The most remarkable thing about President Donald Trump’s whirlwind first five weeks back in office has not been the pace at which his administration has been making major changes, but rather that it has done so without spending much political capital, or, in laymen’s terms, losing much support.

Trump’s slew of executive orders, covering everything from establishing only two genders, to freezing federal spending, cutting energy regulations and much more have been fast and furious.

The pace of change has left Democrats and their media allies flatfooted and confused, punching at quickly changing shadows, as when they laughably pointed to a fired national parks employee who had the only keys to the restroom as evidence of chaos. It’s actually just evidence of incompetence.

But it isn’t just politicians and pundits whose heads are spinning as Trump sprints his way through his first 100 days. The American people, too, especially those not locked into the news cycle like a homing missile, are also at risk of confusion, which is why radical transparency has been the administration’s most effective tool.

Not only do the American people hear from Trump almost every day, he almost always takes questions, and, unlike his predecessor, he can effectively answer them.

When concern was growing that Elon Musk had too much independent authority to fire federal workers and cut spending, Trump made crystal clear, with the billionaire standing next to him, that Musk answers to the president, and his position is advisory.

As Democrats attempt to paint Trump as a backwards troglodyte for seeking to shut down the Department of Education, he has been on camera day in and day out, explaining how broken our schools are right now, and why ending the agency will help make them better.

As for his foreign policy, including a warmer relationship with Israel and a chillier one with Ukraine, Trump has once again been out in front, the explainer in chief. And after four years of a president who basically just said, ‘Trust us, Tony Blinken and Jake Sullivan went to great schools,’ it is refreshing.

Trump’s outstanding customer relations this time around remind me of my days working as a mover in New York City, because even if people are moving into their dream house, or a bigger apartment, it’s still a day filled with enormous change, and the possibility of mishaps.

As long as this radical transparency continues, the Trump administration will have a long runway of good will to land its policies and transform America.

Watching the transformation of the federal government, hoping that it helps and that nothing breaks, is a bit like watching all your earthly belongings roll away in a box truck driven by a guy you met three hours ago.

The best thing that the foreman of a moving crew can do to quell the nerves of jumpy customers, and I have seen it in action a thousand times, is to explain, upon arrival, in detail, exactly what is going to happen, and then inform them, in a timely manner, as those things do, indeed, occur.

Even if a customer’s concern seems overly paranoid, the best thing to do is walk them through exactly how you will protect their prized piece of art or antique chair.

This explains why in the coming days Trump has vowed to visit Fort Knox, complete with cameras, to assure Americans that its fabled gold reserve is still there. Yet more radical transparency.

In a healthy society, it would be absurd to think the government could be lying about the gold, but during COVID alone the feds lied to us to us over and over about social distancing and masks and don’t touch doorknobs. So, yeah, a lot of Americans are rightfully distrustful.

Trump is riding higher in the polls than anybody could have anticipated in the midst of our recent heated election with all its recriminations and anger, and while this is owing in part to the actions he is taking, it is really his ability to explain them that is keeping voters on the farm.

There are few things that have gone down the tubes faster in our society than customer service. Who among us has not screamed the words ‘speak with a representative!’ into our phone only to have the line go dead? 

So far, like a good foreman of a moving company, Trump has done everything he can to guide Americans through his vast and lofty plans and actions. As long as this radical transparency continues, the Trump administration will have a long runway of good will to land its policies and transform America.

Hunter Schafer, a transgender actor and star of the HBO series ‘Euphoria,’ revealed that her new passport was issued with a male gender marker because of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.

Schafer, 26, posted a video on social media detailing how her passport had been stolen while she was filming in Spain. After receiving an emergency passport, she later had to apply for a new, permanent one in Los Angeles. Schafer, who transitioned to female when she was a teenager, said her original passport identified her as female, but the new one she received marked her as male.

Schafer said she wasn’t posting the video to ‘create drama,’ ‘fearmonger’ or ‘receive consolation,’ but rather because she thought it was worth noting ‘the reality of the situation and that it is actually happening.’

‘Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing. I’m never gonna stop being trans,’ she said in the video. ‘A letter and a passport can’t change that. And f— this administration.’

Trump signed the executive order, ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,’ on his first day in office. The order mandates the federal government to recognize only two sexes — male and female — based on immutable biological characteristics, which must be reflected on official documents, like passports.

