„Mrs Harris has almost no theoretical chance of catching up with Mr Trump,“ the political analyst told Lrytas. – Bloomberg is already reporting that Trump has won in Pennsylvania, which would bury the Democrats' chances for good. There is a red wave of Republicans sweeping across the country – and that ends the intrigue quite early.“
When asked what changes to expect in US foreign policy after Trump's victory, Kojala underlined Trump's unpredictability and argued that the team assembled around the new President will determine Washington's policy.
„Predicting Trump is difficult enough. In his first term, Trump's most controversial positions were calibrated by a team of advisers and other officials who increased the number of US troops in Lithuania and Poland and sent lethal weapons to Ukraine. Therefore, the political analyst noted that much will be determined by who rallies around him this time“.
However, Kojala notes that Trump's victory could create security challenges for Ukraine, our security, and Europe.
„There are likely to be significant changes, and not all of them would necessarily be in favour of our region“, the expert assessed.
„For example, vice-presidential candidate Vance is a harsh critic of Ukraine,“ he continued, „and sitting next to Trump during his meeting with (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy was Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany, who is also known to be a sceptic of Ukraine and NATO.
So, Trump's second term will not necessarily be the same as his first. On the other hand, he promises to increase US defence spending and to export even more energy commodities to world markets, which would not be suitable for aggressors like Russia.“
