For years, Democrats have called President Donald Trump Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s puppet. As we all know, this was central to their effort to take Trump out before the 2016 election.
That narrative just took a major hit, as Trump went after Putin for not taking peace efforts with Ukraine seriously.
While Dems ignored the comments, Putin has not, offering a bit of an olive branch to Trump ahead of Friday's big summit meeting in Alaska.
Dems have been selling the same false story since the 2016 election cycle.
The Russian collusion narrative was invented to take Trump out of the race, but Dems have kept it up to undermine him for years.
For example, former President Joe Biden called Trump Putin's “lackey.”
Biden stated, "You want to know why Ukraine is important? Because as you can see, Putin and his useful lackeys have their eyes on bigger prizes.”
Trump is looking to get the Ukraine-Russia war over with to deliver on another campaign promise.
The president has questioned whether Putin is serious about peace or not, and he is now openly calling the Russian leader out. This is a big change for Trump, who has gone out of his way not to hit Putin, likely due to the fact he knows he needs his Russian counterpart to agree to terms to end the conflict before the 2026 midterm elections, as Trump cannot allow Dems to the issue to attack him.
Trump stated, “I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences."
This was in regard to a question about what Trump would do if a peace agreement remains elusive.
Heading into Friday’s big meeting, Putin was gushing over the administration’s efforts to bring this war to a conclusion, citing the Trump administration’s “energetic” and “sincere” efforts.
Putin appeared optimistic, adding that he hopes this will “create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, as well as in Europe, and in the world as a whole.”
He added, “The current American administration… is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict.”
I am fairly confident this will only give Trump’s critics more ammunition to use against him, but this is a very smart move by Putin to warm up to Trump before the meeting. Believe me, this war has gotten old for Russia as well, but Putin is now so invested that he cannot come away empty-handed. The question now is whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky can live with whatever solution Trump proposes.
