The Conversation -- August 17, 2025

⭐Trump, Traitor to Western Democracy. Here is the New York Times liveblog for Saturday on the Trump-Putin debacle: “... [Donald] Trump on Saturday split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, backing Mr. Putin’s plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding territory it controls to Russia, instead of the urgent cease-fire Mr. Trump had said he wanted before the meeting. Skipping cease-fire discussions would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are expected to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visits Mr. Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Mr. Trump and European allies, as well as Mr. Zelensky, had agreed to before the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska. Mr. Trump told European leaders that he believed a rapid peace deal could be negotiated if Mr. Zelensky agreed to give up the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops, according to two senior European officials briefed on the call. In return, Mr. Putin offered a cease-fire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again, the senior officials said. He has broken similar promises before.” This is part of the pinned item at 2:45 pm ET. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Marie: Apparently the "J" in "Donald J. Trump" stands for "Neville." All we need now is a rambling "peace in our time" speech with possibly some references to "Cats," "DEI," "fescue," and how he won the 2020 election "by a landslide like nobody's ever seen." Or, if you want to get all alphabetically correct about it, maybe the "J" is for "Judas." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a related Washington Post story that lets on how giddy Russians are about Putin's steamrolling the guy who put his name & face on the ghostwritten Art of the Deal. 

Peter Baker of the New York Times: “On the flight to Alaska..., [Donald] Trump declared that if he did not secure a cease-fire in Ukraine during talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, 'I’m not going to be happy,' and there would be 'severe consequences.' Just hours later, he got back on Air Force One and departed Alaska without the cease-fire he deemed so critical. Yet he had imposed no consequences, and had pronounced himself so happy with how things went with Mr. Putin that he said 'the meeting was a 10.' Even in the annals of Mr. Trump’s erratic presidency, the Anchorage meeting with Mr. Putin now stands out as a reversal of historic proportions.

“Mr. Trump abandoned the main goal he brought to his subarctic summit and, as he revealed on Saturday, would no longer even pursue an immediate cease-fire. Instead, he bowed to Mr. Putin’s preferred approach of negotiating a broader peace agreement requiring Ukraine to give up territory. The net effect was to give Mr. Putin a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending time-consuming negotiations for a more sweeping deal that appears elusive at best. Instead of a halt to the slaughter — “I’m in this to stop the killing,” Mr. Trump had said on the way to Alaska — the president left Anchorage with pictures of him and Mr. Putin joshing on a red carpet and in the presidential limousine....”

Heather Cox Richardson writes a good summary of the meeting & aftermath.

Kim Barker & Oleksandra Mykolyshyn of the New York Times: “Evacuees at a shelter in eastern Ukraine reacted angrily to talk that land that has long been theirs could be given to Russia in exchange for peace.... Half a world away [from the Alaska debacle], people who had recently fled the fighting in that region for a shelter near the city of Pavlohrad said the whole summit felt like an insult. The fact that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was not invited. The fact that Mr. Trump had treated Mr. Putin like a friend instead of a man under U.S. sanctions, who is a wanted war criminal in Europe. The fact that the world was now talking about Ukraine permanently giving up land to Russia for peace. It was all too much.”

Josh Boak of the AP: “Melania Trump took the unique step of crafting a letter that calls for peace in Ukraine, having her husband ... Donald Trump hand-deliver it to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Friday meeting in Alaska. The letter did not specifically name Ukraine, which Putin’s forces invaded in 2022, but beseeched him to think of children and 'an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology.' Nor did the American first lady discuss the fighting other than to say to Putin that he could  'singlehandedly restore' the 'melodic laughter' of children who have been caught in the conflict.”

Here's the view of the Trump-Putin buddyfest from Kiev Independent. (Also linked yesterday.)

