People around Trump are starting to suggest that the “secret plan” to end the Ukraine war will include an ultimatum to Putin: accept my terms or watch me send even more arms to the Ukrainians. Is that plausible?
It is conceptually possible that Trump might threaten both sides, but it won’t work, because Putin wouldn’t regard an ultimatum from him as being credible. He knows that Trump genuinely hates Ukraine, and it is doubtful, as a practical matter, that the pace of arms transfers could be accelerated very much. Threats to unleash NATO or use nukes would be even less credible. In the end, Trump will give him what he wants. He may just have to wait a bit.