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This has not been an easy year for President Donald Trump. He has lost himself in gratuitous comments and, frankly, has been all over the rhetorical map. But one area where he has shown some uniformity is his approach to China and Russia. Particularly toward the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, Trump has shown constancy.
Perhaps the reason for this steadiness has been the stability of his foreign policy team, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Recently they visited Moscow and Kyiv. Unburdened by the clumsy Keith Kellogg, who followed a European Union script that could have been drafted by Ursula Von der Leyen, Trump's negotiating partners have flexibility. Putin trusts them, and they are realists.
This is a challenge to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is uncreative and predictable. He has more in common with George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton with his Cold War mentality. For Rubio, it is 1947 day after day, with no figuring out that the world has changed. Witkoff and Kushner have adjusted to the world as it is and are untethered by ideological rigidity. Despite false starts, they have maintained the trust of their adversaries.
Henry Kissinger in the 1970's had to fight the opposition of Secretary of State William P. Rogers, who stuck to a Cold War script. Kissinger, who realized that South Vietnam took too many resources from the United States and was a lost cause, decided to create a "decent interval" for Saigon. As with Witkoff and Kushner, he had to battle State Department officials who believed their chief responsibility was to argue for the case for Nguyen Van Thieu's corrupt government.
Détente was not an easy sell and was not made easier by President Richard Nixon, who, like Trump, sought "a peace with honor" while pursuing "victory." It was awkward at times, but it led to an opening to Communist China and a bold policy towards the Soviet Union. The results were often painful, especially when North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam in 1975. But in the end, the results ended in American "success" in 1991.
Witkoff and Kushner are not imprisoned by delusions about the Chinese-Russian relationship. In 1975, the Soviet Union and China were divided by ideological and practical disagreements. In 2026, the new alignment is clear: China and Russia have a firm understanding that favors Beijing. Putin is not troubled by being a junior partner.
Kissinger worked the divisions of the 1970s. Witkoff and Kushner have no such advantages. Trump has to accept a three-power relationship with two big players, Beijing and Washington. Trump is no hardliner and avoids confrontation with Xi Jinping.
Indeed, Trump has been mute about Beijing's moves in the Middle East, soft-pedaling tariffs and Xi’s visit to Egypt. There is a connection between the Abraham Accords and Chinese moves in the Middle East. It is no coincidence that the architects of this economic arrangement are Witkoff and Kushner. Recently, the Turks have tried to fashion a military alliance with these states plus Pakistan, which begs the question of whether there is any "linkage" between the Iranian quasi-war and Ukraine.
No doubt Trump is not fond of Rubio, who backed the Israeli-US attack on Iran in February. The European Union, egged on by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is weak and unable to prevent the Alternative for Germany from winning in Saxony-Anhalt. Perhaps a joint settlement is possible, paving the way for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine.