NYT Columnist Slams Trump’s Russia Ties and Mafia-Style Politics

News
Bente Birkeland
February 27, 2025
10 minutes read

Mikhail Klimentyev | TASS | Getty Images

In a scathing analysis of President Donald Trump’s pro-Russia stance, New York Times opinion columnist Thomas L. Friedman questioned whether the president is acting as a pawn for Vladimir Putin—or as a Mafia-style “godfather” dividing up territory for profit.

Friedman opened his piece by calling the situation “one of the most disturbing questions I’ve ever had to ask about my own country.” He posed two troubling possibilities: “Are we being led by a dupe for Vladimir Putin — by someone ready to swallow whole the Russian president’s warped view of who started the war in Ukraine and how it must end?”

Or, “Are we being led by a Mafia godfather, looking to carve up territory with Russia the way the heads of crime families operate?” He likened it to a backroom deal: “I’ll take Greenland, and you can take Crimea.” Regardless of which scenario is true, Friedman warned that “the America you knew is over.”

“The bedrock values, allies, and truths America could always be counted upon to defend are now all in doubt — or for sale,” he wrote. “Trump is not just thinking out of the box. He is thinking without a box, without any fidelity to truth or norms that animated America in the past.”

Trump’s rhetoric in recent weeks has brought his position into sharper focus. He has blamed Ukraine for starting the war, suggested Kyiv should repay the U.S. with rare minerals, and even called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.”

Vladimir Putin — Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

“Trump does not see American power as the cavalry coming to rescue the weak seeking freedom from those out to quash them; he sees America as coming to shake down the weak. He’s running a protection racket,” Friedman wrote, reinforcing his Mafia comparison.

The columnist argued that a serious U.S. president would recognize Putin’s vulnerabilities and exploit them to strengthen American and European security, rather than undermining Ukraine. “Instead of rallying all our European allies, doubling down on the military pressure on Putin and making the Russian leader ‘an offer he can’t refuse,’ Trump did just the opposite,” Friedman asserted.

He concluded with a blistering critique of Trump’s approach: “The whole thing is just shameful. Trump, in effect, is looking to make a profit off Ukrainians as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine while making no demand on Putin for reparations or promising any future U.S. protection for Kyiv.”

With Trump’s rhetoric continuing to align with Russia’s interests, Friedman’s stark warning suggests that the next chapter of U.S. foreign policy could look very different from its past.