I wasn’t fully convinced before that Putin has Trump in his pocket, but after that stunt, I am convinced that he is under Putin’s thumb. Trump and co. could have had marching orders from Putin to do exactly that. Also, this is something that Putin have done and would do, publicly humiliating someone on live TV.

  • nalo
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    416 hours ago

    If you televise it you can claim it was all for show. Easier to back out of.

  • astrsk
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    781 day ago

    America was publicly humiliated, not President Zelensky.

  • @[email protected]
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    861 day ago

    I’m on the minority that thinks this wasn’t a stunt. I think Trump wanted to sign the deal and then fuck them over, letting Russia do whatever they wanted as long and the minerals flowed to US.

    So what happened? Trump is just an egotistical imbecile with the people and political skills of a rabid raccoon. He and JD aren’t used if being called on their BS (“I thought the rules were you weren’t going to fact check”) and just lost it.

    Zelensky stood his ground and morals, and likely was smelling foul play already.

    • @[email protected]
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      421 day ago

      This is exactly it.

      Everyone in Trump’s circle knows you don’t discuss reality with him, and they warned Z not to. So when Z pointed out that Russia never respects ceasefire agreements, think skin snowflake lost his mind and botched the entire deal.

      It’s so obvious that he has no idea how negotiation works.

      • @Joeffect
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        201 day ago

        Trump is a bully, it’s always been that simple… He doesn’t negotiate, he uses his “wealth” and now has the power as president to do what he wants when he wants… It’s why he loves tariffs so much.

        And everyone saw what happens when you stay calm and logical against this moron…

    • @[email protected]
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      21 day ago

      I thought that was exactly the case, because it’s obvious it is. If the majority of people don’t understand that, well, perhaps the majority of people are intellectually-disabled.

  • Talaraine
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    311 day ago

    They didn’t have to televise that part specifically, and Trump actually made a mention of ‘why he’s let this go on so long’. Trump thinks he knows how to make reality television xD.

    This was all done to force Zelensky’s capitulation to Trump’s will, that’s it. When that didn’t work, he turned on the cameras and tried to make Zelensky look bad. Abyssmal failure, as are most of Trump’s ideas.

    • @[email protected]
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      131 day ago

      Yeah Trump thought it would increase pressure on Zelenskyy and force him to look weak on live TV. Backfired hard ofcourse…

  • Jack Hughman
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    311 day ago

    They’re literally just schoolyard bullies that got voted in by other schoolyard bullies.

  • @whaleross
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    321 day ago

    Remember during the first Trump era when he was meeting international leaders and doing that stupid teenage douche power pull handshake?

    It’s a continuation of the same ideas. Trump has always inflated himself in similar ways in public settings and will do so until he is dead.

  • @gimmelemmy
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    101 day ago

    Because there is nothing quite so good for ratings as live, unscripted, dramatic political theater

  • troed
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    141 day ago

    It helps if you add that they let the Russian regime TV channel TASS in to livestream from the Oval Office as well.

  • @apfelwoiSchoppen
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    1 day ago

    They are imbecilic strongmen, they think they are all powerful and think doing this in public is proof of their superiority. It only proved the opposite, as we all know. Petulant children have more restraint.

    • @[email protected]
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      111 day ago

      Can we please find a better name than “strong man” for these fucking clowns? They wouldn’t recognize strength, even when it’s sitting right next to them in the oval office.

      • @AA5B
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        117 hours ago

        A child’s idea of a strong man?

      • @apfelwoiSchoppen
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        It isn’t a compliment. Sorry I made a typo. Strongman is what they are, authoritarians who exert will through military means and believe themselves to be populist. Each are are the opposite of a strong man.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 hours ago

          Yeah, I figured it was a typo, but even the term strongman is far too romantized a term, they are just facist fucks and an insult to the word strong.

  • @Kyrgizion
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    141 day ago

    Daddy Putin’s express instructions is my guess. “You dress him down live or…”

  • @Visstix
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    91 day ago

    You weren’t convinced yet? Are you blind?

    • @TankovayaDiviziyaOP
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      61 day ago

      It is too simplistic to say someone is on another’s pocket when it could be attributed to simple ideological kinship (no one had said Mussolini is in Hitler’s pocket, until of course Italy surrendered to the Allies and Mussolini was rescued by Hitler). But with the ridiculous stunt and Trump wanting to normalise relations with Russia, it is becoming obvious.

