What Price Would Trump Demand to Sell Out Ukraine?
If I hadn’t already concluded that the coverage of Trump’s sell-out to Putin on Ukraine adopts the wrong framework, I’d be pissed that Lawrence Freedman stole my intended title, “Baked Alaska,” for this column. Freedman’s is the best analysis of Trump’s “deal” using a traditional diplomatic framework. Freedman argues that Trump has accepted this deal out of wishful thinking.
Donald Trump continues to pursue a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine despite the accumulating evidence that there is no deal to be had. He has acknowledged, after many fruitless phone calls, that Putin has been stringing him along, even accusing him of peddling ‘bullshit’. In an interview with the BBC, he acknowledged
‘We’ll have a great conversation. I’ll say: “That’s good, I’ll think we’re close to getting it done,” and then he’ll knock down a building in Kyiv.’
He observed of Putin that ‘I’m disappointed in him, but I’m not done with him.’
And so like Charlie Brown, shocked each time Lucy pulls the ball away as he is about to kick it, Trump allows wishful thinking to triumph over experience. He clings to the belief that a direct conversation with the Russian leader is the key to unlocking the whole process. As he insisted two months ago, ’Look, nothing is going to happen until Putin and I get together.’
Freedman links to but doesn’t dwell on the implications of this BILD report: as the clock was ticking down on Trump’s imaginary deadline for Putin to stop fighting, Trump offered up sanctions relief and territorial concessions, but Putin refused.
“Vladimir Putin still wants full control over the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. He only offered a partial ceasefire – a refusal to attack energy facilities and large cities in the rear. But not a comprehensive ceasefire,” a BILD source stated.
The publication emphasizes that the US, on the contrary, proposed freezing the war along the current front line in exchange for a broad lifting of sanctions and new economic agreements with Russia. According to BILD, the Kremlin was unwilling to accept this proposal.
Even after offering Russia most of what it needs to keep fighting and getting rejected, Trump claimed he might still get concessions out of Putin.
And while that does confirm Freedman’s conclusion — that Trump will be embarrassed — I think imposing a diplomatic lens on this negotiation is as ridiculous, at this point, as it would be to impose an economic lens on Trump’s tariff deals. These deals are not about outcomes — improving the economy or saving Ukrainians’ (much less Palestinians’) lives.
They’re about about Trump’s need to feel powerful, his need to coerce tribute. And he’s willing to destroy America in that pursuit.
Coverage since Freedman’s column has begun to inch closer to that, such as this tidbit in ¶6 of a WSJ article describing that a Trump Tower deal for Trump is back on the table.
Alexander Yakovenko, a former ambassador who headed Russia’s foreign-service academy until last year, wrote in an op-ed for the state RIA news agency that “settling the war in Ukraine, which has been lost by the West a long time ago, has become a secondary issue in relations between the United States and Russia—nothing more than an obstacle to normalization that we must overcome together.”
Ever since the summit was announced, Russian media has been replete with stories about special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Dmitriev sharing fried dumplings at a restaurant in the Russian capital, and about the site of a future Moscow hotel, described as a possible Trump Tower Moscow, that the two men visited last week.
A decade ago, this impossibly lucrative Trump Tower deal was going to be worth $300 million. Since then, of course, Trump has turned Trump Tower deals — in Oman, Dubai, Hanoi, Jeddah — into an expanding currency. Back in office now with a pliant Attorney General and immunity for official acts, every deal Trump makes has a side hustle: “free” flying bribery palaces that will cost taxpayers $1 billion, golden shares to destroy a healthy union, 15% to deal critical technology to China. And that’s before you consider the crypto, including the two separate hundred million dollar investments from Chinese linked businessmen, one of whom got a fraud case dismissed. (Er … perhaps the Nvidia approval, to say nothing of the neverending delays in slapping tariffs on China, are not so separate.) His $4.5 billion crypto profit since returning to office may depend on another corrupt pardon.
You cannot assess Trump’s tariff deals in terms of the economic logic because there is none. They are destroying entire US industries by giving foreign companies a competitive advantage.
Similarly, you cannot assess Trump’s upcoming capitulation to Putin in diplomatic terms, because there is none.
This is about Trump.
And I don’t think you can assess how Friday will go without reviewing where we are.