Barak Ravid of Axios: "After his summit with Russian President Putin in Alaska on Friday..., Trump will meet Ukrainian President Zelensky for what could be a difficult meeting at the White House on Monday afternoon.... Trump's positions coming out of the meeting — that he no longer supports a ceasefire, and it's 'up to President Zelensky' to make peace — appear highly unfavorable to Ukraine.... Zelensky and Trump announced their upcoming meeting after a phone call between Trump, the Ukrainian president and several NATO leaders during which the president briefed them on his meeting with Putin. The call, which lasted more than an hour an a half, 'was not easy,' a source with direct knowledge said. The meeting will take place six months after their disastrous Oval Office meeting in February." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Felicia Schwartz, et al., of Politico: “Plans are in the works to send at least one of Trump’s favorite interlocutors, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, along with [President] Zelenskyy when he comes to Washington Monday to meet with Trump.... The idea is that Stubb can help prevent any flare-ups between Trump and Zelenskyy and convince the U.S. president to include Europe in any further talks.... Europe and Ukraine see Monday’s summit as key to making sure that Trump does not accede to demands from Putin that they find unacceptable, such as ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia that Moscow has only partially taken control of.”

Totalitarian and wannabe totalitarian regimes only hire incompetent hacks. -- Paul Krugman, coining Arendt's Law ~~~

~~~ Chiara Eisner of NPR: "Papers with U.S. State Department markings, found Friday morning in the business center of an Alaskan hotel, revealed previously undisclosed and potentially sensitive details about the Aug. 15 meetings between ... Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in Anchorage. Eight pages, that appear to have been produced by U.S. staff and left behind accidentally, shared precise locations and meeting times of the summit and phone numbers of U.S. government employees. At around 9 a.m. on Friday, three guests at Hotel Captain Cook, a four-star hotel located 20 minutes from the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage where leaders from the U.S. and Russia convened, found the documents left behind in one of the hotel's public printers." ~~~

    ~~~ Marie: I heard pundits worrying on the teevee Friday that when Trump gave Putin a ride in the Beast, Putin -- a former KGB agent -- would plant a bug in the Beast. Is unnecessary, Natasha. Trump's people are leaving all state secrets on copier in our hotel. 

It's Always Loomer Time in Trump's Washington. Hamed Aleaziz & Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: “The Trump administration announced Saturday that it had paused approvals of visitor visas for people from Gaza, a key pathway for those seeking medical care in the United States, including young children who arrived in recent weeks with serious conditions. The State Department said it would assess the process behind those visas. 'All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review,' the department said in a statement on X Saturday morning. The move came after an intense lobbying campaign by the right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who called the incoming flights a 'national security threat' in a flurry of social media posts starting on Friday that targeted a nonprofit aiding in medical evacuations.” The Guardian's story is here. MB: It's okay if children suffer & die as long as an insane anti-Muslim bigot is happy. Nice work, Marco, you heartless invertebrate. 

Karen DeYoung & Gaya Gupta of the Washington Post: “Three Republican-led states, responding to a Trump administration request, said Saturday they will send up to 750 National Guard troops to join 800 already mobilized in D.C. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he would deploy 200 troops “to stand with ... [Donald] Trump as he works to restore law and order to our nation’s capital.” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he was sending 150 military police from the state’s National Guard. The Ohio Guard members are expected to arrive to D.C. in the coming days, DeWine said in a statement. They followed West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who said 300 to 400 National Guard troops would be called up.” An AP story is here.

Emma Nicholson of CBS News: "A White House official told CBS News Saturday that the National Guard members deployed to Washington, D.C., as part of ... [Donald] Trump's effort to address crime in the nation's capital and take control of the city's police force 'may be armed,' but that Guard members would not make arrests. 'The National Guard is not making arrests at this time – they may be armed, consistent with their mission and training, to protect federal assets, provide a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests, and deter violent crime with a visible law enforcement presence,' the official said."

Sam Stein of the Bulwark: "On Saturday morning, a group of officers with vests that said only police tased what appeared to be a deliveryman. The confrontation took place on 14th Street [in Washington, D.C.], one block from Le Diplomate, a popular brunch destination for Washington’s political elite. The officers refused to identify themselves. The incident was caught on video by a person who sent it to The Bulwark.... The Metropolitan Police Department said the officers were not with the MPD." See also this tweet by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff of the Washington Post; it also includes video of the incident.