‘We’re not buying it’: Trump ties Ukraine aid to America First

President Donald Trump on Monday went further than he ever has in helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia, greenlighting a European purchase of Patriot missile defense systems and other weapons for Ukraine.

That doesn’t mean he thinks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds the cards.

Trump still believes Moscow has the upper hand, according to a senior White House official. But as his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin has grown, he is more willing to take part in a conflict he insisted he could settle quickly.

“The president’s view is Russia is going to win, it’s a matter of how long it takes,” said the senior White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the president’s thinking. “Russia has the bigger economy, has the bigger military, has more than enough bodies to throw into the meat grinder, and just doesn’t care. And although they are making slow progress, they are still making progress. The president just wants to stop the killing.”

Even as Trump wants to up the pressure on Moscow, bucking the isolationist wing of the MAGA movement, he is insisting that this latest move aligns with his “America First” strategy and fits into a decades-long view that America has been ripped off by allies and that Europe, in particular, has gotten a free ride on defense.

Trump, during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday, exaggerated how much money the U.S. has already spent on aid to Ukraine and emphasized that Europeans would finally pay their fair share.

“We’re not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they’re going to be paying for it,” Trump said, referencing “very rich” European allies. “They feel very strongly about it, and we feel strongly about it too, but we’re in for a lot of money, and we just, we don’t want to do [it] any more.”

The Pentagon’s top policy official, Elbridge Colby, posted his support on X soon after the announcement, emphasizing the “America First” aspect.

“Central to President Trump’s common sense, America First message is that our alliances have to be fair and equitable for them to be sustainable,” Colby wrote. “This is eminently reasonable but was treated for many years as heresy. Yet now with the historic NATO commitment we see that it can work — and will leave not only Americans but our European allies better off.”

But two senior administration officials, granted anonymity to discuss the president’s turnabout on Ukraine, said Trump’s response is largely a reaction to Putin’s indifference to attempts to broker a peace deal.

“Some of the recent Russian attacks have been the worst attacks yet,” the senior White House official said. “And it’s grown more indiscriminate lately and the President is not appreciative of that.”

The two administration officials also acknowledged that European leaders have strategically placated Trump’s demands for the continent, specifically to spend billions more on their collective defense.

Trump specifically pointed to last month’s NATO meeting, during which nearly all members pledged to increase spending on defense, as helping justify his decision to provide greater support to Ukraine.

The president also alluded to his view of the conflict during Monday’s meeting, praising the “courage” of Ukraine before nearly repeating his refrain to Zelenskyy some months ago that it doesn’t “have the cards” against Russia in the long run.

“They continue to fight with tremendous courage, but they don’t have — they’re losing on equipment,” Trump said.

But many in the MAGA movement remain wary and confused by how quickly the president went from berating Zelensky as ungrateful to holding the Ukrainians up as a model of courage.

“The European money mitigates it,” said one former Trump campaign official and longtime ally, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. “But we still hate it. This is not our war, and escalation isn’t in America’s interest.”

Steve Bannon, the former Trump senior adviser, blasted the announcement on his “War Room” podcast on Monday, suggesting that Zelensky’s “number one priority” was drawing Trump deeper into the conflict. “We’re about to arm people we have literally no control over,” Bannon said. “This is not [the] global war on terror. This is old-fashioned, grinding war in the bloodlands of Europe — and we’re being dragged into it.”

A White House official disputed that the president’s political base opposed his moves, pointing to a recent Echelon Insights poll showing that nearly two-thirds of Trump voters support continuing to send arms to Ukraine. The person, granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, pointed to social media posts from pro-Trump figures crediting him for NATO’s new spending pledge and getting Europe to fully subsidize new weapons for Ukraine.

Anna Kelly, the White House deputy press secretary, dismissed the remarks. “The MAGA base and the over 77 million Americans who voted for President Trump aren’t panicans like the media,” she said. “They trust in Trump, and they know that this president is restoring peace through strength.”

Paul McLeary contributed to this report.