Vladimir Putin helped Trump get elected in 2016 because, according to a piece of intelligence released by Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe, he was “counting on” a Trump win. During the election, Russia floated that impossibly lucrative Trump Tower deal. Shortly thereafter, the Agalarovs dangled dirt on Hillary for sanctions relief from Don Jr. And then, just over nine years ago, they had a meeting with Trump’s campaign manager (he had come from a meeting with Trump and Rudy Giuliani) where they discussed how Manafort planned to win the swing states, how to get Manafort paid millions …
And a plan to carve up Ukraine.
A plan not all that different from this plan to carve up Ukraine. Trump seemed all in and even was discussing business deals with the same guy that his latest flunkie, Steve Witkoff, is shopping Trump Tower sites with now.
Trump was gung ho to deliver that deal until his National Security Adviser, on a phone that Russians undoubtedly knew was tapped, assured Sergey Kislyak that “boss is aware” of Flynn’s own efforts to undercut sanctions punishing Russia for helping Trump get elected. And that resulted in a criminal investigation that disrupted those plans.
Trump has complained for nine years that Democrats ruined his presidential term because of that investigation, but really, it was his National Security Adviser’s shitty OpSec, even worse than Mike Waltz’ all these years later.
And as a result, Trump and the Russians have spent nine years trying to bury that past in false stories. In one of the first meetings between Trump and Putin, they crafted a cover story for the Aras Agalarov dangle together, outside the hearing of an American translator. At their Helsinki meeting, Trump famously sided with Putin’s spies over his own.
My people came to me, Dan Coates, came to me and some others they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia.
I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. But I really do want to see the server but I have, I have confidence in both parties.
[snip]
I have great confidence in my intelligence people but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today and what he did is an incredible offer.
He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer. Ok? Thank you.
Putin joked that, “I’d like to add something to this. After all, I was an intelligence officer myself and I do know how dossiers are made up.” It was about that time when right wingers averted their gaze from Oleg Deripaska’s likely role in the dossier, which enabled Trump to keep claiming that the dossier — which appears to be the result of Russians fucking Hillary over for her poor choice in a subcontractor her team barely interacted with — was the source of his woes and not his own actions.
Around that same time, we now know, Trump started chasing more Russian disinformation, the attempt to frame Hillary that Russian spies invented the day after the investigation into the Russian hack was publicly announced. Trump started adopting that Russian disinformation as the founding myth of his MAGAt tribe. That’s what Bill Barr used, successfully, to bury the damning results of the Mueller investigation. And Trump’s hunt for disinformation is what elicited his attempt to corrupt the newly elected President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in 2019. “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it, ” Trump started his extortion attempt, before turning, less than 30 words later, to his claim that Ukraine, not the FBI, had the server Russia hacked: “The server, they say Ukraine has it.” And Trump kept chasing that disinformation, pushing Rudy to team up with Andrii Derkach and others in search of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
At this point, every single claim on which Trump builds his own legitimacy, according to the terms he himself measures it, is built on Russian disinformation. And that means every single claim is built on degrading rule of law in the United States. Every single claim is built on ever deeper swamps of corruption.
And after he won again — with some overt Russian disinformation and who knows what kind of help from bomb threats originating in Russia — Russia made clear they plan to collect. One of Putin’s closest allies, Nikolay Patrushev stated, truthfully, that Trump had relied on certain forces to get elected, to claim legitimacy.
In his future policies, including those on the Russian track US President-elect Donald Trump will rely on the commitments to the forces that brought him to power, rather than on election pledges, Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev told the daily Kommersant in an interview.
“The election campaign is over,” Patrushev noted. “To achieve success in the election, Donald Trump relied on certain forces to which he has corresponding obligations. As a responsible person, he will be obliged to fulfill them.”
He agreed that Trump, when he was still a candidate, “made many statements critical of the destructive foreign and domestic policies pursued by the current administration.”
“But very often election pledges in the United States can [d]iverge from subsequent actions,” he recalled.
Republican Donald Trump outperformed the candidate from the ruling Democratic Party, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the US elections held on November 5. Trump will take office on January 20, 2025. During the election campaign Trump mentioned his peace-oriented, pragmatic intentions, including in relations with Russia.
“He will be obligated to fulfill them.”
The mistake, in analyzing the Alaska meeting is not just about Ukraine.
It’s about the United States.
It’s not just that Putin can bide his time in Ukraine.
It’s that the longer he holds out, the greater his true objective — turning Trump into his puppet and the United States into a dying kleptocracy that is child’s play to manipulate — comes into grasp.
