Column

Rob de Wijk is professor of international relations and security at Leiden University and founder of the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS).



Now it is completely clear: Trump is an amateur

March 27, 2025

So I am gradually coming to the conclusion that the interpretation of the Trump administration should not be done by me or an American expert, but by a psychiatrist. Take the events surrounding the mistake that was made when it became known that Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic had been included by security adviser Mike Walz in a Signal group that also included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.

Would you like to receive Trouw's Middag newsletter every day by email? E-mail It was not the mistake that surprised me. In the Netherlands, too, government officials do not use their special telephones with which they can share secret information, or not always. Nor was the group's fulmination about Europe, which Hegseth called 'pathetic' (sad), surprising. Anyone who did not know that Donald Trump and his entourage hate the European Union and want to destroy it, has been living under a rock.

I was particularly astonished by the way the response was made. A stupid mistake had been made, but Goldberg was blamed. Trump called him a 'sleazebag' and assumed that his magazine would go bankrupt due to lack of quality. Hegseth shouted that Goldberg was telling lies over and over again.

The worst thing is the amateurism The reactions say a lot about the way this government works: never admitting guilt, always blaming others, bullying your opponents, disdain for facts and venting your anger on people who have nothing to do with it. But the worst thing is the amateurism.

This is also evident from the peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia. Even before his inauguration, Trump was blowing his own trumpet with his promise to resolve the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. In the meantime, the Russian negotiators appear to be a size too big for amateurs with a real estate background.

Trump’s first attempt failed when no one really knew what had been agreed. If you now compare the Russian and American reports, you will see major differences. Both the Americans and the Russians report that there is an agreement on a ceasefire in the Black Sea. But the Russian report states that a number of conditions must first be met, such as the lifting of sanctions so that agricultural exports can get going again. In other words, there was no agreement.

Trump's real estate deals work differently Perhaps that agreement was there, and the Russians are now pressuring the Americans with additional demands. In any case, it fits in with the Russian approach to simply continue negotiating outside the conference table.

The same goes for another part of the ceasefire, the attacks on energy infrastructure. President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had handed over a list of Ukrainian facilities that should be spared. But the American and Russian reports make no mention of this. Until Russia came up with a list, the validity of which is unclear.

Why don't the Americans demand a joint statement on what has been achieved, or do they ask for radio silence while the negotiations are still ongoing? Apparently, things work differently with Trump's real estate deals.

One thing is certain, however. If the Russians want to get the sanctions off the table, they need the support of the EU, which is hated by America. Even if the Europeans are not allowed to sit at the table, they have more influence on the peace process than Trump and his cronies would like.

Rob de Wijk is professor of international relations and security at Leiden University and founder of the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS). He writes weekly about international relations.





Questa mattina mi sono alzato
o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
questa mattina mi sono alzato
e ho trovato l'invasor.


This morning I woke up
oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
this morning I woke up
and I found the invader.

  
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