President Donald Trump may walk away from trying to settle the Russia-Ukraine war, according to Donald Trump Jr. on Sunday.
Speaking at the Doha Forum, Trump's eldest son suggested the U.S. should not be locked into an open-ended peace push or an open-ended funding pipeline if Kyiv and its European backers cannot present a realistic path to ending the conflict.
"I think he may," Trump Jr. said after being asked whether the president could step away from the process, Sky News reported.
He added that his father is "unpredictable," a trait he argued forces other players to negotiate more honestly.
In comments also reported by The Guardian, Trump Jr. delivered a blistering critique of the war's trajectory and the political incentives he believes are keeping it going.
He accused Ukraine's leadership of prolonging the conflict and claimed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy benefits politically from a wartime posture.
Trump Jr. argued Zelenskyy has become a "borderline deity" to political liberals, while questioning whether Western taxpayers are getting transparency for the billions sent overseas.
The president's son spoke two days after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Sr.'s son-in-law, met with two top Ukrainian officials in Miami.
The meeting, which came on the heels of recent U.S.-Russia negotiations in Moscow, was framed as part of a continuing effort by the Trump administration to craft a path toward peace.
At the Doha Forum, Trump Jr. also criticized Europe, faulting what he described as a failing sanctions strategy.
According to The Guardian, he said European measures have not collapsed Russia's war financing and instead helped drive up oil prices, which have provided Moscow the revenue to continue fighting.
He mocked the idea that simply waiting for Russia to go bankrupt constitutes a plan.
A core theme of his remarks was "America First" prioritization, warning against the U.S. becoming, in his words, "the idiot with the checkbook."
He argued Americans do not view Ukraine as a top-tier issue compared with threats closer to home, particularly drug trafficking and cartel-linked smuggling.
Trump Jr. drew a direct comparison between the administration’s focus on combating criminal networks and the public's exhaustion with "endless wars," saying the flow of fentanyl and other narcotics is a "far greater clear and present danger" to U.S. communities than the battlefield stalemate in Eastern Europe.
Trump Jr. claimed he saw large numbers of luxury vehicles with Ukrainian plates in Monaco, using the anecdote to argue that wealthy Ukrainians have escaped the worst burdens of war while ordinary citizens do the fighting.
He also claimed Ukraine is "far more corrupt than Russia," comments that could inflame supporters of continued U.S. backing for Kyiv.
Newsmax Wires contributed to this report.
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