Putin may still be fighting in Ukraine. But he has achieved far more than he probably hoped for in the US. He has all but defeated every nuisance the Main Enemy once stood for: rule of law, free trade, freedom of speech, science, human rights, reason.
It’s not just that Trump is welcoming a dictator on US soil. It’s that the dictator is coming to reclaim what Russia owns.
Update: This paywalled Telegraph piece says Trump is discussing cooperation on mineral resources in both Eastern Ukraine and Alaska, with an end to sanctions on parts and planes.
Update: OFAC has just cleared a sanction license for the meeting, meaning sanctioned people — like Oleg Deripaska — could attend.
Wow…Well written.
Superb and frightening assessment.
I think people need to think seriously about the possibly that they’ll be living in a Russian puppet in the near future.
Naturally. How silly to imagine that Putin would be satisfied only with making Alaska Russian again.
More satisfaction with Sarah Palin included in the deal.
Here’s where your earliest warnings prove dead-on, that we can’t wait for the midterms to try to stop this fascist juggernaut: barely a half year in and we’re staring down the barrel of Franco 2.0, on steroids and meth — all semblance with anything but the pre-Civil Rights era South completely out the window — complete with a dozen Roy Cohn wannabees in positions of great power.
Time for a really massive nation-wide protest day, before the NG deploys to all the big cities (as promised).
It has to be BIG – a full day (…or two) of no work, no shopping – protesting in the streets.
Shut down all commerce and transportation in a work stoppage and protest in the streets. Make No King Day look like a stroll in the park.
Protest dayS. But they wouldn’t give a crap. It’s the trauma, retribution (as promised) that they’re into.
Religion gets into the mix, Orthodox Christians in Alaska pray for peace ahead of Trump-Putin summit, https://apnews.com/article/orthodox-christians-prayers-trump-putin-alaska-dbced54d9faa7d230d3df03405491542
Orthodoxy is the majority religion in both Russia and Ukraine, although the religion has also been a source of controversy. The Russian church’s leadership has strongly supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the war has aggravated a schism among Ukraine’s Orthodox.
Ahhhhh,
Better Dead than Red?
Choices, choices. Nazism or Russian puppet in the near future?
Reminds me of, I think it was marketing class, about Soviet times.
Taxi drivers would sit around and do nothing because they got paid by the state no matter what. So the state decided to encourage them to pick up fares, they would pay them by the distance they traveled. Of course the taxi drivers would drive empty cabs up and down the streets without picking up any fares.
What’s going to happen when Zalensky says ‘no’ to the Alaska plan, which is quite unlikely to inure to any benefit for Ukraine? Can he sell out Ukraine without Ukraine’s consent? I don’t see that happening, especially with Europe committed to supporting Ukraine, and so many Ukrainian cities lying in ruins.
We’ve already seen what will happen; Zelensky will say no, and then Trump will blame him for not wanting the war to end and insist, again, that the US abandon Ukraine entirely…
So VT and AZ, let’s bring in PA into the act of torture.
PA Republicans refusing to pass a budget with adequate funding for transit (take the money from your capital budget to fund your operating budget, because who cares about the future) and education (the hell with decision by the courts to fund poorer school districts).
So in a few days, transit throughout the State is going to be reduced by up to 50%, school districts are borrowing money to pay their teachers and other expenses till the funding comes through once the budget is passed.
So PA is collapsing in real time.
How do you weigh Trump’s need to appear dominant against his fear of looking weak? After Helsinki, he was widely-mocked for looking weak against Putin. I don’t imagine he wants a repeat image of that, also having taken place on American soil. It was a notable low point in his early tenure.
Additionally, Trump is motivated by a racist desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize, and I believe he’s aware enough to know that unless Russia stops attacking Ukraine, the Swedish are unlikely to give him the Prize.
Therefore, I can only conclude that Trump’s offer will be a full Ukrainian pull-back from contested areas and a removal of all sanctions in exchange for a ceasefire with an unspoken understanding that the ceasefire ends when he (or, more likely, another person/group) wins the Peace Prize, then all bets are off. There might be unfreezing of assets but I am uncertain since that would be Trump giving up “HIS” money.
Trump can offer those (absurd) things, however he can’t force Zelensky to accept such a deal, and he won’t. How many times have we heard Zelensky avow he will not surrender any Ukrainian territory to Russia- many times. I don’t see how this is not another colossal waste of time and resources.