The State Department, responsible for passports, is no longer issuing passports with the ‘X’ marker that’s been available since 2021 and is not honoring requests to change gender markers between ‘M’ and ‘F.’

Schafer acknowledged the executive order in her TikTok video: ‘Because our president, you know, is a lot of talk, I was like, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ And, today, I saw it,’ Schafer said, holding up her new passport page with the ‘M’ marker. 

The 26-year-old said she has had female gender markers on her license and passport since she was a teenager, though she noted that she did not have her birth certificate amended.

‘It doesn’t really change anything about me or my transness. However, it does make my life a little harder,’ Schafer said in the video, saying she has to travel for the first time with the new passport next week.

‘Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing. I’m never going to stop being trans. A letter and a passport can’t change that,’ she concluded.

Seven people represented by the American Civil Liberties Union have already filed a lawsuit claiming the policy violates privacy and First Amendment rights. 

The ACLU has said it has been contacted by more than 1,500 transgender people or family members, ‘many with passport applications suspended or pending, who are concerned about being able to get passports that accurately reflect their identity.’

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is set to have another busy week meeting with foreign leaders in the nation’s capital as administration leaders continue working out a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. 

Trump will meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in his fifth week back in the Oval Office, national security advisor Mike Waltz said on Fox News’ ‘America Reports.’ The announcement follows Macron calling for an emergency meeting of world leaders after the Trump administration excluded Europe from sitting at the negotiating table to settle the war between Ukraine and Russia.

‘Just a few months ago, everyone was talking about this war as though it would never end,’ Waltz said on ‘America Reports’ after confirming Starmer and Macron will visit Washington, D.C. ‘In just a very short amount of time, President Trump has us, everyone – the Ukrainians, the Russians, the Europeans – talking about it now and debating.… Only President Trump could drive that shift in conversation. And we have to acknowledge that that’s happened.’

Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met in Riyadh last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs advisor Yuri Ushakov to hash out ways to end the conflict. Ukraine was absent from the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. 

Ukraine’s lack of involvement sparked President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy to double down on the stance that his nation will not accept a peace deal unless they are a part of the negotiation process. 

Zelenskyy told reporters Tuesday in Turkey that ‘nobody decides anything behind our back,’ after stressing in recent days that Kyiv will not agree to a peace negotiation without Ukraine’s input.

Trump amplified his rhetoric against Zelenskyy last week, including arguing Zelenskyy is a poor negotiator and that he’s ‘sick of it.’ 

‘I’ve been watching this man for years now as his cities get demolished, as his people get killed, as his soldiers get decimated,’ Trump told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade last week. ‘I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards, and you get sick of it,’ he continued. ‘You just get sick of it, and I’ve had it.’

‘I get tired of listening to it,’ Trump responded. ‘I’ve seen it enough, and then he complains that he’s not at a meeting that we’re having with Saudi Arabia trying to intermediate peace. Well, he’s been at meetings for three years with a… president who didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He’s been at the meetings for three years and nothing got done, so I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you. He’s been there for three years. He’s he makes it very hard to make deals.’

Trump added on Friday that Macron and Starmer ‘haven’t done anything’ since 2022 to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. 

Trump’s recent remarks on Zelenskyy have apparently alarmed European leaders who have backed Ukraine throughout the war. Macron previewed in remarks on Thursday that he will reportedly take a tough tone with Trump during their meeting. 

‘Trump, I know him. I respect him and I believe he respects me,’ Macron, who will meet with Trump on Monday, said during a question-and-answer session on social media. ‘I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President (Vladimir Putin). It’s not you, it’s not what you’re made of, and it’s not in your interests.’

Starmer, who is slated to meet with Trump on Thursday, said on Sunday in Scotland that there cannot be peace talks without Ukraine’s input. 

‘Nobody wants the bloodshed to continue. Nobody, least of all the Ukrainians,’ he said Sunday, according to Reuters. 

‘But after everything that they have suffered, after everything that they have fought for, there could be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine must have a long-term secure future.’ 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke to members of the media on Saturday following CPAC, saying a peace deal could be reached as soon as this week. 

