Donald Trump went to Alaska promising the world a breakthrough with Vladimir Putin. He left with nothing. And worse, his aides looked shaken by what they had just witnessed.
MSNBC host Antonia Hylton said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and others appeared “ashen, almost frightened” after Trump’s private meeting with Putin. These are not people who scare easily. They are used to cleaning up his messes. But this time, they looked like something had gone very wrong behind closed doors.
On The Weekend: Primetime, Hylton asked former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul what that meant. He replied, “That suggests to me that this was a bigger disaster than they’re letting on.”
McFaul explained what happens typically after big meetings. “When I worked at the White House and we would have meetings like this, I was the SAO—the senior administration official—that would call up journalists, that would call The New York Times to say, ‘This is what was discussed,’ to push it this way. They’re not even attempting to do that because they know they don’t have anything to work with.”
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That silence speaks louder than any press release. Trump’s people had no story to tell because there was nothing positive to spin.
The summit had been hyped as a turning point. Trump rolled out the red carpet. He promised a historic peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. But after three long hours with Putin, Trump told reporters, “We didn’t get there—but we have a very good chance of getting there.”
He added, “There’s no deal until there’s a deal. 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 them about today’s meeting. It’s ultimately up to them.”
That is not a victory. That is a stall. After all the buildup, Trump came back with empty words and vague promises.
It also makes Leavitt’s earlier defense look hollow. Just before the summit, she went on Fox & Friends and attacked Trump’s critics. “I think it’s pathetic that some of the chatter that we see from these so-called experts who have zero accomplishments on their résumés to point to,” she said. “President Trump knows what he’s doing.”
Yet after the meeting, those same critics looked proven right. Trump did not deliver. His staff looked shaken.
McFaul made the comparison clear. He reminded viewers of past summits. “We should all be glad that we did not go to Alaska, because I was in Helsinki with you. And I was in Geneva when President Biden met. They traveled a long way for nothing in return, those journalists.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
