Americans who love peace and strength should cheer the development out of Geneva: NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte — who took office in October 2024 — told Fox & Friends that a Trump-backed peace effort is an “important step” toward ending the Ukraine war. Rutte’s public nod matters because he now speaks for the Alliance and his backing gives real diplomatic weight to a White House initiative that puts peace on the table instead of endless funding without end.
Reports out of the recent talks say U.S. and Ukrainian teams made tangible progress narrowing a multi-point framework, something Secretary of State Marco Rubio called “very worthwhile” and a meaningful day after months of stalemate. This isn’t the usual Beltway kabuki where Washington talks tough and does nothing — it’s a direct push to convert diplomacy into a real ceasefire and a path forward for exhausted Ukrainians.
Let’s be blunt: President Trump’s approach is working where the old playbook failed. The administration is pressing allies to carry more of the burden while using negotiations to lock in security guarantees, and NATO’s own leadership is publicly acknowledging that a plan deserves consideration. That’s exactly the kind of pragmatic, American-led diplomacy patriots voted for — tough, results-oriented, and unwilling to bankroll endless conflict without measurable outcomes.
Of course the left and the bureaucratic choir will cry betrayal because any serious deal will force painful choices — including handling territorial realities and the use of frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine. Those are the bargaining chips that actually make peace possible; waving the magic wand of moral purity while refusing to bargain guarantees more bloodshed and more money wasted. America’s job is to secure an outcome that protects Western interests and spares more lives, not to posture for cable news applause.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rightly insisted the aggressor must “pay fully,” and Kyiv’s red lines matter — but leaders also owe their people an end to the war that restores safety and economic stability. If a negotiated settlement can preserve Ukrainian sovereignty as much as possible while extracting compensation and security guarantees from Moscow, hard choices may be the responsible path forward. Freedom-minded Americans should expect our leaders to insist on accountability, not fantasy.
Meanwhile, alarmist European elites are predictably nervous about a deal they don’t control, but NATO’s new secretary-general has urged unity and stressed that the Alliance must remain strong and pragmatic. That’s a welcome departure from open-ended donorism: Europe needs to step up its defense spending and responsibilities while America ensures a durable settlement that protects transatlantic security. We should applaud any effort that strengthens NATO and forces freeloading allies to pay and plan like the world depends on it.
Patriots know that peace backed by strength is superior to perpetual war funded by our taxpayers and cheered by the coastal elites. President Trump is delivering the kind of direct diplomacy that prioritizes American interests, demands allied burden-sharing, and refuses to let the next generation inherit endless conflict. If this path leads to a durable ceasefire that safeguards Europe and restores common sense to foreign policy, conservatives should back it hard — but never at the cost of abandoning Ukraine to aggression or surrendering our strategic values.
