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Unknown A
Meanwhile, controversy continues over President Trump's approach in Ukraine. It is unclear exactly what the vast gap is actually between what Trump wants and what is likely to be achieved. At this point. President Trump has made very clear that what he would like is presumably for Russia to retain control of the Donbas and Crimea and for the Ukrainians to be given security guarantees, but not NATO membership. He's been ripping on Vladimir Zelensky. It is very unclear at this point why he has been ripping on Volodymyr Zelensky. I understand that a lot of people who believe false things about Zelensky, such as that he is a dictator. He is not in fact a dictator. He is the legally elected president of Ukraine. During times of martial law, when like half your country is occupied by another country, many of your people have actually run to other countries in as refugees and many of your people are actually, you know, on the front lines fighting.
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Unknown A
It turns out very difficult to hold an election. Zelensky has been called that. President Trump suggested there needs to be a new election before some sort of peace deal is held. That doesn't seem to make a whole hell of a lot of sense. For his part, Zelensky came out over the weekend and said, listen, if me resigning would create peace, I'd be happy to do it. Or give me security guarantees, NATO member, like do something and then I'll resign. Happy to leave. As soon as the war has basically come to some sort of conclusion that actually guarantees Ukraine's safety and security for the foreseeable future. You really need me to leave for the sake of peace? I'm ready to do so. I am focused on security for Ukraine.
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Unknown B
Today, not in 20 years time. And I'm not going to hang around in power for decades.
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Unknown A
It's important, I think, to put some context around Zelinsky's remarks about him resigning. He said that if it brought peace to Ukraine or gave Ukraine NATO membership, he'd be willing to step aside. Now, the truth is, if Zelensky himself stepped down today, presumably the person who picked up the baton because there wouldn't be an election would be somebody who very largely agrees with Vladimir Zelensky's approach. The Ukrainians have lost hundreds of thousands of people dead or wounded. They are not simply going to allow a situation in which Russia can walk through the front door and into Kiev in the very, very near future. And here's the thing, I don't think the Trump administration wants that either. I think a lot of this is a distraction. I think a lot of the talk about the Controversy between Trump and Zelensky has nothing to do with sort of the on the ground reality.
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Unknown A
And you keep seeing that from various members of the Trump administration. So, for example, Pete Hegseth, who is the Defense secretary, he says, listen, President Trump, you know, he's, he's made comments about this sort of stuff, but we know who invaded whom, and we're not interested in watching Ukraine just turn into effectively a Russian territory.
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Unknown C
We know who invaded who. We understand the stakes of this game. America, more than any other country in the world, has invested in helping Ukraine defend itself. Now it's time for peace. And that's what the President is dedicated to. So standing here and saying, you're good, you're bad, you're a dictator, you're not a dictator, you invaded, you didn't invite, it's not useful, it's not productive. And so President Trump isn't getting drawn into that in unnecessary ways. And as a result, we're closer to peace today than ever before.
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Unknown A
Okay? And he's right about all of that. This is a, a line that was repeated by Mike Walz, the National Security Adviser. He said, listen, President Trump has said that Russia invaded Ukraine under Obama. Russia invaded Ukraine under Biden. Russia did not invade Ukraine under Trump. So, I mean, it's a tacit acknowledgement that Russia invaded Ukraine under, under Joe Biden, obviously. So here is Mike Wall saying that.
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Unknown D
Who would you rather have and go toe to toe with the likes of Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un Xi or whom? Anyone else? Joe Biden or Donald Trump? He's the dealmaker in chief, he's the commander in chief. And it's only because his of his strength that we're even in this position. And President Trump's own words have been that Russia invaded a neighbor under Bush, under Obama and under Biden, but not him. It didn't happen his first term and he's going to bring it to an end his second term.
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Unknown A
Now, again, does this sound like surrender to you? It doesn't sound like surrender to me. There's a lot of controversy again, over sort of the verbiage surrounding the Ukraine war. But is this like a total shift in American policy? It doesn't really feel like that. Democrats are trying to make it that way. And this is where again, I start to get a little bit annoyed. You guys had your shot. This conflict should have come to its terminus back in 2022, and then you had three subsequent years to do something about it, and you did nothing. Instead, you slow walked aid to Ukraine so they couldn't actually go into Donbass on Crimea and at the same time declared that the war should continue. You wanted it both ways and now you're stuck. So when I hear you guys talk about how Donald Trump is surrendering to the Russians, you guys, what was your plan?
