President Donald Trump’s betrayals may tell the story of how the West was lost

By James J. Devine

The streets of Balashikha, a quiet suburb east of Moscow, became the latest stage for Russia’s unraveling war effort when Lieutenant General Yaroslav Yaroslavovich Moskalik, Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, was obliterated by a remote-controlled car bomb on the morning of 25 April 2025.

The blast, packed with shrapnel, tore through the early spring air, leaving another high-ranking casualty in a war that has systematically decimated Russia’s military leadership. Moskalik’s death follows a grim pattern: since the invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, approximately five percent of Russia’s generals have been killed, dismissed, or purged—victims of battlefield failures, internal power struggles, and increasingly, Ukraine’s ruthless precision in targeting the Kremlin’s top brass.

This is not an accident.

Analysts from the Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy and the French Institute of International Relations conclude that Russia’s stalled offensive, plagued by poor morale and logistical chaos, has forced generals to the front lines—where they die.

The December 2024 assassination of General Igor Kirillov in Moscow, another bomb attack attributed to Ukrainian intelligence, underscores Kyiv’s strategy: decapitate Russia’s command structure, and the war effort crumbles.

Yet even as Russia bleeds, the real seismic shift is not in the Donbas, but in Washington.

President Donald Trump’s abrupt betrayal of Ukraine—abandoning military aid, legitimizing Putin’s conquests, and openly undermining President Zelenskyy—has shattered the transatlantic alliance.

European capitals, once secure under America’s nuclear umbrella, now scramble to fill the void left by a United States that no longer leads the free world. The Munich Security Conference descended into chaos when Vice President J.D. Vance lectured Europe on “free speech” while the U.S. negotiated with Russia behind closed doors in Riyadh, cutting Ukraine out of discussions concerning its own fate.

The message is clear: America has moved on.

Trump’s obsession with a Nixonian realignment—pulling Russia from China’s orbit—has blinded him to the carnage in Europe. His administration’s backchannel deals, offering sanctions relief and Arctic energy contracts to Moscow, have emboldened Putin while leaving Kyiv defenseless.

When Zelenskyy refused to sign Trump’s extortionate “minerals-for-peace” scheme—a blatant resource grab disguised as diplomacy—he was publicly humiliated at the White House, called a “dictator” by the president of the United States, and expelled from negotiations.

Europe, reeling, faces an existential reckoning. France and Germany, haunted by the specter of a resurgent Russia, now confront the unthinkable: they must arm Ukraine alone.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to hike defense spending to 3% of GDP, while the EU scrambles to fund its own security architecture—an admission that NATO is no longer guaranteed.

The implications are catastrophic. If Trump’s détente with Putin succeeds, it will not bring peace—it will greenlight further aggression.

Moscow, sensing weakness, will push for total victory in Ukraine. Iran, abandoned by its Russian patron, may rush for a nuclear weapon. And China, watching America discard its allies, will seize the moment in Taiwan.

This is not diplomacy. It is capitulation.

The world order forged after 1945 is collapsing.

The U.S., once the guarantor of democracy, now barters with autocrats. Europe, unprepared for war, must relearn the art of survival. And Ukraine, abandoned by its most powerful ally, fights on—outgunned, outmanned, but not yet defeated.

The question is no longer whether Russia can win.

It is whether the West has already lost. More importantly, what are you going to do about it? After all, this land is your land.

Former President Barack Obama recently stated, “It is up to all of us to fix this. It’s not going to be because somebody comes and saves you. The most important office in this democracy is the citizen, the ordinary person who says, ‘No, that’s not right.’”

As the price of eggs, declining dollar value against inflationary price hikes, and other signs make it apparent that Trump’s incompetence is costing Americans money, we must not forget that liberty, prosperity and justice are a package deal.

Complex problems will not be fixed with so-called solutions that are simplistic and stupid. We need to participate, or America will not survive as a democratic republic, and while collective action is necessary, it is entirely up to you to fix this.

There have been times in our history when it was easy to speak of justice, when the cost of conviction was light. But we are now in an hour where words alone will not suffice.

To stand for principle may mean sacrifice. A law firm may lose clients. A university may face scorn. A citizen may endure hardship. But if we falter now—if we shrink when the moment demands courage—then what becomes of the nation we claim to love?

Across the ages, in lands near and far, those who dare to challenge tyranny have paid a price. And yet, here in America, we have always believed that freedom is worth the cost. So I ask you now: Do we still believe? When the cause is just but the road is hard—will we march? When the voices of hatred rise—will we still defend the right to speak, even when the words sting?

For those who once proclaimed their devotion to equality—when the winds were fair and the crowds applauded—where are your voices now? True conviction is not measured in moments of comfort, but in times of trial.

Let us then search our own hearts. Do we love this country only when it asks nothing of us? Or are we prepared to fight for it, to bleed for it, to stand unshaken when the storm comes?

The hour is upon us. The choice is ours. And the world—as it always has—watches to see what America will do.