1. You are correct on all substantive points. I concede all of that, but…
2. Putin’s alternate victory comes with a complete cut-off of American help, including crucially Starlink internet and US military satellites. Zelensky refusing Putin’s “very reasonably, very huge offer” would give Trump that excuse.
Remember, Trump is the biggest coward in office, including Andrew Johnson and Harding, and he wants to avoid any conflict possible while not appearing to be a coward in full-blown retreat. So, Trump needs an excuse to execute a full-blown retreat to his pillow fort of Fox News on TV and lickspittles in the Oval Office. Zelensky and European leaders have sought to fluff Trump’s ego and play for time but it has bought them nothing and Trump has, if anything, edged back support as he can without retreating. The biggest impediment to the full-blown retreat has been Putin’s refusal to stop blowing up civilians. If Putin were to make the most blatantly-false promise in the history of mammalian communication to temporarily stop blowing up civilians, Trump would seize that excuse and use it to heel-turn on Ukraine.
That’s my read.
The most likely outcome of the meeting is little or no progress, and I think a fair possibility is the Anchorage meeting will be canceled. It wouldn’t take much to shiv the luncheon. I did check the FAA prog charts- clear skies.
Assuming Putin lands safely at Elmendorf, I see only 2 possible positive outcomes- agreement for another meeting with Zelensky present, and at least a start to ceasefire discussions. Sadly, both are unlikely.
I wonder if they will hold a joint presser. I doubt it.
To PedroVermontsays:
August 13, 2025 at 4:17 pm
“I wonder if they will hold a joint presser. I doubt it.”
If Trump learned anything in Helsinki, it’s “don’t meet with Putin with no one else present, and then hold a joint presser immediately afterwards. Nothing good can happen”.
To correct what I just said – the question is whether any of Trump’s handlers remember that lesson – 2018 was a long time ago, even if you don’t have Alzheimer’s, and so few of Trump’s current accomplices were part of the Trump 1.0 administration that it’s possible NO ONE around Trump remembers.
Coward?
Trump is compromised, Putin has all the goods on him. Their first meeting(s) will probably have no US person and no notes and the presser will be a love fest.
“I looked into his eyes,…” or maybe “I feel his love, I wish Melania would show as much …”
The Swedes do not give the Nobel Peace Prize. That is the job of the Norwegians. You are probably still right about the outcome though.
Nobel Peace Prize = Norwegian.
The Prize committee are here https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/nobel-committee/
Variety of ex senior political figures in Norway. All of whom put a premium on Rule of Law.
In any world Trump would struggle with recognition from these people.
But Norway = founder member of NATO, with longstanding concerns in the Arctic seriously anti Russian. They have longstanding policy of a whole of society response to emergencies and it’s worth noting. sentenced 45 traitors to death after WW2 (then population 3m) so Anti Fascism warfare is just about in living memory
Norway, via NATO have longstanding relations with Estonian, Latvia and Lithuanian. And the cohesion of the Baltic states has increased due to Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
The other desirable for Trump is the perception of “success” on trade negotiations and tariffs. Europeans, whether in EU or not will generally not want to give Trump the time of day on this should he fuck Ukraine, though they may play along and pretend to do deals if he doesn’t piss about.
(Obviously there are some variables – Hungary, Slovakia, and the new Polish president)
Yeah, messed that up.
Norway remembers its Quislings better than we do ours. I think South Park is more likely to win for its coverage of Trump than Trump is to win BUT sucking up to Trump involves nominating him for the Peace Prize and loudly proclaiming belief in his winning the Prize. He’s a malignant narcissist, so he believes he should win everything simply for wanting it. It’s delusional and it causes strokes in neoclassical economists but it is his psychology and how he deals with situations. So, the analysis is how he’d approach the situation. I don’t know if Vlad will reciprocate, though.
Norway has long enjoyed cultural hegemony, and the descendants of the Vikings know exactly who they are. One only needs to visit Oslo and Trondheim to see the scope of it all. The museum of the resistance to the Nazis in Oslo is very impressive. Trump will never get a Nobel prize of any kind.
Didn’t you leave out Benjamin Netanyahu and John Yoo from the committee?
Appearing dominant?
Wearing make up, poofing the hair, wearing shoe lifts, and loving musicals is not exactly the characteristics of a dominate alpha.
How about bare chested on an animal rug (tiger)?
TRUMP took some questions regarding this meeting at a news conference today.
1] https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lwc7aofqjw2k
August 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM [VIDEO]
[There will be two more in replies.]
