President Donald Trump has just posted on social media, Truth Social about what he intends to do with this ongoing war in Ukraine. And while he ran on ending the war on day one, of course, which couldn't have happened, didn't happen. It seems like he's kind of given up on ending the war, and instead has [00:00:18] kind of doubled down on the very policies that Republican voters hated with the Biden administration. So let's get into the details. Here's what he posted. After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine-russia military [00:00:33] and economic situation, and after seeing the economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form, which is delusional. [00:00:52] It's delusional. Now, look, let me just I'm going to be fair because one of the things that Trump has done that I actually think is, is is good and it's very subtle. Is that he has shifted some of the responsibility of supporting [00:01:08] Ukraine in its fight against Russia to European countries. I like that. I just do. Because European countries are definitely worried about Russia expanding and invading them. So, okay, like we can't fund every war and like, [00:01:23] protect every like that's ridiculous. So I like the fact that he's pushing some of the responsibility onto, you know, European countries while the US, you know, is still involved. Clearly. But let me give you more of what he had to say. With time, patience and the financial support of Europe and in particular NATO, [00:01:41] the original borders from where this war started is very much an option. Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years, a war that should have taken a real military power less than a week to win. What are you talking about? [00:01:57] We've been we've given hundreds of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine in order to fight off Russia, and they haven't been able to. Russia's war isn't aimless. They've been taking more and more territory. Like, what? Are we living in the same planet? This is not distinguishing Russia. [00:02:16] In fact, it is very much making them look like a paper tiger. Is there something I'm missing here was. No, I think he's the problem for Trump is that Vladimir Putin might be have some ideas about greater Russia [00:02:35] and returning to imperialist Russia and all of that stuff. However, he knows what he's doing when it comes to fighting. And the tack that Trump was taking originally, where it's like, Screw Ukraine, we never wanted to be in this war anyway. [00:02:56] You're getting smoked on the battlefield. We should stop helping you. Putin very conveniently when he went to the negotiation table was like you said it yourself, these people are dead in the water. Why would I stop and cede anything at the negotiation table [00:03:14] to to Ukraine when we're winning? Yeah, we have the manpower. Our economy is doing fine. You little sanctions regime didn't work. Like, remember when Trump told Zelensky when he came up to the white House? [00:03:29] You don't hold the cards. Yeah, bro. - He was right. - Hold the cards. And so for Trump, he's kind of realized, like going to the bargaining table that he's just going to like because Vladimir Putin likes him. He's going to come to the table and be like, oh, let me be fair to Ukraine. [00:03:45] No, bro. So he has to reverse course and be like, actually, we're going to back Ukraine to the hilt. We're going to make your life miserable on the battlefield. And that and like it, it sucks. But that makes more sense in terms of getting them back to the negotiation table [00:04:02] because the other way was just like, why the like, why would I capitulate? Your big brother, the US is tired of you. Their president hates you, doesn't want to help you. His base doesn't want to help you. We're kicking your ass right now. Why would we stop? [00:04:18] Why would we stop and help you when we completely have the upper hand? I mean, look, I do think you're making a good point. And if you don't have, I mean, rhetorically, if you don't have the backing of the United States president, that, you know, puts Ukraine [00:04:33] in a pretty terrible situation. But Trump was right in that Ukraine didn't have the cards like they don't have the leverage. And Russia has been winning this war. There was a brief period of time, you know, toward the beginning of the war in 2022, when Russia was backed into a corner, and I think there [00:04:50] was an opportunity for a peace deal. But, you know, Ukraine was discouraged from engaging in that peace deal, and now it's too late. I mean, Russia doesn't need Trump to tell them That they're failing or they're aimless or they're winning. To know what's actually happening, happening on the battlefield. [00:05:07] Right. And. I just like, can I ask you something? Like, I am curious about this. Why did Russia become an enemy to the United States? And I'm talking about before Ukraine. [00:05:23] I think the the sort of blob the people who cut their teeth in the Cold War. Again, we're living in a gerontocracy. These people remember hiding under their desk during the little, you know, [00:05:39] bomb drills when they were in school. They vividly remember the peak of the Cold War in the 60s, in the 70s, and even at certain points within the 80s. Like this stuff is within fresh memory of the people who run our government. [00:05:55] And the truth of the matter is, after, you know, the Soviet Union fell, these guys wanted to become Europeanized. They wanted to join NATO, they wanted to be down with us. But we were like, screw that. Why would we want somebody who could [00:06:14] challenge our basically our autonomy in NATO by inviting the Russians in? And so they said, screw it. And basically, like the Clintons and Brzezinski and all those people, they sent all of their folks in to neo liberalize the hell out of the Russian economy, [00:06:33] made it so that we invented the freaking