What is Donald Trump's position on the seizure of Russian assets?

Donald Trump almost single-handedly blocked additional US aid to Ukraine, allowing Russia to regain momentum in its offensive. (It's almost as if refusing arms to kyiv doesn't bring peace!)

One workaround that is gaining increasing traction in Washington is a plan to seize Russian assets in the United States and Europe and use them to finance Ukrainian defense. There are technical arguments about the merits of this plan, but the real question is what Trump will say about it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has floated the idea of ​​seizing Russian assets to circumvent the need for a congressional appropriation. Some critics warn that the move would undermine the dollar as the world's main reserve currency. Why would global oligarchs park their gains in the United States and Europe if they would be vulnerable to seizure if their regime started a war or committed other atrocities of unusual scale?

The Brookings Institution says a well-designed policy can assure foreign central banks that their reserves will not be arbitrarily seized. Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies at the center-right American Enterprise Institute, makes a similar argument.

On the other hand, Chris Caldwell says such a decision would backfire on the financial system.

You will notice that the disagreement on this issue is framed in the same way as the opinion on Russia and Vladimir Putin. Caldwell hailed Putin as a symbol of national self-determination, a hero to populist conservatives everywhere and anathema to progressives, and in my head I still hear that phrase in the voices of Cameron Diaz and Matt Dillon in There's Something About Mary. , speaking simultaneously of Harold and Maude, the preeminent statesman of our time. So the fact that Caldwell developed strong beliefs about the technical benefits of seizing the assets of Putin's oligarchic network is perhaps not entirely surprising.

But what about Trump? Since evidence emerged in 2016 that Trump held unusually friendly views toward Vladimir Putin and unusually hostile beliefs toward the array of alliances that Putin is trying to weaken, Americans have debated of the nature and why of his beliefs.

Trump's defenders insist he is not a Russophile. He's just a stubborn America First populist, skeptical of wasting American blood and treasure on a romantic moral cause. He is only interested in money and his personal interests, not a Russian dupe.

My argument, of course, is that Trump is a dupe of Russia. It disseminates Russian propaganda on a wide range of topics, some of which have no connection to American interests. Why does Trump claim that NATO membership requires the United States to support a war against Russia launched by Montenegro? Or that the Soviets were forced to invade Afghanistan in 1979 to defend against terrorism?

Trump has not taken a position on the seizure of Russian assets, but the response offers a useful test of the two competing theories. If Trump only cares about American interests and opposes sending our money abroad, why wouldn't he want to seize Russian assets? Of course, there are plausible objections to the long-term economic consequences, but Trump is not, generally speaking, a believer in long-term consequences.

The most Trumpian position would be to propose seizing Russian assets and keeping a portion for ourselves.

I don't think Trump would say that. I think he would avoid the question and avoid speaking out in favor of something that would offend his Russian allies.

But it would be interesting if a journalist tried to get him on the record.

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