Trump is ‘a great friend to our enemies’: Alexander Vindman
- Former national security aide calls Trump ‘deeply isolationist’
- Says Russia is practicing ‘nuclear extortion’
- Ukraine needs battlefield wins to spur peace talks
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(NewsNation) — A Harris-Walz administration would be good news for Ukraine and possibly advance the chance for peace, according to retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.
On the other hand, Vindman says a second Trump administration would be “deeply isolationist.”
“The U.S. would cut off support to Ukraine and retrench back from support to allies around the world,” Vindman told NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” He also called Trump someone who is “a great friend to our enemies and inspires fear amongst our allies.”
While calling the Biden administration “slow” in keeping up the flow of aid to Ukraine, Vindman said he’s looking forward to a shift in the general attitude toward the Ukraine-Russia war.
“I think Kamala Harris and her team have a chance to take a look at these misconceptions around the risk of escalation and war with Russia and make some determinations that those are overstated,” he said.
Vindman, a Ukrainian-born American, was on the National Security Council staff in 2019 and was in the room when Trump called new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and asked him to investigate Hunter Biden. After testifying to congressional impeachment investigators about what he heard, he was removed from his job and escorted out of the White House.
As for the current state of the Ukraine-Russia war, Vindman says the current Ukrainian offensive into Russia is a gamble that could pay off big time.
“(It) could end up being a masterstroke from the Ukrainians,” he said. “There is some concern that they’re spreading their lines too thin, but there is an equally good concept where they’re actually making Russia defend in a bunch of different places and gaining ground and making Russia look weak — forcing their hand to negotiations toward an end game.”
The bigger picture, Vindman said, is about keeping Putin in check and minimizing his attempts to “act like a gangster” to get what he wants.
“What we’ll see from the Harris-Walz team is a team that is not going to be pushed around, is going to stand up for U.S. interests and defend our allies,” he added.
