Trump's changing stance on Zelensky, Bibi

Well, U.S. President Donald Trump started his second presidential term with a promise to bring Ukraine and Gaza wars to a complete end. Multiple timelines and deadlines later, the Ukraine war continues to burn with higher flames and the conflict in Gaza remains far from over. Well, President Trump is approaching mid-term elections that are being seen as first referendum of his second presidential stint. stint from Eastern Europe to Jerusalem, Donald Trump's power to end wars is facing a reality check his approach to peace in Ukraine has swung between confrontation, conciliation and blame game from verbal showdown with Zelensky in the Oval Office to slapping Russia with more sanctions and return to blaming Ukraine for failure in ending the war in a most recent interview with Newsmax. President Trump said Zelensky is not a good guy to deal with. Donald Trump's father added that he is not a big fan of Zelensky because, according to him, the Ukrainian president doesn't want to settle the war. This comes after Volodymyr Zelensky defied Donald Trump's declaration of energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. The so-called energy truce did not deter Russia from carrying out attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. Before the announcement, President Trump made a deal with Vladimir Putin to infuse global oil markets with Russian diesel. The president wants to bring down oil prices ahead of midterms as it could potentially cost his Republican Party by ending their control over Congress. Donald Trump has tried to blame Russia-Ukraine war for rising oil prices, But it is a known fact that Iran war and Hormuz crises have been the main drivers behind global oil shocks. This brings us to another close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu and Trump entered Iran war together, but Trump pulled out first and Bibi had to follow. The allies in war started drifting apart when it came to ceasefire. addressing Israeli Parliament in October 2025, President Trump openly asked Israeli President to pardon Benjamin Netanyahu in the corruption cases. But one year later, the tone has changed completely. President Trump was asked if he trusted Prime Minister Netanyahu during the same interview. He dodged the question and gave a generic response. The U.S. President said that he doesn't trust anybody in the world of politics. In fact, the American President, remember, has been famous for endorsing presidential candidates around the world. But what about a leader who was his partner in the Iran war? This question remains unanswered. But one thing is clear as daylight. Donald Trump is struggling to strike a balance between his political woes and geopolitical realities of his own making. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Daniel L. Davis is a military expert and host of Daniel Davis Deep Dive on YouTube. Mr. Davis, it's good to see you again and welcome to the program. Is Trump compromising America's national interest for his own political gains in the midterms? You know, I don't know that he thinks in those terms. I think he only thinks in transactional terms for what he perceives is best for him in any given moment. And, of course, that moment can change. And those desires can change from one time to another. But, you know, I think that a lot of the people implied in your question there is his deal, especially with Vladimir Putin, with this diesel deal, is that harming American interests? To the contrary, that's actually enabling and helping American interests. Continuing the war and supporting the Ukraine side in its war is the antithesis to American interests because the war can't be won militarily. So it is literally throwing money and ammunition and everything else into a dark, empty hole that can never produce anything positive. In fact, he should have stuck to his original campaign promise to end the war, quote, in a day when he first came into office. He should have put whatever was necessary to get it off the table. Then he failed. He did not do it. He had the leverage. He had the power. He allowed it to just meander and didn't do anything with it. And then in June of this year, he actually had his Secretary of State go before the Senate and say that we chose a side and that side was Ukraine. And then he undid that just, what, a few weeks later, and now he's trying to be a mediator. So the problem with President Trump is he doesn't know what his interests are on any given day, and unfortunately, neither do the rest of us. Colonel Daniel, what do you make of what's been going on between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump? You know, they started off as best friends. Then suddenly in between, President Trump was not very happy with Prime Minister Netanyahu. And now you've got, you know, Trump not even mentioning him when he praises leaders. He just says, I don't trust anybody in the world of politics. And Israeli voices from within the country are now saying that, look, with or without U.S., we will continue this war. Well, good luck to them if they want to do that, because there is no way that Israel can continue to fight this seven front war that they chose to get into and that they roped the United States into help and that they now require the extraordinary amount of United States physical help with ammunition, with the intelligence capabilities, and diplomatic cover for that reason. It's not all this is necessary together. Without especially the ammunition, there won't be any way for Israel to continue the war. They simply can't manufacture it on their own, and there's nowhere else to buy it on the open market. And I think one of the reasons President Trump is kind of distancing himself, especially right before the midterms, is because he reads the polls and he can see even his own party, as much less the independents, are really souring on Israel right now because the so many images from all of this death and destruction in Lebanon, in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank of these atrocities just keep stacking up and it's turning public opinion against Israel. So President Trump is certainly not going to embrace Netanyahu right before the midterm elections if he sees that the people are against that. We'll see if he changes his tune afterwards. But again, President Trump is transactional, and he will distance Bibi Netanyahu as easily as he'll distance Volodymyr Zelensky if he thinks it gives him an advantage. All right, let's wait and see what really happens between the two leaders and in this war and in their respective elections. We'll leave it there. Colonel Daniel, thanks very much for joining us on Beyond. Always my pleasure.