2025-10-20

Trump keeps getting played by Putin. Will Budapest be different?

A Russia-Ukraine ceasefire might be possible if only Trump would apply more pressure on Putin.

October 20, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDTToday at 6:00 a.m. EDT

5 min

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, on Aug. 15. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)

Only that eminent student of human psychology, Charles Schulz, could possibly do justice to the strange relationship between President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

One of the tropes of Schulz’s long-running comic strip, “Peanuts,” was the tale of Lucy and the football. Every autumn, for decades, Lucy van Pelt would encourage Charlie Brown to kick the football — and every time she would yank it away just before his foot connected, sending him sprawling. Charlie Brown would remonstrate with Lucy, and the next year insist that he wasn’t going to fall for her tricks again. But he always did.

In case you haven’t guessed by now, Putin is Lucy, Trump is Charlie Brown, and peace in Ukraine is the football. Ever since Trump returned to office in January, he has repeatedly insisted — most recently on Friday during his Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — “I think President Putin wants to end the war.” Trump’s faith has been severely tested by Putin’s actions: If the Russian strongman is interested in ending the war, why does he keep it going?