WARMONGERS: Democrat and Their Media Lapdogs Rabid Over Russia Peace Talks

The meeting was preliminary and productive, but it is soon to assess how formative it will be for an end to the war that Trump is pushing for. Roger Kimball: Trump said that he would rank their discussion as very good—”10 out of 10,” he said. He and Putin came to an agreement about a lot of issues. Some issues remained. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump acknowledged when the summit concluded. “I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I’ll, of course, call up President Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting. It’s ultimately up to them.” For his part, Putin said he could “confirm” the contention that, had Trump been president in 2022, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine. What should we make of that? Within hours of the summit, it was being reported that President Zelensky would be coming back to meet with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday. Memo to Zelensky: “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not.” Perhaps the biggest policy desideratum to issue from the Trump-Putin summit was a change from “ceasefire” to “peace.” “It was determined by all,” Trump posted on Truth Social, “that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which often times do not hold up” (American Greatness).

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was more bullish than much of what was covered in our elite outlets: Politico: Special envoy Steve Witkoff says the White House extracted critical wins from its Friday summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, even as President Donald Trump failed to walk away with the ceasefire he was loudly advocated for. Security guarantees offering Ukraine “Article 5-like protections” are the real prize, Witkoff told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. They’re “game-changing,” he said. “We didn’t think that we were anywhere close to agreeing to Article Five protection from the United States in legislative enshrinement within the Russian Federation, not to go after any other territory when the peace deal is codified,” Witkoff said on CNN’s “State of the Union” (Politico).

An immediate indicator of a least a measure of success for the recent engagement with the principals in Russia’s war against Ukraine is the fact the key players are both coming to the table. Ukrainian President Zelensky will visit the White House today, joined by other European leaders invited by the White House: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Axios).

Zelensky, for his part, is—very justifiably in light of his country’s experience with Putin—concerned about security guarantees. Wall Street Journal: “It’s very important that you are with us and that we speak to America together,” Zelensky said in Brussels, standing alongside von der Leyen. “It’s crucial that Europe is as united now as it was at the very beginning—as it was in 2022,” when Russia staged its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky said. “This unity really helps encourage real peace, and it must stay strong.” Zelensky also thanked Trump for saying in recent conversations with European leaders that he was open to providing security guarantees to Ukraine. “For everyone in Europe this is a significant change, but there are no details how it would work and what America’s role will be, what Europe’s role will be, what the EU can do,” Zelensky said. “This is our main task: We need security to work in practice.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that a major focus of the Monday talks will be security guarantees, including the role the U.S. might potentially play (Wall Street Journal).

Key talents on the Sunday morning shows were pushing the line that the European leaders were showing up today at the White House so that Zelensky wouldn’t get “bullied.” Rubio pushed back: “This is such a stupid media narrative.” Daily Mail: Secretary of State Marco Rubio took on the mainstream media Sunday during a slew of appearances following President Trump’s bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rubio sparred with CBS host Margaret Brennan as she pushed him to divulge details about Trump’s meeting with Putin, which took place in Alaska on Friday, as well as the forthcoming White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy. This is such a stupid media narrative that [European leaders] are coming here tomorrow because Trump is going to bully Zelensky into a bad deal. We’ve been working with these people for weeks… We invited them to come,’ Rubio told Brennan. ‘To have a deal … to reach the end of this conflict, both sides are going to have to make concessions,’ Rubio said of the agreement America is working to broker between Russia and Ukraine (Daily Mail).

Rubio, who made appearances across the Sunday political show lineup, told ABC’s Martha Raddatz a ceasefire was not the aim, arguing, “You’re not going to reach a ceasefire or peace agreement in a meeting” without Ukraine present. If an agreement isn’t reached, Rubio said, there will be consequences — but he emphasized the administration is trying to avoid such measures. Late last month, Trump threatened to shorten Putin’s deadline to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face heavy sanctions, which he said would include “secondary sanctions and tariffs.” Rubio on Sunday argued that if the U.S. levies additional sanctions, the “talking stops.” “If this morning the president woke up and said, ‘I’m putting these terrible … strong sanctions on Russia,’ that’s fine — [it] may make people feel good for a couple hours,” he said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But here’s what you’re basically saying … talks are over for the foreseeable future” (Axios).

Trump responded and was was focused—most immediately—on Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy who said “Putin got everything he wanted” (Murphy).

The very unattractive (both inside and out!) Senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, said “Putin got everything that he wanted.” Actually, “nobody got anything,” too soon, but getting close. Murphy is a lightweight who thinks it made the Russian President look good in coming to America. Actually, it was very hard for President Putin to do so. This war can be ended, NOW, but stupid people like Chris Murphy, John Bolton, and others, make it much harder to do so (Truth).