Today in Politics, Bulletin 189. 8/18/25

… Trump was caught on a hot mic telling European leaders today after his meeting with Zelensky that Putin might agree to a peace deal with Ukraine just to help him out and do him a personal favor so he can look good: "I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds."

… Present at the meeting today at WH: UK PM Keir Starmer, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Sec-Gen Mark Rutte, EU President Ursula von der Leyen.

… When Trump met face-to-face with Zelensky before the cameras, he was very low energy and accommodating, trying to save face after his disaster in Alaska with Putin by claiming that he just wants peace and the war to end and he will do everything possible to help Ukraine. No specifics were announced, no deals or agreements, just more of the same nonsensical whining about how unfair it is that he doesn’t get any credit from the world or the press for his skills as a negotiator.

… Former Air Force officer Jake Broe gave his theory on why Trump was so subdued in this meeting: “Zelensky is a genius. He started his one-on-one meeting with Trump by thanking Melania Trump for sending Putin a letter asking for Ukraine's children to be returned. Zelensky then gave trump a letter for his wife from the First Lady of Ukraine. Trump was pretty mild after that.”

… European political analyst Aleksandar Djokic: “My impression from the Trump-Zelensky meeting is that all Zelensky has to do is never say a direct ‘no’ to Trump, because Putin will not agree on strong Western security guarantees to Ukraine or a trilateral meeting that will actually resemble negotiations. So far it hasn't gone awry. It's more theater than a historical meeting, but no catastrophe has occurred, and it doesn't look like Trump will blame Ukraine straight away.”

… Djokic: “The feeling is he'll go after Russia for a spell. Zelensky said he'll discuss the territorial issues on the meeting with Putin, which is an excellent ploy because Putin will not agree to meet with Zelensky if every point is not decided in advance. Europeans keep talking about a ceasefire. Trump keeps wishing for a trilateral meeting. An amicable cacophony.”

… Rep. Marge Greene’s boyfriend Brian Glenn, who went after Zelensky at the last meeting because he wasn’t wearing a suit, complimented Zelensky for wearing a suit jacket this time (but no tie). Zelensky replied: “And you’re still wearing the same suit as last time. I changed, you didn’t.”

… Greene lamely tried to defend Glenn on X after he got owned by Zelensky: “I’d like to recognize Brian Glenn for his success in upholding the proper WH wardrobe attire. If Brian had never asked Zelensky the question, ‘why don’t you wear a suit, do you own a suit?’ I’m not sure he would have ever worn one to visit our great and respected President!!”

… Foreign affairs journalist Olga Nesterova: “Both Trump and Zelensky were on their best behavior. If you listen carefully, Trump delivered all Russian standpoints. Fox confirms WH message that ‘Trump will make a case for land swap, but it’s up to Ukrainian people to accept it. Plus no NATO.’ So Ukraine will be blamed (if there is no deal). NOTHING IS NEW.”

… After the meeting with Zelensky when Trump met with the rest of the European leaders, he seemed much less enthused about this meeting, which he clearly didn’t want. He led off by commenting that Putin should be included in the next meeting.

… German Chancellor Merz suggested that there should be a precondition to Putin’s involvement : "I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So let's work on that and let's try to put pressure on Russia because the credibility of these efforts we are undertaking today depends on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations."

… Trump then said he disagreed and a ceasefire was not necessary before the next meeting with Putin.

… French President Macron: “When we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent and this is why we are all united here with Ukraine on this matter. You can be sure that Europeans are very lucid about the fact that they have their fair share in the security guarantees for Ukraine, but their own security is clearly at stake in this situation.”

… After everything was over, Trump posted this on Truth Social: “At the conclusion of the meeting, I called President Putin and began arrangements for a meeting between Putin and President Zelensky.”

… But before all that started, Trump this morning launched his illegal plan to try to take over elections from the states by executive order after Putin told him mail-in ballots result in fraud: “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election. We are now the only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting. All others gave it up because of the MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD ENCOUNTERED.”

… There are many countries, including Russia, that use mail-in ballots.

… Trump continued: “WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections. Remember, the States are merely an “agent” for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do. THE MAIL-IN BALLOT HOAX, USING VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER, MUST END, NOW!!!”

… Alexander Vindman: “This is a perfect example of an effective influence campaign. After a meeting with Putin, where Putin questioned the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, Trump launches a campaign to end mail-in. I don’t think many people understand how easy it is to puppeteer Trump.”

… Former VA Rep. Barbara Comstock: “Putin plays Trump for the dope he is and Trump repeated false Putin talking points about mail in ballots. Trump’s staff also apparently sat there ignorant of Russia and mail in ballot policy and didn’t correct Putin or inform their boss before he embarrassed himself by repeating falsehoods. This is what happens when you remove experts and allow Putin to ride in the car alone with an easy mark.”

… Trump also blamed Zelensky for the war again in an early post, although he didn’t do that later to his face: “President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight. Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE.”