‘The president, his team are very much focused on continuing negotiations with both sides of this war to end the conflict, and the president is very confident we can get it done this week,’ she said. 

Fox News Digital’s Bailee Hill, Morgan Phillips and Diana Stancy contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump celebrated on Sunday after German conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz claimed victory in a national election, ousting Social Democrat incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

‘LOOKS LIKE THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN GERMANY HAS WON THE VERY BIG AND HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ELECTION,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. ‘MUCH LIKE THE USA, THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY GOT TIRED OF THE NO COMMON SENSE AGENDA, ESPECIALLY ON ENERGY AND IMMIGRATION, THAT HAS PREVAILED FOR SO MANY YEARS.

‘THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR GERMANY, AND FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A GENTLEMAN NAMED DONALD J. TRUMP,’ he added. ‘CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL — MANY MORE VICTORIES TO FOLLOW!!!’

Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won Sunday’s national election, with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) finishing a strong second, according to exit polls.

The snap election came as the European nation grapples with illegal immigration and a souring economy. CDU leader Merz is expected to take a harder line than Scholz on immigration, though not as much as AfD supporters have called for.

Merz, whose party got about 29% of the vote, must form a coalition with one or more of the other parties, but has said he will not do so with AfD.

Merz has said he will execute a 15-point plan to tackle immigration, including tightening the borders and deporting rejected asylum seekers. AfD wants to deport migrants en masse.

While the AfD may be frozen out of the incoming coalition, it doubled its vote total from the last election.

Endorsed by Trump and Elon Musk, and led by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, the party believes it has built momentum for the next election, expected in 2029.

President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Sunday that he would aim to negotiate an ‘extension’ of Phase One of the Israel-Hamas hostage release and ceasefire deal when he returns to the region this week. 

‘We have to get an extension of Phase One. And, so I’ll be going into the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that,’ Witkoff said during an appearance on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ ‘And we’re hoping you have the proper time to finish off to begin Phase Two and finish it off and get more hostages released. And move this – move the discussion forward.’ 

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close confidante of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly met with Witkoff in Washington, D.C., last week. 

In regard to the meeting, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Witkoff if he believes Netanyahu ‘wants to move forward with the ceasefire, or does he want to resume the war to try to eliminate Hamas?’

Witkoff said he believes the prime minister ‘is well-motivated’ and wants to see ‘the hostages released,’ as well ‘to protect the state of Israel.’ 

‘And so he’s got a red line,’ Witkoff said. ‘And he said what the red line is, and that is that Hamas cannot be involved in a governing body when this thing is resolved.’ 

‘They can’t be any part of governance in Gaza,’ the U.S. envoy said of Hamas. ‘And, you know, as to existing, I’d leave that – that detail to the prime minister.’ 

In another Sunday show appearance on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation,’ Witkoff said he would arrive ‘probably Wednesday evening’ in the Middle East and would visit various countries, including Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. He added that the last remaining living American hostage, Edan Alexander, remains a top priority in negotiations.

‘He’s front and center for us,’ Witkoff said. ‘I know his parents. We talk all the time. He’s critical. It’s one of President Trump’s most important objectives is to get all Americans home. And we’re going to be successful in getting Edan home, I believe.’ 

According to the May 27 protocol agreement, Witkoff explained that Phase Two involves both ‘a permanent ceasefire, a cessation of all violence,’ as well as ‘the fact that Hamas cannot be allowed to come back into the government’ in Gaza. 

‘And I think the way you square that circle is that Hamas has to go. They’ve got to leave,’ Witkoff said, adding, ‘I would say physically, that’s correct.’ The envoy said he was not at liberty to say which countries might take in people from Gaza during ongoing negotiations, but stressed that Gaza would not be a safe living environment for another 15 to 20 years following the war and requires an extension reconstruction plan.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced Saturday night that ‘in light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.’ 

In a video message Friday, Netanyahu condemned how Hamas ‘brutally murdered’ two young Israeli boys, whose bodies were initially returned to Israel without the remains of their mother, Shiri Bibas. In what Netanyahu decried as a ‘brazen violation of their agreement,’ Hamas initially handed over the wrong body for Bibas, whose actual remains were later returned and identified Saturday following an intense standoff with the terrorist group. 

Hamas handed over another six Israelis on Saturday in the latest scheduled release of living hostages.

