Former President Donald Trump issued a forceful condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, calling the 17-day-old war a “terrible atrocity that should never have been allowed to happen.”
The 45th commander in chief made the comments during an evening rally in Florence, South Carolina, in support of two Republicans primarying Reps. Nancy Mace and Tom Rice, two centrists who voted to impeach last year. Trump opened his remarks by decrying President Joe Biden’s performance on the world stage after the pullout in Afghanistan before saying that his successor “failed to deter Russia’s outrageous invasion of Ukraine.”
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“The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a terrible atrocity that should never have been allowed to happen,” the former president said minutes later. “It would have never happened. I know I speak for everyone here tonight when I say we are praying for the proud people of Ukraine. They’re going through hell. They are fighters, and God bless them all.”
Trump then argued that Moscow would have altered its behavior if it was faced with a different U.S. president — more specifically, himself.
“Russia would not have dared to annex one inch of the territory if I was in the White House. In fact, they never did it when I was there,” he said before touting his war record. “In fact, I stand as the only president of the 21st century on whose watch Russia did not invade another country, and neither did anyone else. Under our administration, we had peace through strength. Our country was safe and the world was calm because America was strong.”
The former president also touted his own relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that under President Joe Biden, this “gruesome and bloody war … could lead to World War III.”
“If you think Putin is going to stop, it’s going to get worse and worse. He’s not going to accept it, and we don’t have anybody to talk to him. You had somebody to talk to him with me,” he said.
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As for what he believes should be done to quell Russia’s aggression, Trump said, “The U.S. must make clear to Putin that he has two choices: to negotiate peace right now or else face blistering consequences, including a push to permanently eliminate dependence on Russian energy.”
The former president had faced criticism for his initial reaction to Putin’s decision to invade its European neighbor when he called the Kremlin’s strategy “very savvy” and “genius” in an interview with the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.
Earlier this month, however, Trump changed his tune, referring to the invasion as “a holocaust,” though those comments received noticeably less press attention.