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, who lives in Washington, D.C., relates how her sister Peggy's beloved Buick just got carjacked, and after she the car back, someone T-boned it (i.e., another car ran into the side of her car). Then Peggy found out she got $1,800 worth of speed-camera tickets, courtesy of the carjackers. Trump, “the diva of distraction[,] is putting on a show.... But progressives should not fall into Trump’s trap and play down crime, once more getting on the wrong side of an inflammatory issue. As with inflation, they should remember that personal experiences can count more than sanguine statistics.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Erica Green of the New York Times: “As ... [Donald] Trump made the case for militarizing the streets of Washington, he used pictures of 'homegrown terrorists' to illustrate his point that crime in the nation’s capital was out of control. 'Look at these people here,' Mr. Trump said at a news conference last week, flipping through a handout from the White House containing five mug shots, all people of color. 'They will never be an asset to society,' he said. 'I don’t care. I know we all want to say, “Oh, they’re going to be rehabbed.” They’re not going to be rehabbed.' The declaration provided a window into the president’s selective view of criminality and redemption. In his eyes, Capitol rioters, a triple murderer, two police officers involved in covering up the killing of a Black man, and an Israeli settler accused of extremist violence all deserve a second chance. But the people accused of crimes in Washington are irredeemable. Mr. Trump, himself a felon, has shown particular leniency to criminals he seems to identify with — people who are white or wealthy, or who he believes have been unfairly persecuted, or who rioted in his name on Jan. 6, 2021.”

Donald Trump Doesn't Care About Homeless People. Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: “After years of homeless encampments spreading across downtown, officials [in Dallas, Texas,] tried something new: They enforced a local law against sleeping on the streets. And instead of shuffling people to other neighborhoods, they offered wraparound social services — and a permanent place to live. The approach worked. Even as homelessness nationwide has surged to record levels, Dallas has emerged as a national model.... But in Washington, as ... Donald Trump decries homelessness and pledges to clear out 'slums' in big cities, the administration is looking to end the program that fueled Dallas’s success as part of a broader overhaul of federal homelessness funding. Meanwhile, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner has blasted the program ... as 'a tool by the left to push a woke agenda at the expense of people in need.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Because homeless people aren't "people in need"?? I'd say Scott, who grew up in Dallas & represented a nearby area in the state legislature, got hit in the head too many times while playing the footballs.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Over the first several months of his freshman term in Washington, Representative Rob Bresnahan Jr., Republican of Pennsylvania, became one of the most active stock traders in Congress, despite having campaigned for his seat on a promise to end stock trading by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Now Mr. Bresnahan’s trading is attracting more scrutiny after he made several transactions that appeared to benefit from the consequences of his own votes on the House floor. Democrats are working to weaponize Mr. Bresnahan’s trades against him as they plot a campaign to oust him in next year’s midterm elections.... As of Thursday, he had made 626 stock trades since taking office, according to Capitol Trades.... That number made him the second-most-active trader this Congress.... [There is] at least the appearance ... that he could be benefiting financially from votes he made in Congress in favor of elements of ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic policy agenda that could end up harming his constituents.”

David Goodman of the New York Times: “Thousands gathered in cities across the country on Saturday to protest ... [Donald] Trump's plan to keep control of Congress after the 2026 midterms by pushing Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps in favor of Republicans.... On Saturday, progressive activists, labor groups and pro-democracy organizations put together more than 300 political events and rallies, looking to galvanize voters who may be angry at the Trump administration but may view the process of redrawing district lines as opaque and unrelated to their concerns. The biggest event appeared to be at the Texas Capitol in Austin, where a two-week-long walkout by dozens of Democratic state representatives has temporarily prevented Republican lawmakers from passing a redrawn map. Crowds packed together in the August heat to hear from activists and lawmakers, including a pair of Democratic U.S. House members from Austin, Lloyd Doggett and Greg Casar. The two members would find themselves competing for a single Austin congressional seat under the proposed Republican map. Organizers said several thousand people took part. 'Do not allow this moment to pass without a fight,' Beto O’Rourke, the former El Paso congressman, told the crowd.”

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Canada. Matina Stevis-Gridneff & Ian Austen of the New York Times: “Just under 12 hours after Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job, seeking better wages, the government imposed binding arbitration to shut down the strike and avert mounting travel chaos. 'The impact of the work stoppage at Air Canada that began early this morning is already being felt by travelers,' Patty Hajdu, the labor minister in the Liberal government, told reporters. 'This is causing significant harm and has negative impacts on Canadians and the Canadian economy.' Air Canada will not immediately begin flying, she said. An independent industrial labor relations board will need 24 to 48 hours for a review before issuing a back-to-work order. Ms. Hajdu said that Air Canada has told the government that restoring full service would take an additional five to 10 days.”