President Trump’s Oval Office meeting with President Zelensky on February 28, 2025, was a watershed moment. Finally, the truth of what has been happening in Ukraine, and its prospects for success in its war against Russia, is being acknowledged. For many, the truth is hitting hard. That being: long before January 20^th, when President Donald J. Trump assumed office, Ukraine had all but lost the war.

President Trump recognizes this reality. And, due to his leadership, more and more people are coming to accept this reality, albeit begrudgingly. Possessing intellectual ability and moral courage to accept reality for what it is, especially if it doesn’t reflect your preferences, is not defeatism. It’s called intellectual honesty.

Contrary to what his critics allege, President Trump’s single-minded focus on ending the war in Ukraine is neither cowardly nor foolish. It is just the opposite: it is courageous and wise to refuse to double down on a failed strategy. Even more, it is morally and strategically sound; he is resetting the geopolitical chessboard. I even dare suggest that President Trump’s approach to resolving this conflict is the most moral and strategically sound foreign policy that the United States has pursued in at least the past twenty years.

Those who refuse to accept the incontrovertible evidence about the state of events in Ukraine find themselves in a miserable state of mind. They are frustrated, angry, and ashamed. Frustrated that the war has come to this point, angry that it is ending in this manner, and ashamed at the realization of just how self-serving, insincere, hypocritical, inadequate, and immoral Western support to Ukraine has always been.