The Atlantic's Tom Nichols comments on yesterday's phone call between the Malignant Fascist and his supervisor in the Kremlin. It's no surprise that the call fell flat because the Russian war criminal doesn't want peace, he wants Ukraine, and he's happy to play for time with his worshipful counterpart:
"Today’s phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump was a painful reminder that Trump is the junior partner in the Russian-American relationship and that Putin will continue his mass-murder campaign in Ukraine for as long as he can get away with it. Nothing else of substance emerged from the call. When it comes to Europe’s largest armed conflict since World War II, Putin’s still in charge.
Putin, exuding confidence, got out ahead of Trump just minutes after the call and talked in person to the media, which allowed him the first move in framing the discussion. (Today’s Russian autocrats understand public relations far better than their dour Soviet predecessors.) Putin’s quick personal readout of the call was a perfect nothingburger... [snip]
Trump, of course, doesn’t see things that way. After Putin’s statements were out, the president released his own version of the call on his Truth Social platform (which, one must assume, is more authoritative than anything from the White House press office). “Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote, “will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.” After rhapsodizing about all the money everyone could make if the two sides could end the war, Trump repeated: “Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately.”
The problem, of course, is that nothing Putin said today could be remotely construed as “immediately” starting anything. This is probably why Putin got out in public first; he has long experience managing Trump, and he knows that the American president loves to announce deals even when no deal exists." (our emphasis)
It certainly wouldn't surprise us if half of the conversation was about the MF's desired personal business ventures in Russia, much like the ones he touted with the Arab potentates last week. As with Ukraine, his first instinct is to explore business opportunities rather than a just peace, as his comments showed. Our clear-eyed allies are pursuing new sanctions against Russia as a result of the "nothingburger" call, realizing that Putin played the MF yet another time.
(photo: "Vlad, can we talk about a Trump Tower Moscow?" / Getty Images)
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