Please don't shoot the messenger.

This week, U.S. President Donald Trump sat down with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for an in-depth interview. In it, President Trump gave the press an unvarnished look at just where he stands on European leaders, Ukraine, and everything else.

In typical Trump fashion, the President was blunt, direct, and didn’t mince words.

“So POLITICO has named you as the most influential person shaping Europe as part of our annual POLITICO 28 list,” Dasha Burns began. “Past names that have topped the list include President Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and President Viktor Orbán. This year, POLITICO broke precedent to recognize an American for the first time in the decades-long history of P28. And sir, there is no question that you are having a seismic impact on the continent and its politics.”

“One of the most pressing issues in Europe right now is the war between Russia and Ukraine,” Burns continued. “Your team has been going back and forth …”

“I wouldn’t say ‘one,’” President Trump interjected. 

“The most,” he corrected.

“The most,” agreed Burns. “You’re right.”

“Your team has been going back and forth between Putin and Zelenskyy with various drafts of his peace deal,” she pivoted. “Which country right now is in the stronger negotiating position?”

“Well, there can be no question about it,” answered Trump frankly. “It’s Russia. It’s a much bigger country. It’s a war that should’ve never happened. Frankly, it wouldn’t have happened if I were president, and it didn’t happen for four years.”

“I watched that taking place, and I said, wow, they’re gonna cause some problems here,” Trump recalled of Putin’s invasion into Ukraine in 2022. “And it started and it, uh, could’ve evolved into, uh, World War III, frankly. I think it’s probably not gonna be happening now. I think if I weren’t president, you could’ve had World War III. I think you would’ve had a much bigger problem than you have right now, but right now it’s a big problem. It’s a big problem for Europe. And they’re not handling it well.”

“Last night you said that you weren’t sure if President Zelenskyy was fine with the most recent proposal, that he isn’t ready,” Burns asked. “I … I was hearing from your advisers around Thanksgiving that they thought this thing might be wrapped up by the end of the holiday, but it’s still not done. Is Zelenskyy responsible for the stalled progress, or what’s going on there?”

“Well, he’s gotta read the proposal,” Trump complained of Zelenskyy. “He hadn’t re … really, he hasn’t read it yet.”

“The most recent draft?” wondered Burns. 

“That’s as of yesterday,” Trump replied. “Maybe he’s read it over the night. It would be nice if he would read it. You know, a lot of people are dying. So it would be really good if he’d read it. His people loved the proposal. They really liked it. His lieutenants, his top people, they liked it, but they said he hasn’t read it yet. I think he should find time to read it.”

“Is it time for Ukraine to hold an election, do you think?” wondered Burns.

“Yeah,” replied Mr. Trump. “I think so. It’s been a long time. It’s, uh … hasn’t been doing particularly well. Yeah, I think it’s time. I think it’s an important time to hold an election. They’re using war not to hold an election, but, uh, I would think the Ukrainian people would … should have that choice. And maybe Zelenskyy would win. I don’t know who would win. But they haven’t had an election in a long time. You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”

“On Sunday, your son, Donald Trump Jr., responded to a reporter’s question about whether you will walk away from Ukraine, and your son said, I think he may,” Burns inquired. “Is that correct?”

“No, it’s not correct,” Trump replied. “But it’s not exactly wrong. We have to … you know, they have to play ball. If they, uh … if they don’t read agreements, potential agreements, you know, it’s, uh, not easy with Russia ’cause Russia has the upper … upper hand. And they always did. They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger in that sense.”

“I give Ukraine a lot of … a lot of … I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the, you know, bravery and for the fighting and all of that,” Trump clarified. “But you know, at some point, size will win, generally. And this is a massive size, uh … you … when you take a look at the numbers, I mean, the numbers are just crazy.”

“This is not a war that should’ve happened,” repeated Trump. “This is a war that would’ve never happened if I were president. So sad millions of people are dead, many, many soldiers. You know, last month they lost 27,000 soldiers and some people from missiles being launched into Kyiv and o … Kyiv and other places. What a sad thing for humanity.”

Trump also offered a frank admission on the relationship between Putin and Zelenskyy.