2] https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lwcab7rzh22f
August 13, 2025 at 12:21 PM [VIDEO]
Trump: “…I don’t have to say…”
======
Said like a cagey middle schooler.
3] https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lwcav2gveg2m
August 13, 2025 at 12:33 PM [VIDEO]
** This portion is at the following [broken] link:
https: //bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lwcaz3bzqy2t
August 13, 2025 at 12:35 PM [VIDEO]
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qhwHmmBOMhE
[FYI – link edited to remove tracking. /~Rayne]
You’ve been here long enough to know links should have tracking removed and not to drop video links without context.
In this case, readers should know the link you’ve shared is credits after a Looney Tunes cartoon.
It’s not only the Looney Tunes post show credits, it’s the significance of the 2 voiceover ads as the the tune and credits are playing.
My apologies, Rayne, on the missed tracker.
I was disappointed in the tune though, because Bugs, I think, used to say “that’s all folks” at the end at some point, but not in this one.
US leak of hack of Russian court trial, “Our dear leader says Navalny needs to be found guilty and sentenced to torture.
Guilty as charged with bleach in his shower water, lightly poisoned mushrooms with every meal and slightly rusted nails in his mattress. Take him away.”
Unless they’ve actually had serious interactions with a malignant narcissist, I think it is difficult for some people to understand Trump’s mindset and motivations. It’s ironic, though, that Trump has been so unable or unwilling to see similar characteristics in Putin.
Dominance is what they both want. But Trump seems willing to forgo that with Putin, probably because he is so compromised. And also maybe because he cons himself into thinking any deals he can conjure up will compensate for it.
Everything is psychological with Trump. Nothing is about policy or economics. Mary Trump has been telling us this for years. Michael Wolff says this as well. I’m not sure about the accuracy of some of his assessments, but it’s interesting to hear some of the things Wolff says.
For example, in the new podcast, “Inside Trump’s Head,” Wolff tells Joanna Coles that Kushner plays a much bigger role in the current administration than is visible. He also claims that Kushner was responsible for hiring Susie Wiles.
I’ve been saying from the beginning that Trump will return Alaska to its rightful owner in exchange for a Trump Tower Moscow.
I meant it as a joke. The lesson is, with Trump, be careful what you joke for.
[Welcome back to emptywheel. SECOND REQUEST: Do not add a URL as you did not enter one with your first comment. Thanks. /~Rayne]
Honestly, what does it matter if Trump runs the US like Russia, with increasingly dire living conditions, which is where it is heading?
Wish those cowards had the nerve to go to captain cook hotel where us protesters in Anchorage could get closer to the action and be seen. It’s so awful
https://alaskapublic.org/top-stories/2025-08-13/its-jber-anchorage-military-base-to-host-trump-putin-summit
“Meanwhile, progressives in Anchorage are planning demonstrations. Stand UP Alaska and Alaska March On, among other groups, announced they plan to demonstrate Thursday at 4:30 in Midtown and Friday at noon outside the Anchorage offices of Alaska’s U.S. senators.”
[Moderator’s note: something about the link you shared triggers auto-moderation. No idea why. Your two other attempts have been binned. /~Rayne]
Thanks for that, I had been wondering; I’m glad it showed up since this is close to home , sadly.
Thanks for Emptywheel, you guys are so smart and hard-working !
I have been saying this for months too. It is truly depressing. Your analysis above is horrifying. We have to do whatever we can to thwart them. We cannot give up. We cannot.
Thank you, Marcy.
Please leave the website field empty — add no URL.
Trump does not care about *how* the war in Ukraine ends, simply that it ends so that he can claim to have brokered the end and start writing his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Even today, at the Q&A following the announcement of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors recipients (George Strait – sure, but Sylvseter Stallone? Really?), Trump threw in a “I already put an end to five wars” in response to one of the questions. “See? I’m a real peacemaker, not like that FAKE Obama!”
And Putin knows this.
If Putin promised to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump would do damn near anything. But I can hear Putin quietly telling Trump “But I’d like you to do us a favor, though . . .” That favor: get behind Putin’s claims over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, keep Ukraine out of NATO, and lean on Europe and Ukraine to accept this.
If Putin gets Trump to accept that if Putin writes the Nobel Committee, they would immediately vote him the Peace Prize, Putin could demand damn near anything and Trump would give it, do it, or otherwise kiss Putin’s backside.
Break up NATO? As you wish.
Lift sanctions? Done.
