Why Trump Immediately Surrendered to Putin and Xi
He wants the tri-polar world.
Why Trump Immediately Surrendered to Putin and Xi
There is only one global conflict. Trump already chose the wrong side. Now it’s up to us to stop him.
Many argue that the United States must pivot its attention to the looming conflict in the Pacific, preparing to counter China’s rise and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
But this framing misses the point entirely.
There is not a China conflict, a Russia conflict, or a Middle East conflict. There is only one conflict—a systemic, global confrontation between the liberal democratic order and a revisionist axis of autocratic powers.
This conflict spans multiple theaters: Ukraine. Taiwan. The Arctic. The Red Sea. Sub-Saharan Africa. Latin America. These are not isolated events. These are fronts.
Donald Trump and his advisors have failed to grasp this—or worse, they’ve accepted the terms of defeat.
Their approach signals not strategic realism, but strategic surrender. They envision a “tri-polar” world, one in which the United States, Russia, and China each dominate their own spheres of influence.
This framework assumes that the ambitions of Moscow and Beijing are limited, manageable, and static.
Oh… and moral.
It is a fantasy.
Trump’s obsession with places like Greenland, Panama, and Canada begins to make sense in this context. These aren’t random fascinations—they’re the fault lines of a tri-polar future. He’s not preparing to defend the free world; he’s looking for ways to carve it up. He’s already conceded the idea that Russia should control Europe and China should dominate Asia.
He just wants a few pieces of leverage left for America.
But Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin do not want “spheres.” They want dominion. They want to rewrite the rules of international order—not negotiate them.
Their visions are not limited to borders or influence—they are civilizational.
Both have said it explicitly: their goal is the weakening, humiliation, and eventual replacement of Western power and values.
In this context, Trump’s so-called realism is nothing short of surrender.
The moment you accept a tri-polar world, you’ve lost the real one.
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The Way Back: What Must Be Done
This surrender must be rejected. Not in 2028.
Now.
Trump must be defeated in the 2026 midterms, where his influence over Republican candidates can still be broken. The MAGA wing must be exposed as a threat to national security and global stability—not just a cultural phenomenon. Undermining Trump’s political machine now is not just a matter of politics—it’s a matter of grand strategy.
We need a conference between Republican and Democratic Senate leadership to restore the foundation of our democracy: real choices in 2028.
Both parties must commit to primary processes that are not dominated by billionaires, political celebrities, or social media algorithms. The American people deserve a future shaped by merit and ideas—not by whoever can hijack the news cycle with outrage.
That means we must fix our primary system:
Stricter equal time rules, even during the primaries
Independent oversight of debate access and airtime
Media accountability for promoting outrage-driven coverage over informed discourse
Wall-to-wall coverage of Trump—or the next Trump-like provocateur—is not journalism.
It’s complicity.
Geopolitically, the prescription is even clearer.
We must double down on Ukraine. No more half-measures. No more strategic ambiguity.
We must give them what they need to win:
Long-range missiles
F-16s and air defenses
Drone systems
Economic and logistical support
NATO-level coordination
Stop drip-feeding survival. Start enabling victory.
And we must publicly signal to Putin that nuclear threats—explicit or implicit—will be met with:
Total economic isolation from Western markets
Efforts to remove Russia's UN veto power
Secondary sanctions on any nation that trades with a nuclear-rattling regime
Say it out loud:
“The war is over. Russia lost. Now Russia must decide how much it wants to lose.”
This is the only way to shift the balance of power.
We cannot defeat Xi if we let Putin hold Europe hostage.
We cannot defend Taiwan while letting Ukraine fall.
And we cannot restore American leadership if we elect a leader who believes our allies are burdens and our enemies are geniuses.
There is only one war.
There are many fronts.
And surrender is not an option.
Benjamin Cook continues to travel to, often lives in, and works in Ukraine, a connection spanning more than 14 years. He holds an MA in International Security and Conflict Studies from Dublin City University and has consulted with journalists on AI in drones, U.S. military technology, and related topics. He is co-founder of the nonprofit UAO, working in southern Ukraine. You can find Mr. Cook between Odesa, Ukraine; Charleston, South Carolina; and Tucson, Arizona.
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