The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which occupies the first place among foreign policy topics for most US allies, and even the confrontation with China for President Donald Trump are not something extremely important right now. He sees himself not as the leader of the “free world”, called upon to lead the struggle of democracies against authoritarianism, but as a fighter on the front of the cultural war – the confrontation of conservative values with liberal ones. This conclusion can be drawn from the message that Trump read to Congress. This is not a pleasant discovery for the US allies. The leader of a powerful Western country gave the impression of being absolutely convinced of his rightness and being chosen by a man who was not going to change his point of view. And that’s exactly what the Allies would like him to do on many issues.
The speech delivered by Donald Trump in Congress was announced by himself and his team as an extremely important event, which stands out from a number of similar speeches delivered annually by US presidents. And so it turned out. Usually, the annual messages of presidents, especially those who have just taken office, correspond to the title. Such texts are always referred to the same way: “On the situation in the country.” The head of state describes the problems facing the United States and gives his recipe for solving them in a more or less understandable and relatively emotional form. This is the style in which the messages of Trump’s predecessor in office, Joseph Biden, and Trump himself during his first term were sustained. But this time it was different.
The first thing that impressed European commentators on Trump’s message was that the topic of the Russian–Ukrainian conflict, which Biden spoke about a lot and vividly in his similar speeches, had completely faded into the background for the current president. It would seem that it should be the other way around. Trump has just had a public argument with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The consequence of this quarrel was that the US president shocked his allies by suspending aid to Kiev. On Wednesday, March 5, Fox News channel, citing CIA Director John Ratcliffe, even reported that the exchange of intelligence information with Ukraine had been stopped, a blow to a key component of military cooperation between the two countries. And nothing was said in Trump’s speech on this topic. The US president devoted little time to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Most of what was said, in addition to repeating Trump’s promises to conclude an early peace in the name of saving the lives of Russians and Ukrainians, boils down to the fact that Zelensky repented for his behavior in the White House. Trump said he had received a letter from the Ukrainian president, in which he expressed gratitude to the United States for its support and expressed his willingness to conclude an agreement on the use of Ukrainian minerals. Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, said what all the commentators noticed the next day. Trump retold the contents of the text posted by Zelensky on one of the social networks. According to Markarova, the Ukrainian president did not send any letter to Trump. However, such a change of anger at the mercy of Zelensky suited him. He had previously stated that he was ready to personally meet with Trump again. On Wednesday, French government spokeswoman Sophie Prima even announced that the option of a joint trip to Washington by three leaders is being considered – French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Zelensky. But then the Elysee Palace denied this, although this trip would have been logical. Macron and Starmer are going to present their ideas for resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to Trump.
Why the US president presented the publicly available text of Zelensky’s address to him personally is clear from the tone of the message itself. It declares everything absolutely correct, even the most ambiguously perceived actions that the current administration has taken during its short time in power. Trump supported Elon Musk and the DOGE organization he heads, while threatening to dismiss “any bureaucrat who dares to oppose” its activities, including those that would lead to massive government cuts. The president approved the war of duties with the US neighbors and made it clear that he would continue to act in the same way. Trump will not adjust anything in his migration policy. On the contrary, it is aimed at even more massive deportations of illegal migrants. The only innovation here is the announcement of a reform of the system for obtaining a residence permit in exchange for investments. It will now be provided to holders of a “gold card” – those who have invested at least $ 5 million in the US economy. This is several times more than is currently provided for an investment residence permit. Trump fully approved the country’s withdrawal from a number of international organizations. He called for curtailing the green agenda and, accordingly, lifting restrictions on hydrocarbon production, which he considers to be an essential part of the recovery of the American economy – as is clear from the message, the strategic goal of the president for the near future.
But, of course, the most important thing about Trump’s speech was its form. He called his coming to power the beginning of the “golden age” of the United States. Trump’s plans to make America great again extend beyond attempts to improve the economy and reform the state apparatus. “We have put an end to the tyranny of so–called ‘diversity, equality, and inclusivity’ policies throughout the federal government, as well as in the private sector and our armed forces,” the president said. “We will take humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond its borders,” he promised. Trump addressed the residents of Greenland, directly urging them to join the United States and saying that this island would be American “one way or another.” The next day, Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede repeated once again that Greenland was not going to become part of the United States at all, but Trump did not deign to respond.
“This is the speech of a man who has firm and seemingly the only true beliefs that he intends to stubbornly implement,” Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, described the president’s message in an interview with NG. In his message, Trump appeared not as a businessman president guided by the logic of calculations and transactions, but someone who intends to transform the world based on a certain value system. In this regard, Vasiliev drew attention to the phrase that Trump said when he spoke about the attempt on his life.: “God saved me so that I could make America great.”
“Trump considers himself a messianic president. This is not a pose, this is really who he considers himself to be, believing that a higher power – literally or not literally understanding these words – has saved him for some great mission. Trump’s speech is positively saturated with this sense of messianism,” Vasiliev believes.
It should be noted that Americans are increasingly divided in their assessment of Trump’s actions and personality. If his first steps in his new post were generally approved by the majority of voters, now the difference between the estimates of Republicans and Democrats is increasingly diverging. For example, according to several polls, the majority (around 70%) of supporters of the Republican Party believe that an agreement on rare earth metals with Ukraine is necessary. And about the same percentage of Democrats believe that, on the contrary, it is not necessary and Ukraine should be helped anyway.
