One of Donald Trump’s recurring campaign promises was to bring an immediate end to the war in Ukraine – promising to do so on his first day in office.
However, this promise has not been fulfilled and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon now warns that the Ukraine war risks becoming Trump’s “Vietnam”.
Trump’s message in the past has been that peace in Ukraine is “an easy thing to do”, that he promised to bring an end to the war “within 24 hours”.
– I will get it settled before I even become president, he has also proclaimed.
In recent weeks, however, the rhetoric has shifted, with the President no longer talking about the war ending anytime soon, but instead saying that “six months” is a more realistic timeframe – but that it could also take longer or shorter than that.
Nixon as a cautionary example
At the same time, it is important for Trump’s own voter base that the war actually ends and that the multi-billion dollar US aid packages cease. If the conflict were to continue during Trump’s term, there is also an imminent risk that it will be seen as his war, critics say.
– If we aren’t careful, it will turn into Trump’s Vietnam. That’s what happened to Richard Nixon. He ended up owning the war, and it went down as his war, not Lyndon Johnson’s, said former Trump adviser Steve Bannon in an interview.
Nixon ran for office in 1968 on a promise to end the war, but once in office he instead escalated US involvement through widespread bombing and incursions into Cambodia and Laos before finally negotiating a withdrawal from Vietnam. The war became a defining and highly controversial issue of his presidency.