Former U.S. Ambassador Kurt Volker and U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations raised eyebrows with bold revelations about how Donald Trump is capitalizing on the feeling of disenfranchisement among Americans. The diplomat shared Uncle Sam’s View on the New World Order, discussing the unpredictability of former U.S. President Donald Trump at ABP Network’s Ideas of India Summit 2025 in Mumbai on Friday.
“For Donald Trump, unpredictability is a deliberate tactic to create uncertainty, and he likes to shock people by making provocative statements to elicit reactions. Another guiding principle for Trump is that the U.S. has been doing too much for the world and is being taken advantage of. In his view, the U.S. is paying while others are benefiting—particularly in the case of NATO, where the U.S. covers 70% of defense costs,” the veteran diplomat revealed.
A leading expert in U.S. foreign and national security policy, Volker—who has nearly four decades of professional experience, including roles as an intelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service—asserted that Donald Trump completed the most radical shift in U.S. foreign policy in decades, bringing Putin back into the fold while sidelining Europe.
“For Trump, ending the war requires stopping Russia, which no one was doing. He also wants Ukraine to repay the United States for the assistance it has provided,” Volker stated.
According to the diplomat, while Trump personally likes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that does not deter his transactional approach.
“China is a rising power that comes across as a direct adversary to the United States, whereas India is a rising power seen as a friendly state with shared values,” the former envoy commented on the evolving geopolitics in Asia.
An American diplomat who served as the last U.S. Ambassador to NATO under the George W. Bush administration, Volker was the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine until his resignation in September 2019 during Trump’s first term.
“In 2025, after multiple wars have broken out and there’s a perception that American influence has weakened, Trump enters his second term prioritizing America First, aiming to rebuild the country’s strength. This has translated into a highly assertive foreign policy. He is also leading a cultural counter-revolution, pushing back against what he sees as the excesses of wokeism. Additionally, he is acting against what he perceives as a biased deep state by cutting budgets and reducing the size of federal institutions,” Volker said, adding that Trump has capitalized on the growing feeling of disenfranchisement to restore a sense of order for those feeling dislocated.
