GOP increasingly admits Trump has been played by Putin
President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker peace with Russian President Vladimir Putin are unraveling in a way many had predicted.
Since their face-to-face in Alaska last month, Putin has shown no interest in direct peace talks with Ukraine that Trump hoped to arrange. Instead, Russia has escalated hostilities: striking an American-owned company in Ukraine, continuing air raids on civilians, and most recently sending drones into Polish airspace — a move that has NATO worried about an expanded conflict.
“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones?” Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday. “Here we go!” he added, offering no further explanation.
The president himself has hinted at times that Putin may be “tapping me along,” but has failed to act decisively, repeatedly extending the “two-week” deadlines he had set for the Russian leader to make peace. Even as Trump avoids admitting that he is being strung along, Republican lawmakers have started making the point for him.
They’re cautious not to directly alienate him, but their words paint the portrait of a president being manipulated.
“President Trump wants to make sure that he is giving every opportunity for peace to get this war resolved. But Putin is playing him right now,” Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said Wednesday, adding: “And I think the president understands that.”
North Carolina’s Sen. Thom Tillis echoed her remarks.
“I think Russia is playing – they’re really playing us like a piano right now,” he said, though insisting Trump wasn’t “being naïve.”
Neither senator is running for reelection, which frees them to be more direct in their criticism. But it’s not only those on their way out raising concerns.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi remarked on the Senate floor earlier this week that Trump “has given Vladimir Putin every chance,” but that the Russian president has “mocked the peace process” and “played games with peace talks.”
Even within Trump’s own administration, doubts are surfacing. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently told Fox News that the Alaska meeting with Putin produced no results, saying: “President Putin, since the historic meeting in Anchorage … has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do.”
European leaders have been making similar points. In late August, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that if Putin failed to meet with Ukraine, “that once again President Putin played President Trump.” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has maintained a close relationship with Trump, cautioned that “we should not be naïve” when pushing for a peace deal, carefully avoiding a direct mention of the U.S. president.
This skepticism isn’t new. Back in April, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa bluntly stated: “President Trump pls put the toughest of sanctions on Putin. [You] ought to [see] from clear evidence that he is playing America as a patsy.”
And Ernst has been consistent on this front as well. In July, she said Putin was “playing the United States. And President Trump realizes that.” At the time, she added: “He’s always wanting to give the benefit of the doubt and give peace a chance. But Putin’s not cooperating.”
Her decision to repeat the same warning two months apart only highlights the issue. She insists Trump knows what’s happening — but if that were true back in July, why did he still move forward with the Alaska meeting and hail it as significant progress? Why continue extending deadlines for harsher measures? If Trump has recognized he’s being misled, he’s masking it well.
Trump has taken some punitive steps, like slapping tariffs on India over Russian oil imports and signaling readiness for a second round of sanctions against Moscow. But he has largely avoided the bipartisan sanctions legislation championed by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally.
Republicans who pushed for a softer approach in hopes of steering Trump toward a firmer stance on Russia are now sounding frustrated. For years, Trump’s gentleness with Putin has tested party hawks, and patience appears to be wearing thin. Lawmakers are increasingly warning that if he clings to hopes of a peace deal, he risks looking weak.
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska summed it up on Monday: “We’ve tried to be – hoping the president would get to the right spot on Russia and Ukraine, and he’s not,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju. Bacon, who is not seeking reelection, added: “The administration’s policy towards Russia is weak and vacillating, and Putin is taking advantage of it.”
Other Republicans may not phrase it so directly. But the message is unmistakable: they see a president being played.
