By Michael Backfisch

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Donald Trump's announcements are loud, flashy, and often backed by superlatives. “I am the greatest and best in the history of the United States,” is his message. He is a fanfare president. The problem: Trump's exuberant self-praise has nothing to do with reality.

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This applies in particular to foreign policy. During the election campaign, Trump had trumpeted that the Ukraine war would be pacified “within 24 hours.” When he took office speech on January 20, he backed up. “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” he said.

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Trump has put himself under pressure with his announced 24-hour solution. As he realises that he cannot deliver, he is looking for others to blame. On Monday, he falsely accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of starting the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. ‘You don't start a war against someone twenty times your size and then hope that people will give you missiles,’ he claimed.

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Even the brutal Russian rocket attack on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday didn't get Trump off the wrong track. He described the attack, which left more than 30 people dead, as a ‘terrible thing’ - a dutiful condemnation with no consequences. The president has no strategic matrix, he does not see through Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. Basically, he has never taken off the glasses of the New York property mogul: For him, politics is business. It's good wherever the economic advantage beckons - whether in Ukraine or in the annexation plans with a view to Canada, Greenland or the potential hotel paradise of the Gaza Strip.

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Trump is pushing for a quick deal to pursue his true interests. In Ukraine, he wants to be paid for arms supplies with access to precious raw materials such as rare earths. American companies are to benefit from mining and processing the metals that are important for chip production and military technology.

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In his dealings with Moscow, Trump is seeking to reorganise the tense bilateral relations. Here too, the focus is on the huge market of the raw materials giant Russia. The prospects of big business are clouding the president's vision. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, a property tycoon with no political experience whatsoever, has been received by Putin three times so far. After his last meeting on Friday, he confirmed the Kremlin leader's readiness for a ‘lasting peace’. Witkoff has reportedly proposed transferring ‘ownership rights’ over the four annexed Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia. Trump's peace initiative is pricing in successive territorial losses for Ukraine in order to seal a deal between the superpowers.

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Trump has also achieved nothing so far in the Gaza war. Israel is constantly bombing the Palestinian population, regardless of civilian casualties. In the nuclear dispute with Iran, Trump is apparently seeking an agreement at any price. First he threatens the mullah regime with bombing, then he relies on talks. In view of his failure in foreign policy so far, the president wants to present a paper in which he can say: “Look here, I prevented Tehran from building a nuclear weapon.” It was precisely this goal that was the basis of the international nuclear treaty of 2015, which Trump terminated in 2018. His politics are driven by whims. It seems haphazard and unimaginative.

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