"American Battleground: The peace president’s busy year of gunboat diplomacy"


Excerpt from CNN January 20, 2026
Analysis by Tom Foreman 


20260114-american-battleground-trump-gunbarrel-diplomacy-final.jpg
Photo Illustration: Ian Berry/CNN/Getty Images/Adobe Stock

Although Trump is loath to say the war there [in Ukraine] was triggered by Russia’s invasion in 2022, he boasted again and again in his campaign that he had the solution ready if only he were put back into office. “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians,” he said in a 2023 CNN town hall. “I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”

Instead, after a year of dealmaking, pleas, bluster, promises and insults — mostly aimed at Ukraine — Trump has virtually nothing to show for his bravado.

None of that has kept him from endlessly bragging that he has solved or ended more than half a dozen wars since retaking the White House. ...

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