      • @gusgalarnyk
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        41 day ago

        He’s been sabotaging Ukraine since day one and parroting Russian propaganda lines since day one and Russia has worked hard to get trump and the republicans in office. The writing has been on every single wall for the past 10 years.

  • @ladicius
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    51 day ago

    Ruzzian script demanded it like the other shit that’s coming from that dumpsterfire of an “administration”.

    No more intel against ruzzia… You need to know more?

  • @[email protected]
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    21 day ago

    Your question already imply an answer: they wanted it to be on TV

    To me the situation looks quite clear: people are calling up for more war and military spending, that’s what governments ever wanted. People are getting fooled with a gimmick as simple as a scapegoat.

    • @Eheran
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      31 day ago

      Can you elaborate what you mean?

      • @[email protected]
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        -51 day ago

        You may believe that our rulers, the one who sit in the government, are good people there to serve justice and help others but a normal person that has no authoritarian ambitions and who believe in fairness would never end up in such position, especially when the system is as much corrupted as it can be and plagued with bad actors. Governments are not your fiends, rulers seek power, they seek wealth and war and stacking weapons is a leverage to those things. So called first world countries are built on exploiting the shit out of third world countries. Governments and rulers benefit from wars and exploitation, it grands them even more power and wealth, they want more war not less, they have always been seeking war and rulers have always clashed with each others.

  • ZeroOne
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    -11 day ago

    If you genuinely think Putin is some master manipulator, then I feel really sorry for you.

    It’s just Trump being Trump

    • @TankovayaDiviziyaOP
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      71 day ago

      Someone mentioned letting in pro-Kremlin outlet TASS film the event. Trump just ordered to stop cyber operations against Russia and lift the sanctions.

      If that doesn’t scream Putin influence, I don’t know what is.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness
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      61 day ago

      I mean Putin worked for 16 years in the KGB before going on to dismantle a democracy. He better be a master manipulator.

      • I Cast Fist
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        31 day ago

        Eh, I don’t think anyone would’ve called Russia a democracy after the end of the USSR. It was a complete shitshow during the whole 90s

        • NoneOfUrBusiness
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          41 day ago

          Putin was elected in free and fair elections in 2000 and 2004, so Russia was enough of a democracy to just… elect someone else.

          • @[email protected]
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            20 hours ago

            and america is following in their wonderful footsteps. democrats too spineless to challenge oligarchs in defense of workers and republicans too rapid to bother.

  • @prime_number_314159
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    01 day ago

    Trump wants peace now, and to buy economic ties between the US and Ukraine. He feels that US involvement and attention alone will be enough to keep Putin from attacking again, and prefers a quick settlement so he can parade around a success.

    Zelensky believes that this is not the groundwork for lasting peace, and that there has to be even more egg on Putin’s face from this war, to the point that he publicly regrets starting it. He wants Trump to condemn terrible actions by Putin, which Trump refuses to do because it will thwart any rapid peace deal.

    I think each side thought the other would see things their way if they met, and that was never going to happen. Zelensky wants a victory because that is the only thing that will scare Russia away from trying again, and Trump wants a settlement because that will look the best for him, and be fastest. Without the same goals, they cannot see eye to eye.

    • @Sterile_Technique
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      81 day ago

      Trump wants peace now

      What in Trump’s miserable life gave you the indication that he gives a sliver of fuck about peace?

      • wildncrazyguy138
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        81 day ago

        He campaigned on it the first go round. His actions also during that presidency reflect it - remember he was the one that brokered the awful deal with the Taliban.

        He cozies up to dictators because he doesn’t want to fight them and he abuses our allies because he knows they won’t fight the US, which he thinks gives him leverage.

        Or as I’ve heard it, he speaks loudly and carries a little stick.

      • @prime_number_314159
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        21 day ago

        He says he wants it, and he would 100% parade it around, and say how great he is at negotiation. (“It’s unbelievable, they said I couldn’t do it, but…” etc)

        He certainly wants to look like someone that makes peace deals, whether he cares about the real people being killed or not.

    • @TankovayaDiviziyaOP
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      31 day ago

      Trump wants peace now,

      I do know that Trump wants to end the war in Ukraine quickly so that he can focus his attention to China. But televising the shouting match on live TV is ridiculous.