WASHINGTON (news agencies) — A month after an Alaskan summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump still seems surprised that his gambit did not pay off with peace in Ukraine.
“He’s let me down,” Trump said this week. “He really let me down.”
There has been no more progress in the Middle East, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is beginning a new offensive in Gaza City and lashing out across the region.
“They have to be very, very careful,” Trump said after Israel targeted Hamas inside Qatar, a U.S. ally that has been hosting diplomatic negotiations.
Trump’s disappointment and frustration is much different from the confidence and dominance he tries to project on the international stage, especially as he trumpets his diplomatic efforts and campaigns for the Nobel Peace Prize. Asked about his goals for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, the president said “world peace.” But the most high-profile conflicts appear to be escalating instead of winding down.
“This whole last nine months of peace efforts was just a merry-go-round,” said Max Bergmann, a State Department official under Democratic President Barack Obama who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Although Trump prizes bold gestures — a stealth bomber strike in Iran, a sweeping tariff announcement — solving a global jigsaw puzzle is a far bigger struggle.
The fundamental truth, Bergmann said, is “trying to reach peace agreements is very hard,” and that Trump has not surrounded himself with experienced diplomats and foreign policy experts.
“It’s like if you were to tell me, ‘Go do a hotel deal,’” Bergmann said. “It would be a terrible deal. I would lose a lot of money.”
In Trump’s defense, the White House has pointed to comments from European leaders who have praised his efforts working to forge peace agreements. Trump often notes that he hires “only the best people.”
Matt Kroenig, a senior policy adviser at the Pentagon during Trump’s first term, said the president’s brashness can get results, such as when he demanded increased defense spending from European allies.
Trump, however, can end up spinning his wheels on more challenging issues and eventually give up, such as when he tried to persuade Kim Jong Un to end North Korea’s nuclear program.
When it comes to making peace in Ukraine and Gaza, Kroenig wondered, “At what point does he say, ‘This is too hard, let’s move on to other issues.’”
Foreign policy is usually a team sport for presidential administrations, requiring extensive coordination among agencies through the National Security Council. But Trump has dramatically slashed the council’s staff, and Marco Rubio serves as both secretary of state and national security adviser.
“It’s one person setting the strategy and everyone else is waiting to see,” Kroenig said.
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