Imprison Clinton(s), Obama, Schiff, Schumer, Jeffries, etc.? No problem.
Destroy US universities? Already on it.
Undermine confidence in US government? Been doing that for years!
Putin’s wish list is only limited by his imagination and by Trump’s lust for the Peace Prize.
If DJT is awarded a Nobel I’m on the wrong planet.
If Kissinger could get one for “negotiating a cease fire” in 1973 in the Vietnam War, damn near anything is possible. From the Nobel Prize website:
Also from the Nobel website re the Peace Prize Committee
Kissinger got it in 1973. He would not have been given the award subsequently.
The chance of Trump getting a Peace Prize is near zero, and especially not if he is perceived to have coerced Zelenskyy into a settlement.
*Trump-Kennedy Center
Kiss?
Sylvester Stallone?
Only the one-person nominating committee, consisting of Donald Effing Trump, could come up with THAT list.
I’d love to hear KISS thank the drag queens for inspiring their attire and makeup.
Point taken on the outfits (Esp. circa Dynasty), but KISS’s makeup is more influenced by Japanese Kabuki masks than drag, but that doesn’t seem very MAGA, either.
Outrageous snub of the Village People!
Good one.
Miller, in Trump’s ear:
“You want the Peace Prize, you gotta appease him.”
Trump:
“Yeah, it’s practically the same word.”
Why is the felon in chief inviting a war criminal to a US military base for the biggest sell-out since 1938? Was Munich already booked? I suppose that the welcoming military unit will have to salute the felons in chief . That should make for a great photo op. Trump should be saluting Putin, too. After all game know game.
Trump wants to be the Peace Hitler, completely oblivious to the cosmic dissonance of the vitriol, vengeance and venality underpinning the Fascism he personifies…juxtaposed against actual peacemaking.
Chamberlain, as you point out, is the apt historical reference — to a point: he thought he was making peace via appeasement as well, although he certainly wasn’t hoping to score a financial windfall from his mewling, ignorant cowardice.
I am sorry for laughing about this, but I couldn’t finish this article because I had to express myself.
Trump is using the presidency, the title and the legal powers of it, to gain wealth. What the shocker to Hillary Clinton back in the day was, omg Americans voted for this; it didn’t matter who it was, all that mattered for the omg was that a citizen with those traits won an election. And yet, is this a trait of all of our elected officials. Probably not as 10 out of 10 that Donald has been and will be.
There was that Senator from West Virginia, can’t remember his name, he used his status as a Senator to gain wealth. Americans vote for this shit.
When Donald was first elected, as a practicing Buddhist that I am, I saw a country turn to “I use my status in life to gain wealth over others”. Eat them or be eaten by them. And, I see it a lot out there in America land. And it is an utter waste of breath, it is excrement.
If you watch our culture carefully, specifically in the movies of the 1940s and 1950s, you will see this James Cagney character muscle his way breaking the law to gain wealth. Nothing but a mind to gain wealth.
That’s the Red Hat. The enlightenment of gain wealth over others, like take it out of their hands.
Sorry for the lecture
A tad reductionist. Trump assumes he will increase his wealth with everything he does. His personal pathologies demand more. Among those things are power; dominance-subservience; humiliation; the ability to punish without restraint or consequence; which is a form of power; the ability to tear down what irritates him, as most things do, another expression of power. But then, I finished reading Marcy’s post.
I agree with you 100 percent. But, yo, I think the reductionist thing is required here. He is meeting with Putin, lol. Perhaps sputter about like antiques.
And, here I go, I am going to finish the read. I meant no harm with that comment. More of a compliment. Sorry if it was interpreted as aggressive.
I was reacting to your certainty that Trump was motivated only by wealth. Marcy has put in a lot of effort in recent posts to demonstrate he’s not, which is why I picked that you commented before finishing her post.
The indigenous nations of Alaska get a say in any of this America to trade Alaska back to Russia bs?
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Ukraine has agency.
Ukraine is striking selected critical Russian infrastructure, factories, and refineries almost at will on a nightly basis.
Ukraine has penetrated Russian state and major private industry computer systems, including Aeroflot and highly secret state submarine development programs. The full extent of those penetrations remains to be seen.
Russia’s economy is in a shambles.
Trump’s efforts at dictating the state of world affairs are likely to come to nothing – or precipitate highly unexpected outcomes – yet again.
