Steve Witkoff is fumbling foreign talks and dragging Trump down
In his first 100 days, President Trump has scored a lot of wins at home.But what of abroad? What does the score-card look like in the world outside America?The most glaring failure to live up to a campaign promise lies in the Russia-Ukraine war.
On the campaign trail, Trump said two things repeatedly about this war.The first is that it would have never have started on his watch.
Which may be true, but it is also irrelevant now the conflict rumbles on.The second thing he said repeatedly was a promise: he would be able to end the conflict “on day one” of his return to office.Otherwise expressed as ending the war “in 24 hours.”Perhaps the president underestimated how reluctant the Ukrainians would be to give up land that has been stolen by Vladimir Putin.
But far more than that, perhaps Trump overestimated the deterrent effect he has on Putin.Because as I wrote here last week, the Russian president has repeatedly strung his US counterpart along.He has made promises that he has broken.
And then he has gone on to do the same thing again.The fact that Trump has appointed real-estate mogul Steve Witkoff to oversee the negotiations to end this — and all other foreign wars — has not helped matters.Ordinarily a secretary of state would oversee such negotiations.
Marco Rubio would be well placed to do so — as long as he brings the right team.But Witkoff going into the Kremlin alone? Learning on the job? Against a master of the arts like Putin? This is proving a disaster.If Trump wants to stop a lineup of broken foreign-policy promises, he should sideline Witkoff as soon as possible.Or blame him for the failures and move on.There’s no job in government that is good to learn from scratch.
But learning foreign affairs against regimes with long memories is the worst role of all.I once asked a great expert on the Middle East what one thing he wished people outside the region understood.It was this.
Countries like America think in two-year electoral cycles...