Western publications are commenting today on the decisions and statements that US President Donald Trump has made in recent days, including his attacks on Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, his proposal to remain in power for a third, unconstitutional term, as well as the effects of the decrees he has signed.
Regarding the Ukrainian issue, the American newspaper "Wall Street Journal" writes that one of the challenges in the Trump era is to distinguish when the president is standing out to attract attention and when his statements indicate a real change in policy and priorities.
"We doubt that most Americans will overlook his erroneous equating of the two sides in the conflict.... The war in Ukraine began not because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin had legitimate security concerns, but because the aging former agent of the KGB wants to reunite most of the Soviet empire, which as a young man he saw fall apart, "the publication writes.
"The Wall Street Journal" commented on Trump's criticism that Zelensky does not want to run in the presidential election, writing that Ukraine has postponed the election while it is acting under martial law and is waging a war for survival, and its constitution allows this. The newspaper gives the example of Great Britain, which under Nazi siege did not hold elections during World War II, but no one considers the then British leader Winston Churchill a dictator.
Another American newspaper - "The Washington Post" commented that President Donald Trump has again raised the issue of the possibility of serving an unconstitutional third term, asking the audience at a White House event whether he should run again and receiving chants of "Four more years!".
On Saturday, Trump wrote on social media: "He who saves his country breaks no law", citing a statement often attributed to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, the newspaper added.
According to the "Washington Post", the problem is who gets to define what saving the country entails, since that gives the authority to do almost anything. It is also anathema to the way America's founders imagined and created the system of government in the United States, the publication added. It specifies that Trump often "sows" ideas that seem ridiculous at the moment, but only to repeat them over and over again until enough of his electorate accepts them and they become more practical.
The British newspaper "Guardian" writes that Donald Trump's address to Volodymyr Zelensky as a "dictator", who is to blame for the war with Russia, has fallen like a bomb on the diplomatic landscape.
The US president has thrown the already severely shaken Western alliance into disarray with a devastating attack on social media against his Ukrainian counterpart just hours after he had already indirectly accused Kiev of Russia's invasion, the publication comments.
Another British newspaper - "The Telegraph", reports information according to which Ukraine could receive immediate NATO membership if Russia violates the terms of a possible peace agreement negotiated by Donald Trump.
According to the newspaper, the White House is considering this mechanism to address concerns that Vladimir Putin will use the ceasefire to change his strategy and launch a new invasion.
Meanwhile, "The Telegraph" draws attention to the fact that Romania has expressed concern that Moscow is trying to persuade Trump to agree to the withdrawal of NATO troops from Eastern Europe.
These ideas will further fuel fears in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states that Trump may unilaterally agree to end NATO's presence in the region as the price for peace in Ukraine, the British publication believes, adding that a growing number of Washington's European allies believe that the US president is siding with the Kremlin on many issues in the initial peace talks.
On the other hand, the American version of the magazine "Politico" focuses on the fact that "the list of Trump's presidential orders grows by the day - the massive spending freeze, the mass layoffs in the federal government, the decision to ignore various laws, not to mention the work of Elon Musk's ministry, which is neutered numerous federal agencies".
According to the magazine, all these actions have two things in common - they all appear to be illegal under laws that Congress has passed, and they all reflect a desire to dramatically expand the powers of the presidency and significantly reduce the powers of Congress.