few hours before the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine’s capital, Trump released a detailed, multi-paragraph statement criticising President Volodimir Zelensky for supposedly blocking a peace deal. Yet despite the angry capitals, Trump has, as yet, shown no sign of applying any of his characteristic bullying tactics against Putin at all.
In fact, Trump carries a far bigger stick than Teddy Roosevelt could ever have dreamed of.
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