Trump Just Threw EVERYONE For A Loop

Donald Trump and Vladimir 
Putin are having a falling out.

What happened to Trump having all the cards?

Welcome to America Uncovered.
I’m Matt Gnaizda.

Remember when everybody was talking 
about how Trump was Putin’s puppet?

And not just because Trump looks like 
a grown up Beaker from the Muppets.

Or how he was rootin’ for Putin?

How about the Trump-Putin alliance?

Well, things aren’t exactly 
as many make it out to be. 

It seems Trump has had it with Putin.
He came 
into office promising to end the Ukraine war… 

But Putin keeps smacking that 
idea down left and right. 

Now it looks like negotiations are out 
the window.
A very high window that Putin  

swears the negotiations fell out of by accident. 

Back in April when Russia launched a 
massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv, 

Trump told Vladimir to “STOP!”
This all happened soon after Trump  

said Russia was “ready to get a deal.”
I never watched ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’
but  

I’m pretty sure you don’t make one 
by trying to murder Wayne Brady. 

And even after Trump had a 2-hour call with 
Putin that he thought went “very well”, 

Things really haven’t improved since then.
Man, don’t you hate it when you’re talking  

to somebody on the phone
and you can tell 
they aren’t paying attention
and are doing  

something else,
like checking Instagram 
or laying siege to a sovereign nation? 

And the way Trump frames it makes it 
seem as though Putin snapped somehow. 

Which is like saying a Killer Whale snaps
when 
it kills a trainer at a theme park.
How are you  

surprised? Killer is literally in the name.
Trump went so far as to write that Putin  

“has gone absolutely CRAZY!”
Although to go crazy would imply  

having to go there from being not crazy.
This happened just before the biggliest of  

Russia’s drone and missile 
attacks against Ukraine. 

Now, this wouldn’t be the first time people have 
questioned
what’s going on in ole Putin’s noggin. 

And as of this recording, Putin has 
yet to show that he really wants to  

end the war.
War is the only thing that puts 
a smile on his face.
This is his smiling face. 

So Trump is now reportedly weighing sanctions…
And warned on Truth Social that
“What Vladimir  

Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t 
for me,
lots of really bad things would have  

already happened to Russia, and I mean 
REALLY BAD.
He’s playing with fire!” 

Though given Russia’s average yearly temperature 
is 30 below a witch’s teat,
playing with fire is  

kind of a Russian survival tactic.
So what happened?
Why hasn’t  

Trump been able to stop Putin from 
continuing his invasion of Ukraine? 

Keep in mind, Trump has done much 
to grease the wheels for Russia. 

He told off Ukrainian President Zelensky...
Had the US vote with Russia  

against a UN Resolution…
And spared Russia from new tariffs… 

All while being called a Putin ally
who 
“is indifferent to ongoing slaughter”. 

It was the greasiest wheels since 
a freshly fried batch of donuts. 

Of course media outlets are having a 
field day ripping Trump now…
About this,  

I mean.
They’ve been having a field 
day ripping him 24/7 since 2015. 

They’re casting Trump as being naive 
to think he could negotiate with Putin. 

He’s delusional, being played 
by Putin like a puppet. 

Though I’d say it was more like a 
doll
since Putin is totally a horse girl. 

It turns out Trump is finally 
waking up to Putin’s brutality! 

Even though Putin is far savvier than Trump!
But to be fair, Trump wasn’t entirely bending  

over for Putin.
He’s continuing  

intelligence and security assistance for Ukraine.
And he even threatened tariffs on Russian oil. 

So it’s more like he was greasing 
a wheel that had a boot on it. 

He also went with extending 
sanctions on Russian ships… 

And warned that he doesn’t 
want endless talks with Russia. 

Makes sense. Based on how often he posts 
on social media,
you can tell Trump  

hates calls and is much more of a texting guy.
But it’s pretty clear to see that since returning  

to office,
Trump has been much more focused 
on offering Russia carrots rather than sticks. 

The thing is, US presidents long before Trump 
thought they could negotiate with Putin. 

Bill Clinton said that “[Putin] kept 
his word in all the deals we made.” 

And George W. Bush famously said that 
he saw Putin’s soul and could trust him. 

Wow, I can’t believe a guy who chose 
Dick Cheney as his vice president
would  

have a hard time telling someone was 
evil when looking them in the eye. 

Well, it gradually dawned on some 
people
that maybe Russia can’t be trusted. 

Especially after they flattened Chechnya...
Invaded Georgia… 

Helped obliterate Syria…
And invaded Ukraine. 

Twice.
Yup, Putin’s real straightforward…
right  

into other people’s territory.
Bush gave some more detail in 2018  

by claiming “Russia was broke”
when 
he said he saw Putin’s soul. 

“Putin changed”.
That sounds all too familiar.
Which leads us to a very important point:
Many  

Americans believe, or at least publicly 
promote, some pretty naive myths. 

