Putin is a Loser

The Russian leader today came off as small and weak, someone better suited to kidnapping children than negotiating with an American President. Probably not as impressive to Trump as he once was.

If something happened at today’s summit meeting in Alaska, I missed it.

As per yesterday’s dispatch, there was enough progress made that Trump could say that he was making progress.

Putin, Trump and their subordinates met for nearly three hours, so they talked about something. Putin could have given the same long and interminably dull speech about Yaroslav the Wise and the Baptism of the Kyivan Rus that he gave to Tucker Carlson. That may be the case, as Trump was sufficiently tired of Putin that he canceled their scheduled lunch.

Whatever they talked about, Trump found it hopeful enough that he did not lower the boom on Putin. On the flip side, Putin seemed to have made no progress in making his case that Zelensky is the problem and Ukraine is the aggressor.

We will know what they talked about soon. Trump is going to call Zelensky and European leaders, and that will open up the leaks sometime in the middle of the night DC time.

Zelensky has the propensity to do the least helpful thing at the absolute most critical time, but short of that, the cause of the Ukrainian defender was not harmed today.

In the meantime, all those of us watching at home got was confirmation that Putin is a loser.

If the Anchorage Summit Scoring Committee gave points for trolling, Trump would have won hands down. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov showed up in a sweater with the Cyrillic letters for USSR emblazoned across it like some high school punk rocker. Trump answered the high school antics with an overflight of the stealth fighters and bombers that Putin and Lavrov might see in the skies over Moscow if he screws things up badly.

Trump goes toe to toe with the media. Putin made a comical face and acted like he didn’t understand the media’s questions when they asked about Ukraine. It was not an alpha male move, and I am sure Trump thinks Putin is less of a tough guy coming out of this meeting than going into it.

This is not an expression a strong man makes when asked a question.

Russia watchers speculate that there are at least two body doubles for Putin. Many folks I talked today think that the least capable one showed up today in Anchorage.

I give high odds that Putin will launch his usual raft of missiles and Iranian drones into Ukraine when he clears US airspace, or over the weekend. I am sure Zelensky will make sure that lots of stuff is blowing up deep inside Russia over the weekend as well.

My feeling is that we are in for a long peace process. We have the irresistible force of Trump’s desire to end the war and the immovable object of Putin’s desire to rebuild the Soviet Union. (And if you didn’t think before today that Putin has ambitions to rebuild the Soviet Union, Lavrov made sure that you caught on.)

Putin will continue to disappoint.

Putin is a Loser is the name of the latest commercial from the Ukraine Freedom Project. It ties in well with today’s performance. Have a look and feel free to forward.