Did Trump Sell Out America in Alaska?

A Saturday Prompt

So pleased to see the Kremlin’s boss: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin greet each other in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Andrew Harnik via Getty Images)

The first minutes after Donald Trump descended the stairs from Air Force One revealed his mindset. As Russian President and war criminal Vladimir Putin walked toward him along a red carpet rolled out for him from his Russian aircraft, the so-called U.S. president clapped, then warmly shook his hand. His excitement and pleasure in seeing this man was palpable.

Soon Putin was directed into the backseat of The Beast, the presidential limo, where he and Trump could speak privately before the more official meeting. As the car began moving from the joint military base, Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Putin could be seen chuckling and waving from the window.

This was clearly a good day for Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has since injured or killed an estimated 400,000 Ukrainians and nearly a million Russians. This includes the murder and kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children and other civilians, which are among the reasons Putin has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and for which the ICC has issued an arrest warrant.

But those first minutes in Anchorage portrayed Donald Trump’s utter indifference toward the criminality or immorality of Putin’s actions. Like a Russian asset, he told us how proud he was to be standing beside the Russian dictator. Questions of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and its courageous commitment to defending democracy could not have been further from Trump’s mind, not to mention America’s own obligations as a historically democratic nation and member of NATO. So much for his hollow campaign pledge to end the war in one day.

Reporters and commentators spent the hours after The Beast left the tarmac speculating over the prospects of these two men—without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—reaching “a deal” for a ceasefire from the daily death and dying in Ukraine. But soon we would learn there was no deal reached, no end to the conflict, no momentary cessation of the bombings and other horrific facts of war. Soon we would see these two men standing in front of a backdrop titled “Pursuing Peace.”

It’s worth reading Trump and Putin’s full remarks after their meeting, for which Trump brought his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. But take note that Putin spoke first, took time to flatter Trump and “confirm” there would have been no war if Trump had been president in 2022, and insisted that reaching a “lasting” end to the war requires eliminating “all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict” and the consideration of “all legitimate concerns of Russia.”

As for Trump, he unsurprisingly bloviated that “we really made some great progress today. I've always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir.” Worse, he repeated multiple times how he and “Vladimir” had to “put up” with the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.”

But the more striking detail in Trump’s uncharacteristically short statement was his focus on moneymaking with Russia. In addition to the people brought to discuss the war, “We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here. And I think, you know, everybody wants to deal with us,” Trump said. “We've become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time, and we look forward to that. We look forward to dealing—we're going to try and get this over with.”

Billed as a press conference, neither Trump nor Putin answered any questions from the assembled reporters. It’s not as if Trump would act like a democratic president committed to a free press, especially on American soil.

Yes, Trump pledged in his remarks that he would speak to Zelensky and NATO and European leaders, but we are left to wonder whether Trump achieved his primary interests in the backseat of the presidential limo or during the multi-hour meeting that failed to achieve even a single day’s ceasefire. (By this morning, Trump disgracefully dropped his push for a ceasefire, matching Putin’s stated preference for an overall agreement.)

In his warm embrace of Putin—in stark contrast to his appallingly abusive treatment of President Zelensky in the Oval Office in February—Trump once again betrayed our democracy and our nation’s commitment to democracy around the world. The dismantling of the values and principles that have defined America continued yesterday in Alaska.

So what do you think? Did Trump sell out America in Alaska? Do you think his primary concern was a quick end to the war? Or was he more than glad to make clear to everyone watching that he values an alliance with Putin above all else? Did this meeting tell you that Trump is determined to advance a global realignment with fellow autocrats, no matter how strong may be the opposition domestically? Do you think Trump made a private deal with Putin? And do you still see prospects for peace in Ukraine?

As always, I look forward to reading your thoughts and the opportunity for this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your comments. Trolling will not be tolerated.

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