One of those myths is the idea
that 
authoritarian countries will behave with  

good-faith deals in exchange for economic gain.
This line of thinking was how the West got to do  

business with Russia…
And China! 

However, the US constantly underestimates
how 
much of a threat these countries might  

become.
And in doing so, the US helps 
them grow into dangerous adversaries. 

After his 2-hour call with Putin,
Trump 
told the world,
“Russia wants to do  

largescale TRADE with the United States
when this 
catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over, and I agree.” 

“There is a tremendous opportunity for 
Russia to create massive amounts of jobs  

and wealth.
Its potential is UNLIMITED.”
But Americans really underestimate
how  

far Russia is willing to go without the 
kind of economic deals Trump is promising. 

British commentator Konstantin 
Kisin brings up some very  

interesting points
that help explain why.
While Americans have a culture of openness,  

cooperation, and positivity,
they don’t have a history of being  

conquered by powerful enemies,
mass persecution, 
or extermination, like the rest of the world does. 

They’re okay with just making peace deals,
giving 
other countries the benefit of the doubt,
and  

letting bygones be bygones without 
worrying that it’ll come back to bite them. 

After all, look how things turned out with 
America’s former overlords the British… 

Its enemy Spain...
And Germany and Japan. 

Even Vietnam.
They’re pretty much friends now. 

But Russia’s different.
It was utterly devastated by foreigners like the  

Mongols and Europeans—
most famously Napoleon and 
a failed Austrian painter with a funny mustache. 

It’s had vast swathes of its population 
starved, diseased, raped, and wiped out  

for hundreds of years.
Not an excuse for Russia 
to do horrible things to other countries,
but  

it is understandable why Russia feels like it 
should do whatever it takes to assert power. 

Meanwhile, the biggest conflict many 
Americans have dealt with
is finding  

a parking space at Trader Joe’s.
So Putin’s not crazy, like Trump  

claims.
Nor has he suddenly changed his nature.
Putin has always looked at the world through a  

cold, zero-sum lens
where anything and everything 
is acceptable.
We’re talking about a former  

KGB officer in the Soviet Union,
a communist 
regime that murdered and imprisoned dissidents. 

No matter how devastated Russia 
is,
Putin will lie, manipulate,  

and kill to get what he wants
if he believes 
that’s what it takes to maintain Russian security. 

And in his eyes, maintaining influence 
over Ukraine is vital for that. 

If Trump wants a deal,
it needs to 
include more than promises of economic  

prosperity and trade.
It needs to include 
serious consequences for violating it. 

There’s another myth—and I think 
it’s a terrible one—
that the US  

should just keep its troops within its 
borders,
and deploy them overseas only  

if the US is directly attacked.
This idea comes from America’s  

history of never being conquered by 
another more powerful nation… yet. 

I see you Candy Land.
I know 
you’re biding your sweet time. 

It’s a popular stance,
especially 
among those who oppose any and all  

foreign aid to Ukraine and other countries.
The assumption is that if America doesn’t  

deploy forces abroad
or give military aid to other 
countries,
the US will be left alone in peace. 

Basically, treat others nicely and 
you'll be treated nicely in turn. 

But most countries in the real world 
don’t have the luxury to live like that. 

That’d be like saying
if you don’t help your 
neighbor get rid of their rats,
then the rats  

will leave you alone.
That’s not how rats 
work.
Especially when they’re desperate,
and  

trying to raise four teenage turtles on their own.
The US learned that the hard way
when it decided  

in the early 20th Century
to not keep 
a strong presence in the Indo-Pacific. 

Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Defense 
of Democracies
and friend of the show Cleo  

Paskal
points out that this was 
a major strategic miscalculation. 

It allowed Imperial Japan to expand into 
the Indo-Pacific,
which eventually helped  

lead to the attack on Pearl Harbor
and a war 
that cost more than 100,000 American lives. 

The US could’ve lost far less lives and 
resources
if it had the foresight to position  

itself in the Indo-Pacific better.
Plus no 
one would have ever had to suffer through  

a Michael Bay romance period piece.
It makes many think that the US could  

have something
even worse than Pearl Harbor 
happen again
if China decides to invade Taiwan, 

as it’s already expanding throughout the world.
And for a long time,
the US government has  

allowed this to happen.
Whether it’s with China  

or Russia—
and why not throw in Iran and North 
Korea, just for funsies—
many Americans believe  

that they can promote peace
through promises 
of economic prosperity and self-restraint. 

But that’s exactly what authoritarians 
exploit.
The feeling that you’re in control of  

the situation,
but they’re making you dance
like a puppet. 

So what do you think?
Leave your comments below.
And if you want to help us keep making episodes  

like this,
click the link below 
to join us at AmericaUncovered.tv. 

Once again, I’m Matt Gnaizda.
Thank 
you for watching America Uncovered.