MS NOW’s David Rohde didn’t pull any punches when discussing the stalemate in negotiations the US is engaging in with Russia and Ukraine, and pinned the Trump administration’s softness on Putin, in part, on Donald Trump Jr.
After former diplomat Richard Stengel claimed that Trump administration negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff believe they can “offer business deals” to Putin to get him to acquiesce, he added, “Putin isn't a rational actor. He's not going to stop invading Ukraine because he has a Starbucks in Moscow or because there's some business deal. He already is wealthy beyond the dreams of Croesus and has made everyone around him wealthy.”
“So the part of the problem is that we haven't used the stick enough,” he complained. “We've been treating him with honey from the very beginning.”
“Makes you wonder why,” host Stephanie Ruhle interjected.
“We’ve always wondered why,” Stengel shrugged. “And we don't know the answer. But speaking of this kind of post-Trump world and post-American world, the Europeans are figuring out we have to help Ukrainians more because the Americans are not there for them.”
Rohde jumped in to add, “I just want to say on Trump and Witkoff and that mentality, I just think it's a useful idiot model. That's the Cold War term where there's an American that the Russians feel they can manipulate through propaganda. And it's that they sort of they get them.”
“This is part of the wedding thing with Don Jr. “ he pointed out. “You know, we talked about that on a previous show. ‘The Russians aren't so bad. There are all these great business opportunities. The lefties are, you know, attacking Putin too much.’ And that's just ridiculous. Again, this is an authoritarian regime; he poisoned and killed his primary opponent and he's, you know, sacrificing thousands of lives for an invasion that never should have happened in Ukraine.”