Trump Has A Gangster Mentality & That's How The World Will View America
Chris Miller, Alec Russell and Gideon Rachman reported that “Kyiv has agreed terms with Washington on a minerals deal that Ukrainian officials hope will improve relations with the Trump administration and pave the way for a long-term US security commitment… Although the text lacks explicit security guarantees, the officials argued that they had negotiated far more favourable terms and depicted the deal as a way of broadening the relationship with the US to shore up Ukraine’s prospects after three years of war.”
So Trump made a deal with Zelenskyy. I’m sure Zelenskyy isn’t naive enough to count on Trump’s… word as a gentleman, since that’s one role Trump has never successfully played. The Ukrainians insist that “The original draft’s highly onerous terms— which Trump presented as a means of Ukraine repaying the US for military and financial aid since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion— provoked outrage in Kyiv and other European capitals. After Zelenskyy rejected that initial text last week, Trump called him a ‘dictator’ and appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the war.nThe final version of the agreement, dated February 24 and seen by the FT, would establish a fund into which Ukraine would contribute 50 per cent of proceeds from the ‘future monetisation’ of state-owned mineral resources, including oil and gas, and associated logistics. The fund would invest in projects in Ukraine… [T]he agreement omits any reference to US security guarantees which Kyiv had originally insisted on in return for agreeing to the deal. It also leaves crucial questions such as the size of the US stake in the fund and the terms of ‘joint ownership’ deals to be hashed out in follow-up agreements.”
They noted that “After three years in which the US was Kyiv’s primary military aid donor, Trump has overturned Washington’s policy by opening bilateral talks with Russia, without any European allies or Ukraine at the table… Ukrainian officials added that the deal was just a ‘framework agreement’ and that no revenues would change hands until the fund was in place, allowing them time to iron out any potential disagreements. Among the outstanding issues is to agree the jurisdiction of the agreement.”
Putin has supposedly offered Trump a deal for rare earth minerals in the parts of Ukraine Russia has captured. Exploiting those resources would be a war crime, as the looting of natural resources from occupied territories is explicitly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. Such a scheme would not only deepen Trump's already well-documented financial and political entanglements with Moscow but would also put the U.S. on a collision course with its NATO allies, undermining global efforts to isolate Putin and hold Russia accountable for its invasion.
Ukraine is desperate with with dwindling options and Trump is working to take advantage of the situation, but Ukraine appears to be making a perilous miscalculation: trusting Trump in any way whatsoever. The newly negotiated minerals deal is a textbook case of wishful thinking in the face of a man whose only consistent trait is self-serving duplicity. If Ukraine is hinging its long-term security on Trump’s goodwill, they may soon find themselves abandoned, exploited, or worse— betrayed.
Trump is an extortionist and this move is reminiscent of his mobster-like approach to foreign policy, where allies are nothing more than marks to be squeezed for profit. That the final deal removed the most egregious clauses does not mean Trump has suddenly developed a conscience. I think it means that Ukraine is walking into a trap under the illusion that they’ve negotiated better terms. Trump has never shown any genuine commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty. From his infamous 2019 extortion attempt— where he withheld military aid in a failed bid to strong-arm Zelenskyy into manufacturing dirt on Biden— to his public admiration of Vladimir Putin, Trump has always viewed Ukraine as a pawn in his personal political game. Even now, in a move that should send shockwaves through Kyiv, he has unilaterally initiated backchannel talks with Russia, excluding Ukraine and its European allies from negotiations over its own future. Does Zelenskyy believe he can secure a long-term commitment from a man who openly questions whether Ukraine deserves aid at all?
The most glaring problem with this agreement, of course, is what it lacks: security guarantees. Ukrainian officials insist that the deal is part of a “bigger picture,” yet the terms are conspicuously devoid of any binding commitments. Instead, Kyiv has been coaxed into believing that economic integration with Trump’s America will naturally evolve into military support. This is, at best, dangerously naive and, at worst, a capitulation to Trump’s transactional worldview, where alliances exist only to benefit his personal and financial interests.
The belief that Trump’s administration will honor even this watered-down agreement is a fantasy. Trump is famous for reneging on deals when they no longer suit him— whether it’s abandoning America’s Kurdish allies in Syria, withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, or tearing up trade agreements on a whim. The moment Trump sees no political or financial gain from honoring this agreement, he will discard it without hesitation. Worse, he may actively use it as leverage against Ukraine, turning mineral wealth into a tool of coercion, not cooperation.
Ukraine’s strategy in negotiating this agreement assumes that Trump’s transactional nature can be managed— that if Kyiv concedes enough, Trump will reward them with protection. But Trump’s entire political career is defined by an utter lack of loyalty. If anything, this deal sets Ukraine up to be exploited, handing Trump leverage while receiving nothing concrete in return.
Furthermore, it is chilling to see Ukraine willing to entertain a deal with a man who not only downplays Russia’s aggression but outright distorts the historical record. Calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” and insinuating that Ukraine is responsible for the war is straight out of the Kremlin’s propaganda playbook. If Trump is already adopting Russian talking points now, how can Kyiv believe he will stand against Putin when it truly matters?
Ukraine’s parliament still has to approve the deal, and opposition lawmakers are already signaling a battle ahead. They should be wary. Accepting this agreement doesn’t just risk economic entrapment; it risks creating internal fractures that Putin will be eager to exploit. Any perceived concession to Trump’s demands will fuel divisions within Ukraine, potentially undermining Zelenskyy’s leadership at a time when national unity is paramount.
There is no denying Ukraine’s dire need for long-term security assurances, but this deal provides none. Instead of hedging their bets on Trump’s erratic whims, Ukraine must double down on its European alliances and bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress— both of which have proven far more reliable than Trump’s transactional chaos. If Kyiv proceeds under the assumption that Trump can be a reliable partner, it will soon learn the hard way what countless others have before: Donald Trump’s word is worth nothing. The only certainty in dealing with him is that, eventually, he will serve only himself— no matter the cost to his so-called allies.
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