**Donald Trump is “literally carrying out Putin’s agenda,” **a top Democrat asserts, as the president stands accused of pressuring Ukraine to surrender.
A big ol’
*happy ten year anniversary!*to the day President Donald Trump▶famously insisted, on a debate stage with Hillary Clinton, that he wasn’t Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s puppet. “No puppet. No puppet,” he stammered. “You’re the puppet!” A decade later, it sometimes seems like Putin has a tighter grip on Trump than Jim Henson ever▶had on Kermit the Frog.
“He is literally carrying out Putin’s agenda,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a high-ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told
What A Day. “He’s weakening our traditional alliances in a way that, I think, Putin 10 years ago couldn’t have dreamed.”
As Trump officials
struggle to defendthe president’s submission to Putin, Ukraine is scrambling to convince lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to protect its sovereignty — in a stunning example of how the Trump administration has abandoned a key U.S. ally.
Trump’s attitude towards Ukraine has always been a bit frosty. This past week, it froze over. He struck a
massive oil dealwith Russia, allowing the country to export diesel (in an attempt to reduce costs that spiked thanks to Trump’s own war with Iran). Hetemporarily waivedeconomic and energy sanctions on Russia, which he had just signed into law a month before. The White Housereportedly limitedUkraine’s access to a key military satellite system, leaving the country temporarily vulnerable to missile and drone attacks. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy raised concerns about these actions, Trumpretorted: “Zelenskyy is not a good guy for us to deal with.”
Zelenskyy accused Trump of pressuring his country to surrender. “I believe steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate,” he
told Bloomberg.
Russia is seizing the opportunity, and hoping to crush Ukraine this winter.
Putin
proposed a summitwith Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month, in which the trio would discuss an end to the war in Ukraine that would be favorable to Moscow,according to the.Wall Street Journal
“Let me make sure I heard you right,” Coons said when I mentioned this news. “Putin wants to host a meeting between Xi and Trump to end the war… that he started against Ukraine. Not a meeting with Zelenskyy for a ceasefire to end the war that [Putin] started? A meeting with Xi? Do I hear you right?”
*You heard me right,*I responded. “That is insane,” Coons said. “This is another effort by Putin to distract from the core facts of the moment, which is that he’s the one who started the war against Ukraine, and if he wants to stop it, he can stop it any day he wants.”
A handful of Republican lawmakers are in the same boat at Coons. Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
𝕏recently accusedTrump of “capitulating” to Putin, and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) recently led a delegation to Kyiv. Most Republicans, however, are too afraid to cross Trump on any issue, let alone one of his largest foreign policy debacles.
“This is an existential, critical moment for Ukraine,” said Coons, who is expected to become chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee if Democrats win the upper chamber. “I’m going to be pushing my colleagues hard to act in ways that are in keeping with what they know are compelling national interests.”
Ukraine’s surrender “would be a tragedy and a huge strategic error,” Coons added. “I’ll be damned if that’s going to happen when I have anything to say about it.”
** Iran’s leaders hope to keep oil prices high ahead** of the midterms by escalating attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, to hurt Donald Trump and Republicans, according to Iranian officials. “They’re obsessed,” an Arab diplomat told the
** The Treasury Department plans to penalize** millions of Americans who are in default on their federal student loans next year, according to the Washington Sun. The plan is expected to be announced
** Residents in Washington, D.C. are fuming after **Trump unveiled a plan to transform the capital’s busiest public golf course into a PGA Tour-ready course. One of the main issues: Trump apparently plans to bulldoze public areas where families often picnic, grill, and fish, as well as the cherry blossom-lined bike path that’s incredibly popular among cyclists and runners.
** Trump is headed to Kansas tonight in his latest trip** to a deep-red state, underscoring how worried Republicans are about their odds of a blue wave in the midterms. You heard that right:
** On that note, former Sen. Joe Manchin is heading** to Maine to campaign for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). Manchin told Semafor that he “can’t remember” a bipartisan effort that Collins wasn’t involved in. Well, I can remember some partisan votes she
** Anthropic plans to commit 5 percent of its shares** to the “public good,” in its latest effort to differentiate itself from other tech firms as AI agents run amok. Broligarch Elon Musk, who also wants the world to know he means well,
** Donald Trump and Melania unveiled a new executive order** today that creates a White House task force, as well as a new division at the National Institute of Health, which will focus on issues that disproportionately affect women’s health. Trump, apparently, was totally unaware of the lack of resources dedicated to women’s health until Melania brought it to his attention. “When I heard about it, I said, “Are you sure they don’t have that?” Trump said. I’m skeptical that he won’t just DOGE this entire project immediately. But hey, it seems like a win for women’s health right now. And these days, I think we gotta take wins where we find ‘em!
** Larry David triggered many members of the **Democratic Socialists of America with a satirical essay over the weekend, which poked fun at the organization’s platform. I understand where the backlash is coming from, but I thought this faux proposal was funny: “There will be two siestas every business day, the first from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and another one in the afternoon, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Employers will be required to provide cots,”
** Conservation groups are equipping beavers with** “starter home” kits of wood and brush to encourage them to move into the neighborhood and build more dams, which make the environment more resilient by creating new habitats for native fish and slowing wildfires. Can I have a “starter home” too, please? I would happily build some dams in exchange!
** Japan launched a spaceship toward Mars in hopes **of collecting rock samples from its mysterious moons. (One of the two moons, named Phobos, looks like a deformed golf ball.) No spacecraft has ever landed on the moons before, or even retrieved samples from Mars. “There’s a lot of adrenaline and a lot of excitement and a lot of wow,” said a NASA astrophysicist involved with the project.
** A tiny Yorkie in North Carolina was caught on video** forcing a black bear to scramble up a tree and then chasing it out of the yard. I can’t believe this is actually real.
