The Donald Trump Show is pushing Ukraine out the headlines

With the passage of Labor Day, as summer 2025 has now vanished with little trace, so too has Ukraine disappeared from the headlines, other than occasional reports of new massive Russian strikes killing ever more Ukrainian civilians.  

Not long ago, the “disasta” in Alaska had captured global attention and headlines.  

Coverage had been ubiquitous of President Vladimir Putin’s luncheon choice of Chicken Kiev for his fellow passengers on his plane, of the broad smirk on his face as he took President Trump for a ride in the Beast and of the royal red carpet.

The following Monday was even a bigger draw as European leaders dutifully flocked to Washington in hopes of ending the three and a half years of bloodshed brought on by Russia’s unprecedented and unwarranted invasion of a peaceful neighbor.  

Negotiations with Russia seemed imminent as President Trump took time off from his meeting to confer with Putin. Peace was not quite at hand, as Neville Chamberlain might have thought. But to many, it was not far away.

Then what happened? Trump decided to invade not Ukraine, but Washington, D.C., to end crime's hold on the nation’s violence ridden capital. 

Texas Democrats returned home to allow the vote that would grant Texas possibly five more Republican seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats fumed and promised their own revenge-redistricting.

The head of the Centers for Disease Control was removed over a disagreement about vaccinations, which apparently, the Health and Human Service Secretary believes need further review.

And, of course, aside from the president trying to purge the so-called independent Federal Reserve of a Democratic appointee, the only news to overshadow Trump was the engagement of Taylor Swift to football star Travis Kelce.

That news was even bigger than Elizabeth Taylor’s brief engagement to West Point football star “Mr. Outside,” Glen Davis in 1948.

But what about Ukraine? It was gone with the wind. The highly touted security guarantees to be given to Ukraine to protect its sovereignty and integrity with NATO-like Article 5 promises against further Russian aggression seem to have vanished without a trace.  

Putin’s assurances of trilateral or other meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, given to President Trump, were then dashed to smithereens by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who called Zelensky “illegitimate” — not representing the Ukrainian people, who really wish to be part of Russia.

Russia continues the bombing and, this past week, managed to hit a British consulate building in Kyiv. Where is the reporting on that?

With Congress soon back, Jeffrey Epstein will recapture the headlines with demands for the supposed client list that may or may not exist. Ironically, if there is no list (and that seems likely), Trump will be pilloried by his MAGA chums for not coming clean unless he invents a list of his own.

Meanwhile, Putin continues his offensive against Ukraine. And what do we do? Will Europe make good its promise to provide the weapons and support it intends to buy from the U.S. and give to Ukraine? 

Given the drawdown in U.S. ammunition stocks, will the U.S. allow those inventories to decrease further as China continues to build up its military muscles? And will NATO make good on its promise to devote 5 percent of GDP to defense as tariffs take hold and economies begin to suffer?

In the meantime, Team Trump expects to land next in Chicago on its anti-crime crusade. Can New York be far behind? And then what democratically run city may be next? 

All this will make for great soundbites, cable TV and headlines. But who is thinking about Ukraine?

No matter how one feels about Trump, he has been the most influential president certainly in our lifetimes and maybe ever. As some will recall, he got his start on celebrity TV of which he was a great star. And when one steps back and carefully recalls “the Apprentice” and the “Celebrity Apprentice,” they only ran one night a week. What we are seeing — since he hardly sleeps — is "The Donald Trump Show" 24/7, or nearly that.

No wonder Ukraine is disappearing without trace.

Harlan Ullman, Ph.D., is UPI’s Arnaud deBorchgrave Distinguished Columnist, a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council, the chairman of two private companies and the principal author of the doctrine of shock and awe. He and former United Kingdom Defense Chief David Richards are the authors of a forthcoming book on preventing strategic catastrophe.