Trump Adopts Joe Biden’s Ukraine Playbook (For Now)

Joel Rubin

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State

National Security Journal

July 14, 2025

In a move that I’ve long argued for – and frankly, didn’t expect to come – President Trump today finally took a critical step forward in America’s Russia policy. By combining military support for Ukraine with renewed economic pressure and diplomatic engagement, Trump may be laying the groundwork for a policy that has a real chance at ending this brutal war.

For months, we’ve needed a stronger Ukraine policy rooted in three principles: sustained military support, aggressive economic pressure, and robust diplomacy. These aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, they work best together. And today, Trump seemed to embrace that reality. Trump had been dragging his feet, but now, under pressure, he’s shifting. That’s welcome, but it’s also a reminder that leadership delayed is leadership denied.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Yes, this was the right move. But it’s one that should have happened on day one of his presidency, back when he thought that just a phone call would do the trick of ending the war. It clearly did not.

Instead, we got six months of waffling – months filled with mixed signals, conspiracies, adulation of Vladimir Putin, and reckless threats towards Ukraine and NATO. The cost of that delay has been devastating, both for Ukraine and for America’s credibility on the world stage. It’s taken Trump far too long to see what’s been obvious to most of us all along: that only strength can compel Russia to change course.