U.S. President Donald Trump reacts while speaking to members of the media on board Air Force One en route to the U.S., October 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump can usually rely on conservative media to back him, but one of America's most prestigious right-leaning publications simply cannot see eye-to-eye with their fellow Republican on a key foreign policy issue — namely, America's relationship with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
"The Trump Administration’s latest brainstorm for ending the war in Ukraine may be the single worst idea in nearly two years of stillborn peace talks: Pushing Europe to return to buying Russian natural gas," wrote The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board on Monday. "Nothing says “America First” like suggesting that our friends replace their U.S. energy with fuel from a hostile dictator harassing Europe with drones and cyber attacks."
The Editorial Board added, "The Journal reports that the Administration’s negotiators are suggesting that Europe resume buying natural gas from Russia, perhaps via Ukraine. The theory as ever is that Mr. Putin will set down his guns and ballistic missiles if he understands the commercial riches that await him in the civilized world."
They continued, "The hope is that one more carrot will finally make the Russian see the light. But the U.S. has tried waiving sanctions, buying Russian diesel fuel and offering glamor summits. Yet Mr. Putin is still insisting on his original, maximalist demand to turn Ukraine into a de facto Kremlin satellite, like Belarus."
After arguing that Trump's solicitation of Russian diesel would hurt American economic as well as geopolitical interests, they concluded that "Mr. Trump’s determination to appease Mr. Putin is starting to look less about finding a durable if imperfect peace in Ukraine and more about the Trump Administration wanting a reordered world and an entente with Russia at any cost. Mr. Trump is doing this as the reality on the battlefield in Ukraine is that Russia is losing the initiative and even some territory while enduring monthly casualties in the tens of thousands."
This is not the first time the Journal has singled out Trump's handling of the Russia-Ukraine war for criticism. They did so as well as last month.
“As we wrote before the 2024 election, this was one of our main fears for his second term,” the board wrote in October, adding that Putin had suggested at that time for America and China to divide up Ukraine with Russia.
“A new triumvirate that divided the world into spheres of influence would blow up America’s global credibility as a reliable ally. U.S. allies may be punching bags these days, but the U.S. network from NATO to Japan, South Korea and Australia allows America to deter aggression and maintain peace before threats are dire,” the board added.
Trump's own former national security adviser, John Bolton, warned in October that Trump fundamentally does not understand how US-Russia relations work.
"If he and Vladimir Putin are good friends, he thinks US-Russia state-to-state relations are good," Bolton said at the time. "That’s not correct for many reasons. Most importantly, because Vladimir Putin doesn’t see Trump as a friend. He sees him as an easy mark. And every time Trump, in a very needy way, comes to Putin to ask for this diesel deal or something like that, Putin’s more than happy to give it to him and put it in his pocket to call him later."