“Putin has … had no respect for Biden, and he had no respect for Zelenskyy, didn’t like Zelenskyy,” Trump told Burns. “They really hate each other. And part of the problem is they hate each other really a lot, you know. And it’s very hard for them to try and make a deal. It’s harder than most. I … I settled eight wars, and this … I would’ve said this is the ninth. This would’ve been the easiest one, I would’ve said, or one of the easier ones. I mean, I settled one … one that was going on for 36 years. Uh, I settled Pakistan and India. I settled so many wars. I’m very proud of it. And I do it pretty routinely, pretty easily. It’s not hard for me to do. It’s what I do. I make deals. Uh, this one is tough. One of the reasons is the level of hatred between Putin and Zelenskyy is tremendous.”

“I want to stop seeing people killed,” Trump clarified when pressed.

“Do you think Ukraine has lost this war?” Dasha Burns asked.

“Well, they’ve lost territory long before I got here,” Trump reminded her. “They lost a whole strip of seafront, big seafront. Uh, I mean, you look at the maps. I … I’ve been here for 10 months. Uh, but you go back 10 months and take a look, they lost that whole strip. It’s now a bigger strip. It’s a wider strip. But they lost a lot of land, and it’s very good land, too, that they lost. You certainly wouldn’t say it’s a victory. I could show you a chart. It’s uh … it’s a lot of land they lost.”

“It’s a lot of land,” Burns admitted. “Uh, I think the … the …”

“You know, think of it, if our election wasn’t rigged … there was a rigged election,” Trump interrupted. “Now everyone knows it. It’s gonna come out over the next couple of months, too, loud and clear ’cause we have all the information and everything. But if the election wasn’t rigged and stolen, uh, you wouldn’t even be talking about Ukraine right now.”

“The resounding consensus in Europe right now is that they want to keep supporting Ukraine until they can win this war,” Burns rushed over him, pretending not to even hear that last part.

“Until they drop, yeah,” Trump said in disgust.

“Is … is that …realistic in your view?” ventured Burns.

“I mean, look, then they should support it,” Trump said. “Uh, Europe is … I’m friendly with all of ’em. I mean, I like all of them. I have no real enemy. I’ve had a couple that I didn’t like over the years. I actually like the current crew. I like ’em a lot. But they … and I know ’em very well. I know ’em really well. Um, some are friends. Some are OK. I know the good leaders. I know the bad leaders. I know the smart ones. I know the stupid ones. You get some real stupid ones, too. But, uh, they’re not doing a good job. Europe is not doing a good job in many ways. They’re not doing a good job.”

“They talk too much,” Trump deadpanned. “And they’re not producing. We’re talking about Ukraine. They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on. I mean, four years now it’s been going on, long before I got here.”

“This is not my war,” Trump reminded Burns. “This is Joe Biden’s war. And … in terms of America. It’s a very sad thing. And the only reason I really care about it is because I hate to see young, beautiful people being killed. That’s largely why I got involved. I mean, if you look at the Congo and Rwanda, that’s been going on. Fourteen million people, at least, killed. Nobody has any idea how many killed. Machetes … a lot of machete killings. Uh, vicious. But if you look at the uh, wars … and some of the wars that I … really were … were going to be millions and millions of people. The prime minister of Pakistan said I saved millions of people by getting involved with the … you know, stopping India and Pakistan from fighting.”

“You know, sir, it’s sometimes hard to tell wh … when you say these things, do you intend to send kind of a message of … of tough love to our allies to push them to make reforms?” Burns wondered. “Or do you think that many of them are just weak and … and you don’t really want to be allies with them?”

“I think they’re weak, but I also think that they want to be so politically correct,” Trump replied. “They don’t … I think they don’t know what to do. Europe doesn’t know what to do. They don’t know what to do on trade either. I mean, I look at a lot of the trade, you know, situation that’s going on over there. It’s a little bit dangerous. But … but Europe uh, they want to be politically correct, and it makes them weak. That’s what makes them weak.”

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has been proven right many times while the expert class continues to be embarrassed. Perhaps EU leaders should look to Donald Trump to lead them out of the morass of the Ukraine-Russia war.

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)