Charlie Sykes: ‘One of Putin’s Big Victories Was to Get One-On-One Negotiations with Donald Trump’

Wallace: “You know, Charlie, there’s a lot of, I think, elevation of Trump’s political skill set, and None reveals the limits of his political powers more clearly than the polling on Ukraine. 61 percent of all Americans are much more sympathetic to Ukraine, and even among MAGA Republicans, the best Trump can get at is 57 percent of Republicans saying they’re neutral. He has not persuaded even his most ardent supporters that Russia is the good guy in the equation, and he gave away everything when he talked about Putin as a guy he’s basically been in group therapy with. He said, ‘we’ve been through a lot together, the Russia hoax, you know.’ I mean, to talk about him like he’s, like a, you know, a buddy in, you know, a group therapy session or co-victims showed Putin that he doesn’t see him even as an equal. He sees him as a sympathetic ear to all that bedevils him emotionally. It is the most flagrant display of personal and political weakness of his entire second presidency.”

SYKES: “And, frankly, there’s nothing new about it. You know, Mitch McConnell says we’re seeing the new kind of presidency, but this relationship is not new. And it’s been characterized by Donald Trump’s refusal ever to criticize Vladimir Putin. He continues to make one concession after another. Putin makes no concession whatsoever. I don’t know what Trump expected was going to happen, but one of Putin’s big victories was to get one-on-one negotiations with Donald Trump, be able to play upon his ego and those weaknesses because Donald Trump’s negotiating skills, I think, despite all the hype are notoriously weak because he is so susceptible to flattery and the fact that they apparently included some references to U.S.-Russia hockey games. You can just — I mean, the lack of seriousness there. But just keep in mind, though, that Vladimir Putin has made no concessions. We have demanded no concessions from him. He continues to play Donald Trump, and as long as Trump remains personally engaged, it’s advantaged Putin. Now, you cited the poll numbers, the sympathy that Americans have with Ukraine. Imagine how Americans will see the defeat of Ukraine. Imagine, if we do get that headline, that Russia succeeds in conquering Ukraine and toppling the Zelenskyy administration. We know what the Afghanistan pullout did to Biden’s, Joe Biden’s numbers, but I think that this would be catastrophically worse.”