The fact that all these European leaders dropped everything to come to D.C. with Zelensky “says a lot,” she said, before giving a more detailed assessment of the two leaders’ strategic approaches, describing Trump as someone who “really believes that he can get Putin to the desired outcome by simply treating him right, by giving him the red carpet, by giving him the military welcome, the smiles, the round of applause, all of that –” Later in their conversation, Phillip said she was “confused” by how “Trump has a whole military and a national security apparatus and an intelligence apparatus who he can ask about what is happening on the ground,” but instead of asking his own experts he will take Putin’s word for it and why he would regurgitate Putin’s view of the war to Zelenskyy.” Phillip replied that she thought Trump was “super impressed” by Putin and views him as having “arranged Russian society in a way that he admires,” and “really just thinks Putin is doing it better than anybody else” and is “not concerned about the moral quandary of Putin killing dissidents and perhaps doing war crimes and all of that stuff.
Author: Sarah Rumpf
Published at: 2025-08-19 22:53:50
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