By all rational sense, a cagey (and kind of sociopathic) President would want greatly to support the Ukrainian war effort. By all accounts, the degradation of the Russian military makes potential adventures in the Baltics and elsewhere well nigh impossible. They can’t gather men, unless they rent them from North Korea. They appear to have spent all their major ground military hardware, using WW2 equipment now. The economy is on the precipice of collapse from the overspending on the special military operation. Putin has put himself in the unenviable position of having to pursue a stalemated war over everything, because he’s kind of boxed himself into a corner with his propaganda and the limits of his power are seen by the angry citizens needing to win the war for the dead. In short, every day that Putin has to prosecute a war and lose soldiers, money and prestige would appear to be in total alignment with the goals of the US military. It is inconceivable that Trump hasn’t been briefed this. Mania for a Peace Prize can’t be the reason, I think its just a cover for a deal already made that cannot find footing with our respective publics in the US and Russia, whatever that may be and is certainly not anything that will be well received
I don’t disagree with the blog post or your comment: Trump is a worm.
I just suspect Ukraine has more cards to play.
I agree with your assessment. The Ukrainians have played this very cleverly thus far and almost certainly have more tricks up their sleeve.
I hope Zelensky does play more cards that Trump doesn’t know he has.
Brilliant analysis, as usual. Thanks for your tireless, fearless, illuminating reporting and commentary.
MINOR typo:
“They’re about about Trump’s need to feel powerful……”
I keep thinking that if Putin is working a plan, it could be to “agree” in Alaska to some peace plan verbally, much like the EU and Japan agreeing verbally to a “deal” (that doesn’t exist) on tariffs, so Trump can believe he has a workable peace plan to take to Ukraine, who will tell him politely they need to evaluate it to stall for as much time as they can. It all hinges on getting Trump pissed enough to cut all support, which might weaken Ukraine enough for a Hail Mary assault by Russia to break the back of the Ukraine army. And to do all that Trump needs to believe he has a peace plan approved by Putin.
“ Donald Trump is preparing to offer Vladimir Putin access to rare earth minerals (Alaska’s) to incentivise him to end the war in Ukraine.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-present-minerals-deal-putin-160000800.html
How odd. Those sound like the same rare earth minerals that the US needs for its own, newly revitalized domestic production base, and which it needs to reduce its dependence on China. Giving priority access to them to Russia would seem robustly anti-American. So, yeah, it’s what Trump would do.
Treasonous.
Remember that The Felon Guy believes that if *he* does it, it’s legal.
The Diddler on the Roof already got what he wanted out of this – no more Epstein talk.
Putin’s demands are ridiculous, so nothing of substance will happen. Maybe there’ll be talk of a concept of a plan, or Trump’s marching orders will be to slow aid to Ukraine, but otherwise another distraction. The press, however, will tell us all about how frustrated and disappointed Trump is with Putin.
Mostly agree, just not sure that “Putin’s demands are ridiculous”means that “nothing will come of it”—trump is petrified of Putin, with good reason. Marcy’s mention of Deripaska was ominously foreboding—the Russian vore has long had him in their grasp (Ghislaine’s dad’s ‘business partner’ was the one who propelled a mediocre albeit thuggish ex KGB washout to the kremlin, see ie A. Litvenenko)—I’m not worried he’ll leave Ukraine stranded, I think that’s a given. I’m worried he’s going to actively take Russia’s side, at least with sharing intelligence re Ukrainian troop locations f/ex. (There were previously reports from the front of Starlink being used to target Ukrainian positions). I hope I’m wrong.
PS. Diddler on the Roof is outstanding btw.
I see this entire play as the formal act of capitulation, the kissing of the Godfather’s ring.
Yes exactly. All those who pretended to care about Ukraine, standing up to the Russian mafia and for the rule of law while supporting the Diddler on the Roof should live in infamy.
“I don’t know, maybe we’ll do a movie and get some take-out Chinese. Steve says he saw this great movie the other day called Heart of a Dog, maybe we’ll go see that.”
“Witkoff doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” a Ukrainian official stated. “They should go see Loznitsa’s Donbass — Putin will love it, Trump will probably fall asleep.”
The meeting is so Putin can give Trump his 6 month performance review in person.
The psychology is fascinating. To Trump, Putin is Fred Trump – the feared father whose approval Trump desperately seeks. Trump can’t see that Russia has a lousy military and a rotten economy because when he looks at Putin, all he sees is the big dog that can wound him personally..
Geesh. So well said.