… “I’ve settled 6 Wars in 6 months, one of them a possible Nuclear disaster, and yet I have to read & listen to the WSJ, and many other who truly don’t have a clue, tell me everything that I am doing wrong on the Russia/Ukraine MESS, that is Sleepy Joe Biden’s war, not mine. I know exactly what I’m doing, and I don’t need the advice of people who have been working on all of these conflicts for years, and were never able to do a thing to stop them. They are ‘STUPID’ people, with no common sense, intelligence, or understanding, and they only make the current R/U disaster more difficult to FIX.”

… WSJ’s Yaroslav Trofimov addressed reports that the Trump admin will insist that Ukraine agree to Putin’s demand that it surrender 3 territories to Russia: “On the subject of mighty Russia allegedly winning the war: ever since the Ukrainian counteroffensives stalled in Nov. 2022, Russia managed to seize a total of 0.97% of additional Ukrainian territory, losing several hundred thousand soldiers in the process. To put things in perspective, the northern Donbas that Ukraine is being asked to gift to Russia is a larger territory.”

… Statement from the UK Ministry of Defence: “Based on the rate of Russia’s incremental battlefield advances so far in 2025, it would take Russian forces approximately 4.4 more years to gain 100% of the 4 Ukrainian territories. Based on the average daily casualty rate, this would lead to approximately 1.93 million further Russian casualties.”

… Gavin Newsom’s new strategy mocking Trump’s crazed posts on Truth Social, where he frequently posts a series of unhinged memes from QAnon accounts that worship him as the new messiah, has been a huge hit. For years I have argued that the only way to deal with these people is to publicly mock and ridicule them, and this has been a brilliant way to do it. MAGA has alternated between not understanding the joke or raging about how obnoxious Newsom is with the posts.

… CNN: “Newsom’s press office’s social media account has become a multi-aide operation itself and shifted to a Trump-aping full-time troll, complete with schoolyard nicknames and ‘THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!’ sign-offs. Asked last week by a reporter to defend the tone he’s adopted online, Newsom said, ‘If you have issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns with what he’s putting out as president.’”

… Even after several days, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) still hasn’t been able to figure out this is a troll operation designed to make Trump look ridiculous and his most loyal followers look like brain-dead cultists.

… Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced today that he was sending MS National Guard troops to DC to join troops already there from South Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia.

… WUSA9: “DC restaurants saw a more than 25% drop in diners in the days following Trump’s takeover of the city’s police dept. On Mon, the day Trump announced he would invoke the DC Home Rule Act and federalize the city’s police dept for the first time in history, online reservations dropped by 16% compared to the same date in 2024. On Tues reservations were down 27%. On Wed they were down 31%.”

… “The city now stands nearly alone among the largest 20 US cities tracked by OpenTable in having a drop in Aug dining reservations compared to last year. Only Las Vegas, which has seen its own economy buffeted by Trump’s immigration and trade policies, has seen fewer diners this month than Aug 2024.”

… DC independent journalist Anarchy Princess has chronicled the response around town: “DC is a ghost town tonight. Empty busses and trains. Even metro center was nearly empty. All the usual bar areas dead. Not really any Feds around tonight. Just MPD. The National Mall was a ghost town earlier too and that place should be packed on a weekend.”

… DC US Attorney and former Fox host Jeanine Pirro was on Fox this morning talking about DC residents protesting the federal military invasion: "They should kiss the ground at this point that you've got someone who wants to make this city safe again."

… Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): “For too long, our capital has been a WARZONE.”

… WaPo: “The Republican Party of FL was pushing a new line of merchandise Friday: baseball caps, T-shirts, mugs and insulating drink sleeves with ‘THE DEPORT DEPOT’ in blocky stencil font diagonally across a bright orange square. Two days later, after Home Depot expressed concern about the unapproved use of its branding, the items had been scrubbed from the Florida GOP’s digital storefront and posts on X about the new line had been deleted.“

… Home Depot’s Beth Marlowe issued a statement: “We don’t allow any organization to use our branding or logo for their commercial purposes, and we did not approve this use.”

First Bulletin back after my first week off in long time and it was totally unplugged and offline. We loved Quebec - the people and the culture. Stayed in Levis first day and took ferry across river to Q City for dinner. Then continued to the small villages in the Gaspe Peninsula. Took 2 hour car ferry across the St. Lawrence for whale watching in Tadoussac - saw 10-12 whales in the Saguenay Fjord. Went to Lac St. Jean to take a cheese and butter making class. Ended the week on top of a mountain near Lac Beauport and went on a 12-mile whitewater kayaking trip down Riviere Jacques Cartier. Our first trip with no guide and I ended up in the river twice, which gave me even more respect for guides.

My last vacation for a long time and we got the most out of it. It was also great to unplug from the US - we only ran into one American couple the entire time and they were from northern Vermont. The first thing I saw when I got back and opened X was a meme of Gavin Newsom’s face on Mt. Rushmore, so I knew that politics in America was still not boring while I was away. Next Bulletin tomorrow!

… MAGA was melting down on social media over the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings adding a male cheerleader. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA): “I don’t think the NFL actually wants conservatives to watch their football games. And I must say if that’s the NFL business model, they’re doing very, very well.”

… They have been doing well. Despite the fact that this is something like the 126th MAGA boycott of the league since Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the anthem in 2016.

… The Vikings issued a statement: “While many fans may be seeing male cheerleaders for the first time at Vikings games, male cheerleaders have been part of