The best way to understand proxy wars is that the proxy is effectively engaged in a war on two fronts: against its direct adversary and its supposed patron.
Trump, whose crude honesty strips away diplomatic pretense, makes this amply clear.
Which is why the correct moral position on Ukraine was always, as I've argued since the very beginning, that Ukraine should have agreed to neutrality - which would have preserved both its sovereignty and future economic potential. Instead it let itself be enrolled in this foolish and cynical mirage of joining the West.
Those who thought they were pro-Ukraine by cheering these efforts were at best utterly naive, and at worst complicit. The predictable end outcome is that Ukraine is wrecked and fleeced by both sides, and might not even survive as a state.
This is the voice of raving insanity. America’s collective subconscious. Poor Ukraine.