Seriously, but Not Literally: Why Did Trump Set a New Deadline for Putin?

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Donald Trump announced he would reduce the 50-day deadline to just “10 or 12 days,” signaling increased urgency in his message to Putin.

Even during his first term, Trump forced the American media to formulate the principle of how he should be understood: “take him seriously, but not literally.” That is why all his statements about deadlines should be interpreted as: “something will unquestionably happen, but what exactly and when is unknown.” Indeed, this has been the pattern we have observed over the past six months.

The American president can repeat as much as he wants that “this is Biden’s war.” But he is well aware that a complete and undisputed victory for Russia—Moscow’s conquest of a large country in the center of Europe—would be a huge defeat for the United States and for him individually. A defeat much larger than in Afghanistan or anywhere else in American history, with catastrophic consequences for the United States.

It is easy to guess that Russia’s victory will only strengthen its confidence in the correctness of the chosen path and the permissibility of the methods used. Therefore, “after victory,” it will strive to move on—and do it very quickly. While the European military-industrial complex has not yet fully worked, the combat experience gained by the Russians remains relevant. In addition, the factories producing “Shaheds” have not yet been stopped for the transition to a “peaceful mode”—because where to put a thousand drones a month if they are not launched every day?

So, if the US is currently facing the issue of supplying Ukraine with shells and missiles, then in the event of a Russian victory, another issue will arise — sending American troops to NATO’s eastern borders. And is the United States ready to abandon its commitments within NATO and effectively hand over Europe to Russia?

That is why it is fundamentally important for Donald Trump that Russia does not win and Ukraine survives. And the further this process goes, the more the US will be willing to invest in achieving this goal. For example, for several weeks now, the US State Department has been regularly reporting on newly approved military aid packages for Ukraine: air defense systems, M109 artillery mounts, HAWK missile systems, etc.

It is currently difficult to predict what actions the US plans to take after the announced “plus or minus 50-day” period ends.

As a reminder, on July 28, US President Donald Trump announced a new deadline for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine. He gave Putin 10-12 days to resolve the issue of Ukraine. In addition, Donald Trump said that he was no longer interested in meeting with the Kremlin dictator.

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