President Trump just took a partial step back from historic ignominy when it comes to the controversial issue of Ukraine.

This Monday he announced with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte a two-step transaction by which the U.S. will build and sell to NATO Patriot anti-missile systems and other weapons that NATO will then provide to Ukraine for its defense against Russia's expanding invasion. Had Trump rejected NATO's compromise deal, avoiding further U.S. costs to defend Ukraine, and reverted to his openly pro-Putin posture, he would have forever tarnished his legacy — the same way Joe Biden’s Afghanistan debacle destroyed his already dubious foreign policy reputation.

The Trump administration last week said that the U.S. would "pause” military weapons shipments for Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression, the second such interruption of aid that has taken place without the president’s explicit consent. Now at least temporarily reversed, this action likely would have fatally weakened Ukraine’s ability to fend off Russia’s assault and guaranteed the continuation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wanton cruelty. Trump called Russia’s recent bombing onslaught on civilians “unnecessary” and untimely, given his own plans for Ukraine, which remain undefined except that he wants the war ended on almost any terms.

With the Biden-to-Trump transition, Ukraine and the world saw U.S. policy shift away from a contradictory approach of strong rhetorical support coupled with erratic military aid and constrained intelligence sharing. Biden's forever-stalemate strategy took a dramatic turn for the worse under Trump, thanks to his outright........

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