oligarchs that came afterwards. It was like, bro, this was all of our doing. And they tried. That's why Putin is like, screw these guys. We tried to do it the nice way we wanted to be down with Europe. [00:06:49] We wanted to be seen as equals with all of them and the United States and Europe. They rebuffed us. And basically it's just because these freaking red baiters were like, why the hell would we make peace with the Reds? It's like Joe Biden, even in his senility, like they were counting as successes. [00:07:08] Russian troops just dead. So long as Russian troops, they had casualties. What we were doing in Ukraine was justified. No, but you're okay. Hold that thought, because you're right about that. There's something kind of sick about it. Look, I get that Russia invaded a sovereign country. [00:07:26] Yes. But again, there was a brief period of time where I'm not saying it was guaranteed. If this was the direction that the West allowed Ukraine and Russia to go in. But there was a brief period of time in 2022 where there was a possibility to get both parties to sign on to a cease fire deal. [00:07:43] Boris Johnson visits Zelensky and Zelensky or discourages Zelensky from doing so. Why why why why are we so obsessed with weakening Russia? And when I think about, like the broader geopolitical implications of that, I can't help but think about Russia's allies And I can't help but think about [00:08:05] how we might want to carry out a regime change in some of those allied countries. Namely, one of them at the behest of Israel. So if we were to engage in a regime change war with Iran, something that Israel has been egging on for literally decades. [00:08:22] Well, a weakened Russia kind of makes the path to that. I'm not saying it would be easy. A war with Iran would be catastrophic. But at least you wouldn't have to worry about Russia getting involved with its military. Might as much. I get that that sounds, I guess, somewhat conspiratorial, but it's literally true. [00:08:40] I mean, when we were bombing the nuclear sites in Iran, there were all these reports drafted about, Is Russia going to get involved? Is China going to get involved? And China is another one. I mean, people have been beating the war drums about China for, I mean, since the Obama administration and the pivot to Asia. [00:08:59] So, look, I just think that there are other motivations that don't really get talked about. And, I don't know, I'm kind of seeing it a little more clearly. So let's go to the last graphic here. Putin and Russia, he writes, are in big economic trouble. [00:09:14] I don't think that's true. Yeah. The sanctions haven't worked. In fact, our sanctions have encouraged the BRICs nations, which of course, Russia is part of, to basically build a global financial system that bypasses the West entirely. [00:09:30] So something to keep in mind, but let me read the rest of that. Sorry. In any event, I wish both countries well. We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all. So, for all the Trump voters who are hoping that the US would exit [00:09:48] from this conflict in Ukraine, that is not going to happen. And we'll see how this plays out. But I think, I think you make a legitimate point about Trump changing his tone in an effort to get Russia to the negotiating table, and I hope that works. [00:10:06] I don't know if that's what the real intention is here. I hope it is. But make no mistake about it. I mean, what Trump is claiming about their economy and how they're in big trouble and losing the war. Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. Well, what I would say is, just like the previous approach [00:10:22] clearly failed miserably. Oh, I'm going to get a deal within a month of being in office like that. Clearly failed miserably, but like to get back to what you were saying about Iran. I had, Daniel Bester on, on our last, [00:10:37] show, and we talked about the sort of why our posture is the way it is in the Middle East. And he's like, dude, again, it's the same. It's all connected. It's it's the same idea that like, these people in, you know, [00:10:54] the foreign policy circles, they're so old and still butthurt about the Iranian revolution that they kicked our boy out of there of their own volition. Yeah, like they just did it on their own without our permission. [00:11:10] There's still butthurt about Iranian self-determination, and so they still feel like Iran hasn't paid a price for having the temerity to to choose their own government as a people. And, you know, again, there's still like, you know, [00:11:28] some of the stuff with Israel is like, oh, that's our beachhead in the Middle East for some war that we would eventually, you know, start against Iran. We would start it from Israel and our bases and all of that. And it's like, bro. Iran poses absolutely, positively no military threat [00:11:49] to the United States of America. Let me say this again. They pose no military threat to us. In fact, they know it would be not in their interest to attack American soil like that would be a disaster for them. [00:12:05] That's the one. Two, we don't have any interest in the Middle East. We don't need Middle Eastern oil. We produce a ton of energy here in America. It's just literally, they've been talking about this pivot to Asia for a decade now, [00:12:24] because that's where all the action is. That's where half of global GDP is coming from. It's coming from East Asia as well as India. That's where we need to be. That's where we need to be focusing our energies, thinking about what we're going to do with when when China finally decides that they [00:12:43] take in Taiwan back this idea that we're even screwing around in the Middle East, it's just some geriatric ass ideas of what American foreign policy focus should be. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. [00:13:00] Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.