President Donald Trump announced that Dan Bongino will serve as the next deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

‘Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday night. ‘Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel.’

The president said Bongino has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the City University of New York and an MBA from Penn State.

‘He was a member of the New York Police Department (New York’s Finest!), a highly respected Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, and is now one of the most successful Podcasters in the Country, something he is willing and prepared to give up in order to serve,’ Trump wrote. ‘Working with our great new United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and Director Patel, Fairness, Justice, Law and Order will be brought back to America, and quickly. Congratulations Dan!

‘Another aspect of the life of Dan Bongino that I think is very important. He has a great wife, Paula, and two wonderful daughters who truly love their dad,’ Trump later wrote. ‘What an incredible job Dan will do!!!’

Bongino is also a former Fox News host.

Shortly after the announcement, Bongino responded on X, saying, ‘Thank you Mr. President, Attorney General Bondi, and Director Patel.’

Patel was sworn in to serve as the ninth FBI director on Friday, after a narrow senate vote of 51-49.

Patel, a vociferous opponent of the investigations into Trump and one who served at the forefront of Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims, vowed during his confirmation hearing last month that he would not engage in political retribution against agents who worked on the classified documents case against Trump and other politically sensitive matters.

But his confirmation comes at a time when the FBI’s activities, leadership and personnel decisions are being closely scrutinized for signs of politicization or retaliation.

Patel held a number of national security roles during Trump’s first administration — chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, senior advisor to the acting director of national intelligence and National Security Council official. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed images of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, during an address at a combat officers’ graduation ceremony on Sunday, delivering a solemn message.

‘I want to show you something. I want to show you this picture of Shiri Bibas and her tender children, Ariel and Kfir Bivas. This picture says it all; I ask that you engrave it on the board of your hearts, so that you will always remember what we are fighting for and against whom we are fighting,’ Netanyahu told the graduates, according to Fox News’ translation of the Hebrew speech. ‘We are fighting to secure our existence against man-monsters who have risen to annihilate us.’ 

‘Already in the first days of the war, they murdered Shiri and her children in cold blood; they strangled the tender children with their own hands,’ Netanyahu said, holding up a photo of the Bibas family. ‘And if they could, they would have killed us all with the same cruelty, until our very last man. Against this we fight, and these monsters we must and can defeat – and defeat them we will. This is our mission, and this is your mission!’ 

‘As the defenders of our homeland, each of you is imbued with purpose, wielding sword and shield,’ he added. ‘We have high expectations of you, but I know that above all, you have expectations of yourselves.’ 

Hamas handed over the bodies of the two young brothers on Thursday, but initially returned the wrong remains for Shiri in what Netanyahu had decried as a ‘brazen violation of their agreement.’ The Israeli mother’s actual remains were handed over on Saturday and identified by Israeli forensic authorities to be Shiri following a standoff with the terrorist group. Also returned was the body of Oded Lifshitz, a fellow resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and who Israel says was murdered in captivity. The Israel Defense Forces said the boys’ bodies proved they were ‘murdered by terrorists in cold blood,’ despite Hamas previously claiming the brothers were killed in an airstrike.

In his speech Sunday, Netanyahu said President Donald Trump ‘sees eye to eye with us on everything related to Gaza.’ 

‘We support President Trump’s groundbreaking plan to allow free exit for Gazans, and to create a different Gaza,’ Netanyahu told the graduating combat officers. 

‘I thank President Trump for his directive to supply Israel with vital weapons,’ Netanyahu said. ‘The new defensive and offensive arms will greatly aid us in achieving absolute victory. At the same time, we have approved enormous budgets for the domestic development of weapon systems – systems that will enhance our ability to stand up to our enemies on our own.’ 

The prime minister also laid out his government’s objectives. Netanyahu said Israeli forces ‘have eliminated most of Hamas’s organized strength’in Gaza. 

‘But let there be no doubt: we will complete the war objectives, including this one, to the very end,’ he said. ‘It can be achieved through negotiation, and it can also be achieved by other means. From the start of the war, the conditions we set for its conclusion were clear – and they remain clear. All of our abductees, without exception, will return home. Hamas will not govern Gaza. Gaza will be purged, and its combat capability will be dismantled.’ 
 

Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said he plans to return to the region on Wednesday to negotiate an ‘extension’ of Phase One of the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. 

Phase Two, Witkoff noted, includes ensuring Hamas will never return to government leadership in Gaza, which he predicts will not be a safe living environment for another 15 to 20 years and will require a lengthy reconstruction plan. 

Fox News’ Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.

A watchdog group focused on getting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) out of medicine found that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is actively spending millions of grant dollars to boost the number of racial minorities in the cancer workforce. 

This funding, uncovered by the nonprofit watchdog Do No Harm, shows that $218 million in NCI grants for ‘underrepresented’ groups – mainly racial minorities – is actively dispersed by the NCI. Prior to President Donald Trump taking office, during the Biden administration, around 3% of the NCI’s total grant funding every year went to institutions so that they can hire more faculty members and scientists who are minorities, according to Do No Harm.

The revelation comes as Elon Musk’s DOGE puts a slew of funds related to DEI on the chopping block amid efforts to slim down government spending. Trump and fellow Republicans have pushed hard against DEI policies throughout the government in recent weeks, making the case that public programs should instead focus on meritocracy. 

Among the NCI’s DEI grants that remain active under Trump are two totaling more than $10.5 million, awarded to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. These grants support hiring initiatives aimed at ‘inclusive excellence’ and programs that promote advancing the careers of racial minorities.

One of the grant’s descriptions explicitly calls for the recruitment of 12 scientists from ‘underrepresented groups,’ while the other grant’s description includes, alongside its recruitment and hiring goals, a plan to ‘modify the Mount Sinai Health System Task Force To Address Racism Roadmap for Change with key strategies as the basis for an Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Roadmap for Inclusive Excellence.’ 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb said the NCI must ‘stop promoting a politically motivated DEI agenda.’

‘The National Cancer Institute has been taking advantage of taxpayers to push a DEI agenda on the medical field,’ Goldfarb said. ‘They dole out $218 million each year for grants prioritizing ‘underrepresented’ in medicine, which has generally been defined as anyone from a racial minority group, except Asian Americans. The National Cancer Institute should not be rewarding racial discrimination with taxpayer money. Racial discrimination has no place in medicine.’

Under former President Joe Biden, the NCI’s website was filled with statements and sources about programs tied to DEI, but, following Trump’s executive order demanding an end to DEI in the federal government, much of that has come down. Fox News Digital reached out to the NCI to question whether it had any plans to terminate any of its active grants promoting DEI hiring, but did not receive a response by press time. 

Fox News Digital also inquired about the sub-agency’s Equity Council, established in 2021 under Biden, but did not receive a response. The council is a steering committee for the NCI’s equity and inclusion efforts.

DOGE claims it has already addressed hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in DEI-related contract cuts, including $350 million at the Department of Education. 

Last month, DOGE announced that taxpayers would see just over $1 billion in savings through the elimination of 104 DEI contracts.

‘We are way closer to the beginning than we are to the end,’ former CIA Moscow station chief Dan Hoffman said as Ukraine entered a fourth year of war on Monday. 

Since the Nov. 5, 2024, re-election of President Donald Trump, the Western world has been scrambling to understand what the future holds for Russia’s war in Ukraine as Washington looks to re-establish ties with Moscow in a move to end the conflict and secure a peace deal.

In the span of a week, Trump held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin; Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov; retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sparked international debate by pronouncing that Ukraine would unlikely be permitted to join NATO.

But far from bringing a sense of optimism that an end to the brutal war in Ukraine could be on the horizon, questions erupted across the globe as the geopolitical atmosphere descended into a state of confusion.

‘What a ceasefire would look like? I have no idea,’ Hoffman said, highlighting the numerous and almost indeterminable factors that will shape whether Moscow and Kyiv agree to terms under a deal.

‘It’s getting the Russians to stop. That’s the key,’ he explained. ‘The Russians are intrigued by the idea that they could make a grand bargain with this administration and eliminate the sanctions that are causing so much harm. 

‘But what hangs over this is Vladimir Putin – he’s a KGB guy. He hates Donald Trump just as much as he hates Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, and every one of us, because the United States is the main enemy,’ Hoffman explained. ‘He’s going to try to get a great deal. 

