And Mr Trump seems to be caving into Mr Putin on that as well, giving into one of the key pre-war demands he made in 2021 before invading his neighbour, the reduction of America's footprint in NATO in Europe that was declared by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth in Brussels yesterday.
If Mr Trump is persuaded to side with Mr Putin over Ukraine, a dictator will have been rewarded for invading his neighbour.
Mr Trump could not bring himself on Wednesday even to say Ukraine and Russia were equal partners in any future negotiations.
Except that Mr Putin has always appeared to have some kind of hold over Mr Trump.
He seems happy to take the word of a man who sent agents to Britain to kill with chemical weapons, who lied repeatedly about his plans to invade Ukraine, and who has murdered in cold blood every rival who dared to challenge him.
