President Trump: There Was a Time When World War III Was 'Not That Far Away'

US President Donald Trump believes his election victory was crucial to preventing World War III. He asserted that if former Vice President Kamala Harris had been elected last November, a global conflict would have broken out within a year.

On February 19 (US time), Mr. Trump reiterated his desire to be remembered as a “peacemaker and unifier” when he appeared in Miami Beach, at an event of the Future Investment Initiative (a non-profit organization run by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund). He said that resolving conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine were key goals of his foreign policy.

“Nobody profits from World War III, and you’re not far from it,” President Trump told the audience. “If we had this administration for another year, you’d be in World War III, and now you’re not.”

In his farewell speech at the State Department last month, then-President Joe Biden said his administration’s biggest goals were to “rally the world and protect Ukraine” and “avoid war between two nuclear powers.”

Mr. Trump has criticized Biden and his team, including Ms. Harris, for what he sees as gross incompetence. He has often argued that under his leadership, tensions over Ukraine would not have escalated into armed conflict.

Earlier this week, senior officials from Russia and the United States met in Saudi Arabia to discuss improving relations that have been strained under Mr. Biden. Mr. Trump praised Riyadh’s role in facilitating the talks, calling them very successful and reinforcing his administration’s efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The diplomatic engagement has led to tensions between Mr Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who has insisted that talks on the conflict should not take place without Kiev's participation.

Trump criticized Zelensky in his speech, calling the leader in Kiev “an unelected dictator” and saying that Zelensky was draining US resources instead of seeking a diplomatic solution with Russia. Trump said Zelensky “wants to keep getting the easy way,” and warned that he “better act fast or there will be no country left.”

Earlier, Mr. Zelensky accused Mr. Trump of repeating “Russian disinformation” about his low approval ratings in Ukraine, citing a survey from a Kiev pollster that showed the public favored him in power. In response, Mr. Trump insisted that he was relying on “real Ukrainian polls.”