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Unknown A
Do you have an alternative? This is the thing about Democrats. What's the alternative? They do the same thing with Gaza. Trump provides an alternative plan for Gaza. The only realistic plan I've ever heard about Gaza that actually accords with, you know, actual factual, on the ground reality. And they start screaming about it. Same thing with regard to Ukraine. Here is Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
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Unknown E
Essentially, this is President Trump surrendering to the Russians. No surprise in Afghanistan. He sat down with the Taliban, excluded the government of Afghanistan in Doha, through his emissaries, and they essentially said, listen, don't bother us for a year and we'll be out. And now he's trying the same thing, which is basically, we're going to undercut the Ukrainians. Oh, and by the way, we're going to get their precious minerals at bargain rate prices as a threat to do even worse. This is not a statesman or a diplomat. This is just someone who's admires Putin, does not believe in the struggle of the Ukrainians, and is committed to cozying up to an auto crash.
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Unknown A
Well, Jack Reed right there, he mentions these mineral contracts the United States has actually suggested to the Ukrainians, and Zelensky is pushing back. He's saying, you guys want too much from me. Let's make a different deal. All of that is perfectly rational and within the realm of reality. If Zelensky can negotiate a better deal with the Europeans or with the United States. But for those rare earths minerals, great for him, good for him. And that would be good for both the United States and Ukraine, because as the Trump administration has openly suggested, an economic relationship with Ukraine enshrines American security interests in Ukraine, much the way the United States has security interests in Taiwan, for example. With almost two entire months of the new Year already behind us. Wow. I need to make sure that I'm maintaining my health, hitting the gym, spending time with my family.
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Unknown A
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Unknown A
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Unknown A
What was it exactly when Joe Biden withdrew from Afghanistan utterly and left it to the tender predations of the Taliban. But what was that exactly?
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Unknown B
What message does it send to Xi Jinping when Donald Trump says to Ukraine that they are the aggressor, they who are in fact the victims of an invasion, are somehow the ones who started the war and that the price for ending the war ought to be that Ukraine gives up territory, has no security guarantees, and, oh, by the way, give over $500 billion to Donald Trump in the United States for nothing in return? If I'm Xi Jinping, I'm looking at that going, great, now's my time to invade Taiwan.
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Unknown A
Well, I mean, again, you guys set up the predicate for all this. Now I don't want China to invade Taiwan. And one of the things that I hope the Trump administration is pursuing, and they've talked openly about this, I assume they are, is a pivot from places like Europe, where Europe should be able to take care of its own business. Again, Europe, the EU is much larger than Russia as a collective. We can pivot from there to China and help protect Taiwan. Because if Taiwan were to fall, that would have some grave consequences for Japan, for Australia, for the supply chain, for the future of pretty much all sophisticated manufactured goods. Now all that matters an awful lot. So the pivot, I think, is something that the Trump administration has openly talked about. But it is amazing to watch Democrats and the left wing media freak out about Trump's foreign policy and they're so delusional about what foreign policy even is.
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Unknown A
So Michael Birnbaum at the Washington Post has a piece called, quote, in first month, Trump upends century old approach to the world. So what is the century old approach to global affairs? Quote, Trump has gone further than he did in his first term to redefine whom the United States embraces and whom it combats, surprising fellow world leaders who thought they knew Trump's playbook and had been working to please him. Instead, the president is spurning a post World War II international system built to block global aggressors, embracing far older ideas of allowing military powers to build regional spheres of influence and exert dominion over their neighbors. Okay, let's just be clear about this. That was also the system after World War II. The Soviet Union had a very, very, very large sphere after World War II. And President Trump is not interested in not allowing any blocking of global aggressors.
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Unknown A
If that were the case, he would in fact just withdraw from Ukraine and not try to broker a peace deal at all. This is my favorite sentence in the piece from the Washington Post. Quote, trump appears to be turning back the clock to a time in world history when countries with the biggest militaries constructed empires, demanded tribute from weaker nations and expanded their territories through coercion. Do you mean like all of human history? Is that we're talking about that the bizarre interregnum in which liberals thought that they could magic China into being nice to us, for example, or they could wheedle Russia into being kind. That that was always a facade and always a nonsense. As Rosa Balfour, director of the Brussels office of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says, quote, this is classical geopolitics, actually influence on the areas that are closest to you geographically.
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Unknown A
Now, again, that doesn't mean the United States wants to abandon the Far East. That would be a huge mistake. Or the United States wants to abandon Eastern Europe. That would also be a huge mistake. But a reshifting and realignment of interests such that the people who are closest are spending the most on the thing makes an awful lot of sense. And Democrats whining about it. Should have thought about that before they decided to sink billions of dollars into a quagmire in Ukraine of their own making. Are you tired of the lies and the twist of the mainstream media talking points? Yeah, Me too. Join me in my newest series, Fact, where I dismantle and bring truth to this tiring mainstream agenda.