This is so well reasoned and so fucking disgusting.
Flip Pro Flop
He knew how to crack a whip,
Give the boot through a tip,
Make sure faucets didn’t drip,
Refuse to honor any lip.
He didn’t have to shed one drop
of blood to kill, or mop
up after news he’d lop,
or wade through rivers of his slop.
He just had to stop a flip,
Clam up any frisky yip,
Cancel out a murky blip,
Make sure yaps were on full zip.
He didn’t have to put a stop
to bobble or to agitprop,
Or seance with his long gone Pop,
No, Chump was owned to be a flop.
[7/13/20; last rev. 4/10/25]
🏆🥩🥩🥩!
[Moderator’s note: Please avoid using emoticons. They’re not searchable and not readable by screen readers. /~Rayne]
OT Sellout. I wrote earlier about last week’s treasury sales. Reviewing the interest rates from those sales, I didn’t think they were as bad as I expected considering the dumping of head of BLS and my expected reaction to that move. But according to the video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SZDelKVZrvU&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VU9IHCQn_AKO1ajebQw%3D%3D
starting at about 8:00, it was bad. I don’t understand a lot of what he says, but he stresses that the 30 year treasury sale was bad.
Yes Max from @UNFTR is always worth a watch. The in the weeds technical bond market stuff is not easy to absorb but he’s pretty good at translating it into human.
And it’s not good.
I would add Matt Levine’s free newsletter Money Stuff to that. Savvy insight & analysis leavened by a keen sense of the absurd.
The US treasury market is the biggest market of anything in the world and few people know that and also it’s workings “is not easy to absorb”.
I understand interest rate movement. My difficulty in understanding it is how to tell when investors are worried or not and what the interest in buying or selling is. He mentioned a certain percentage of over 2% in something tells him of what the interest is. I have to listen to it another few times.
I was wondering where Ms. Maxwell will go after her get out of jail free card is handed to her. Russia.
According to Allison Gill, MSW, it appears Maxwell’s going to get a similar get out of jail card as Epstein did in 2007 or so by Acosta. https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:x4g4laxkmsrczwvnvbbgsm7g/post/3lw7mecx6ks27?ref_src=embed
It doesn’t appear that she needs to make plans to leave till at least after the 2028 presidential election, if there is one.
Peace on earth! Donald is attempting to get the Nobel Peace Prize. LOL.
Nah, Benny Netanyahu or Putin.
The Felon Guy really seems to think he deserves a Peace Prize, so I can see him asking Putin to help.
Well, they’re now in Anchorage, and I hope they sleep well.
(I can, however, hope for bad weather.)
This post starkly lays out so much of what you’ve written regarding Trump and ties it up in a neat package. The fact that Trump has gotten so many Americans to vote for him and capitulate to him shows that he’s one of the greatest conmen of all time. This post made me see that Putin is an even greater conman, “turning Trump into his puppet and the United States into a dying kleptocracy that is child’s play to manipulate.”
At least Hitler seemed to be about Germany (or the Arian Germans); he wasn’t trying to sell out Germany to the Russians or Saudis to benefit himself. Hitler actually seems like a stand-up guy compared to Trump.
Via Helen Kennedy, Scott Horton re: TRUMP’s desperate EXTORTION to obtain a Nobel Peace Prize:
“We’d like you to do us a favor, though.”
https://bsky.app/profile/robertscotthorton.bsky.social/post/3lwfdkyd4vs27
August 14, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Links to [I think] an article in a Norwegian newspaper.
From The Guardian:
Trump reportedly called Norwegian minister ‘out of the blue’ to ask about Nobel prize US president told Norway’s finance minister he wants the Nobel peace prize, according to the Norwegian press
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/14/trump-nobel-prize-norway Maya Yang Thu 14 Aug 2025 16.15 EDT
OT Anybody think there’s significance to this?
“OTTAWA — A new survey from the Bank of Canada shows Canadians are keeping more cash in their wallets in an increasingly digital world.
…Broken down by age group, those 55 and older were most likely to have cash on their person at 86.8 per cent, more than 10 percentage points higher than other demographics.
But it was the youngest surveyed cohort, those aged 18 to 34, who held the most in their wallets on average at $206.
…That marks a deviation from other nations, such as the United States, which Bank of Canada researchers pointed out has seen continued annual declines in the use of cash….”
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/economics/2025/08/14/canadians-are-holding-more-cash-in-their-wallets-bank-of-canada-finds/