Ed Luce: ‘No Ethical, Philosophical or Strategic Justification’ for Trump Pausing Military Aid to Ukraine

EXCERPT:

LUCE: "It’s hard to see how it plays out well in the short run, as well. I mean, I think what the Trump people would say is that, if you caught them in private moments, is that friendship and economic deals between the U.S. and Russia, between Trump and Putin will unleash all kinds of animal spirits and energy deals. And of course, the deal for Ukrainian minerals, which presumably in one form or another Zelenskyy will be corralled into accepting, that’s going to be boom time for American businesses. His view of the world is about deals. It’s also about an affinity with Putin. I’m not overlooking that. But it’s chiefly his — if you want to summarize Trump’s view of economics, it’s about having lots of deals and punishing those who are in surplus with the United States. There are no friends in that world. There’s just deals that Trump has skin in the game in. And so, that’s how they would justify this as a success, because there is no sort of ethical, philosophical or strategic justification for what he's doing."