I know what it means to live in a divided world. I know the consequences when a leader thrives not by building, but by tearing apart. I have watched a war unfold where an aggressor sought to crush a nation and, instead, made it stronger. I have seen a people who once disagreed on so much come together. Not because they wanted war, but because they refused to be erased.
And now, as I watch what is happening in the United States, in Canada, in Europe, I see a different kind of war taking place.
Not a war of bombs and bullets, but a war of hatred.
And I see one man at the center of it all: Donald Trump.
Some still think Trump is reckless, that he says outrageous things simply because he cannot help himself, or because “he’s too straightforward”. That when he suggests annexing Canada as the 51st state, he is just “playing to the crowd.” That when he calls European allies freeloaders, he is just “being impulsive.” That when he pushes Mexico, mocks NATO, and threatens everything that binds the West together, he is simply “ignorant of diplomacy.”
But this is not ignorance. This is not impulse.
This is strategy.
And it is the same kind of strategy that Putin used against Ukraine, but only inverted.
Putin thought he could break Ukraine by force. Instead, he created a Ukraine more united than ever. Before 2014, before Crimea, before the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian identity was still forming. Russian aggression erased all doubts. It turned cultural differences into shared determination. It turned regional disputes into a national cause.
It turned an independent country into an unbreakable force.
And now Trump is using the opposite strategy to achieve the same outcome, but for his own benefit.
Trump does not care about governing. He does not care about national strength. He does not even care about winning in the way that most politicians do. What he cares about is control through division.
Because a fractured society is easier to manipulate.
He knows exactly what he is doing when he proposes absurdities like taking over Greenland. He knows it will never happen. He knows it makes no sense. But he also knows that his base of supporters will not abandon him because of it.
He understands something fundamental about hate and polarization:
His supporters will never leave him because of what he says. But his opponents will hate him more with every word.
And that is his real game.
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For Trump, every outrage, every scandal, every provocation is a win. Not because it strengthens him politically, but because it deepens the cracks in society. It makes Americans hate each other more. It makes Europeans look at each other with suspicion.
It turns allies into rivals, neighbors into enemies.
And when a society reaches the point where everyone is too angry to listen, too bitter to find common ground, too exhausted to seek unity, what happens?
No one knows. But it is never something good.
I am writing this as someone who has every reason to hate. I live in a country that has been bombed, invaded, and brutalized by an empire built on lies. And yet, I have seen how hatred alone cannot be our guiding force.
It is what our enemies want.
Trump is not powerful because he is wise or competent or even particularly skilled. He is powerful because he has mastered the ability to make people hate him just enough to keep him relevant.
And that is what must stop.
Hating him plays into his hands. It makes him the center of attention, which is the only thing he truly values. It makes him the focal point of every conversation, every election, every crisis.
If we truly want to defeat Trumpism, if we really want to stop this cycle of division, then we must take away his greatest weapon: our hate.
We must reject his game. We must refuse to let his words dictate our emotions. We must stand not just against him, but against the trap he has set for the entire world.
Because as long as we hate him, he wins.
As Ukrainians, we understand solidarity in a way many never will. We know what it means to stand together in the face of destruction. We know that strength is found not in division, but in unity.
And we know that if we want to fight a tyrant, we must refuse to play by his rules.
To our friends in America, in Canada, in Europe: Do not let Trump dictate your hatred. Do not let him pull you into his cycle of manipulation and division.
Speak against him. Vote against him. Resist him.
But do not let him own your emotions.
Because in a world where hate dictates history, only the worst men rise to power.
And that is something none of us can afford.
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