‘Putin’s going to try to frame negotiations as if Russia is going toe to toe with the United States, he will want to make it look like Russia got the better of us, to enhance his own image and the Kremlin’s [to] throw weight against us globally, including in the MIddle East and Africa,’ Hoffman explained. 

Some of the biggest factors that will be involved in negotiating a ceasefire will be security guarantees for Ukraine, including whether Russia has the right to influence who can be permitted into the alliance. 

‘Ukraine’s NATO membership should not be a negotiation tactic, because we don’t want Russia to have, you know, de facto veto power over who joins NATO,’ Catherine Sendak, director of transatlantic defense and security with the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), said during a discussion on Ukraine on Thursday. 

Some nations like Britain and France have said they may be willing to send in troops to serve as a deterring force should a ceasefire be agreed to, though Russian officials have already said NATO forces in Ukraine would be unacceptable to Moscow.

Though even with European forces in Ukraine, it remains unclear in what capacity as a deterring force they would serve.

Questions over whether European forces would help police Ukrainian borders shared with Russia or merely act as air and naval support for Kyiv remain.  

Experts involved in the CEPA discussion were unanimous in their agreement that the U.S. should be involved, though the Trump administration has already suggested that not only will the possibility of the U.S. sending in troops to Ukraine not be an option, but it may look to remove American forces currently positioned around Europe. 

‘Many European nations just have not had any experience in leading a force of that size,’ said William Monahan, senior fellow with CEPA and former deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs during the previous Trump administration.

‘Determining where the U.S. could be providing key enablers, I think, would be an essential element of any force, and determining its credibility and deterrence capability,’ he added.

Putin has made clear that his latest war objective is the ownership of four Ukrainian regions, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which he illegally ‘annexed’ in 2022 but none of which have his forces been able to fully seize.

Zelenskyy has said he will not agree to cede any land to Russia, including Crimea, which Russia has illegally occupied since 2014, but which Hegseth said this month would be an ‘unrealistic’ objective at the negotiating table. 

Though some Western experts have argued that Ukraine does not necessarily need to cede land in order to reach a ceasefire agreement. 

This proposal suggests that the Ukrainian territory would remain internationally recognized as ‘occupied’ by Russia, which would allow the fighting to stop, though Kyiv and its international partners would then need to attempt to renegotiate land releases at a later time. 

What has become clear is the Trump administration’s push for Europe to be more heavily involved in providing military support to Ukraine. But as European nations look to ramp up defense on the continent without Washington’s support, security experts are warning this is changing geopolitical views of the U.S. and its reliability as an ally.

‘I think there is a group of European countries now, I think increasingly, including the U.K. potentially, and France, that actually are beginning to see the U.S. as part of the problem,’ said Sam Green, director of democratic resilience at CEPA and professor of Russian politics at King’s College London.

Green said European nations may need to come up with their own solution to counter a U.S.-Moscow proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. 

Ultimately, the security experts warned that the increasingly apparent divisions between Washington under the Trump administration and Europe are playing into one of Putin’s longtime chief aims.

‘I think there’s a need to get a coordinated approach that brings in our allies and partners [and] maintains that source of strength,’ Monahan said. ‘I think Putin is very happy he has been able to achieve one of his strategic goals, which is create disunion and division among the United States and its allies in the transatlantic relationship.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if some of the controversial comments made by Trump, like calling Zelenskyy a dictator, claiming he has low internal approval ratings and seeming to suggest he was to blame for Russia’s illegal invasion, are aiding Putin in his negotiating calculus, Hoffman said, ‘I don’t know what damage, if any, it’s causing, but the intelligence community can assess that.’

‘What Vladimir Putin thinks about the U.S. and Ukraine, about Zelenskyy and Trump going, rhetorically at least, toe to toe in the Octagon against each other – it’s not a great look,’ he added. 

‘[Putin] thinks he can break Europe. He doesn’t think Europe is going to be strong enough without the United States,’ Hoffman argued. ‘That’s certainly the past. The history during the Soviet-Evil Empire, it was the U.S. strength, our nuclear umbrella, that deterred the Soviet Union from expanding.

‘NATO has always been an alliance to deter Russian aggression,’ he said. ‘We’re nowhere close to knowing how all this is going to play out. 

‘Right now, you’re just hearing a lot of noise,’ Hoffman cautioned.