Bulwark Takes - Trump Bashes Allies, Defends Putin at G7 Summit

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

JVL and Will Saletan discuss Donald Trump’s bizarre G7 comments where he defended Putin, blamed Obama and Trudeau for Russia’s aggression, and insulted America’s closest allies, all while ignoring why Russia was kicked out of the summit in the first place.

Hello everyone. This is JVL here with my colleague at the Bulwark, Will Salatan and Will, we are just moments, minutes, hours after the meeting of the G7 or is it the G8? Or is this like the G2? I don't even know what's happening. But the American president was out doing some presidenting with the Prime Minister of Canada. I think it went great, right? Everything went great. It was all totally normal and there's really nothing to report. I don't even know why we're doing this show.

So this is one of these amazing things that can only happen in a Trump administration. I can't say the Trump administration since we're in the second one. So every so often there's this meeting of the G7 and yeah, it used to be the G8 and it was the, the, the eight was Russia. It was, and Russia's not there anymore. So in any event, this is being hosted in Canada and basically it's the G7 for people who don't know it's us, the Canadians, the Japanese, and then the Europeans, the British, the French, the Italians, the, uh, who am I missing? The Germans.

So we get together and it's supposed to be a consensus thing. Here's what all the good countries of the world, the leaders of the world, the big economies, the big democracies, and they have this agenda. So let me sort of kick this off for you. Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, is hosting this. And so he has an introductory event. Here's Donald Trump, the president of the most important country, the most important democracy. And Carney is going to kick him off here. And he's going to signal to Trump what the issues on the agenda are, you know, about the world trade, wildfires, you know, things that can sort of bring us

together. And then Trump, you're going to hear Trump respond to this by introducing on his own, nobody cueing him, the topic that he really cares about. And you'll see what it is. Many issues, geopolitics, economic technology, and working hand in hand with the United States, Canada and the United States, and the other G7 partners with your leadership. I'm very much looking forward to the meeting and grateful to have you here. Thank you very much, Mark.

I appreciate it. The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn't want to have Russia in. And I would say that that was a mistake because I think you wouldn't have a war didn't want to have Russia in, then I would say that that was a mistake because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in. Okay, so again, this is supposed to be a consensus meeting of the democracies and Trump, unbidden, decides that the first thing he's going to bring up is to blame the host country, Canada, and his own country, the United States, for excluding the only country

that he apparently cares about at this event, which isn't at the event, which is Russia, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is a rather odd thing for the guest to do at an event like this. Well, that wasn't the real America that excluded Russia, Will, that was the bad old America, which doesn't count anymore. Because it was by that gentleman named Barack Obama. He didn't say Hussain. So like, I guess he was being polite. Right. I, I, well, who say that was a

little gesture from Trump to be, to be nice to him. It was an olive branch. At least he didn't say by the black president, he couldn't have done that. Although Hussein kind of counts as the Muslim president, right? Yeah, I guess it does. That was his birther thing. Right? Okay, so that's the first thing Trump says. And then the questions start from the reporters. And there's a question about trade with Canada,

the talks between the US and Canada. There's a question about trade with Canada, the talks between the US and Canada. There's a question about Iran and Israel, the war between them. And then the third question is about Russia. Here's the question, and here's what Trump says in response to it. You mentioned Putin. Do you think that he should have a seat at the G7 today,

that it should be the G8? I'm not saying he should at this point, because too much water's gone over the dam maybe, but it was a big mistake. Obama didn't want him and the head of your country, the proud head of your country didn't want him. This was a big mistake. You wouldn't have that war.

You know, you have your enemy at the table. I don't even consider him. He wasn't really an enemy at that time. There was no concept. If I were president, this war would have never happened. But likewise, if he were a member of that, what was called the G8 at that time, it was always the G8. You wouldn't have a war right now.

Yeah. You know, he doesn't even like to call him an enemy now. Not like, you know, we wouldn't have even called him an enemy then. Trump doesn't call him an enemy now. No, no, but, but, but Trump does have an enemy, or at least he has a country he wants to insult, not, not Putin, not Russia. They're not our, they're not our enemy. He wants to start off with Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister,

admittedly not Mark Carney. He's been replaced by Mark Carney, but Trump is going out of his way to insult the host country. He's referring to Trudeau as the proud head of your country. That's a dig from Trump. That's like your former prime minister was such- It's sarcastic. It's sarcastic.

Proud head. You can like hear his air quotes. Oh, totally. So he's like, you're proud, read arrogant, right? He's the arrogant head of your country and the arrogant head of my country, the black guy, the Muslim, right? Just for anybody who's not clear about it, Obama, yes, black, not actually Muslim, but Trump didn't care. It's just a way to other him, right? So the bad guys are the Americans and the Canadians who kicked the Russians out of the G8. And then at the end, that's totally an amazing statement.

He says that if Putin were a member of the G8, you wouldn't have a war. Correct me if I'm wrong, JVL. Wasn't Putin kicked out of the G8 because he started the war, because he sent Russian troops in and seized Crimea from Ukraine? Yeah. Is that not what happened? The war did not start in 2020, during, you know, 2022 rather, or 2021. The war started years before. This is like, you know, 20s and 2014, like the actual date when the incursions of little green

men started. I'm sorry. We'll have to, we'll have to, I'll have to effort that, you know, but yeah, this, you know, but for Trump things, things don't come into being except for when they're useful to him. Yeah, yeah. And like the ahistoricism of it, that the reason why this happened

was that Russia had already invaded. And yet Trump, tell me if he's just lying, but I think he's just can't compute it. That literally he's saying the war would not have happened if we had kept him in when the war started in 2014, as you point out in Crimea, when Putin was in, and that's why he got kicked out. So Trump's got the timeline completely backwards. Okay, so this goes on, and there's one more question,

and it's not about Russia, it's about China. Here's the question, and here's Trump's answer to it. Why not have China at the GA? Why not have China here, the biggest economy in the world after the United States? Well, it's not a bad idea. I don't mind that. If somebody wants to suggest China coming in,

I think we suggest, but you want to have people that you can talk to. You know, they don't talk to you. Putin speaks to me, he doesn't speak to anybody else. He doesn't want to talk to you, because he was very insulted when he got thrown out of the GA, They don't talk to you. Putin speaks to me. He doesn't speak to anybody else. He doesn't want to talk to me. Because he was very insulted when he got thrown out of the G.A. As I would be, as you would be, as anybody would be. He was very insulted.

And I mean, he was thrown out by Trudeau, who convinced one or two people, along with Obama. He was thrown out. And he's not a happy person about it. I can tell you that he doesn't agree. He basically doesn't even speak to the people that throw him out. And I agree with him. I'm just watching Carney's face the entire time. That guy is pissed. And he is not like he's trying to poker face it up. But he is not really succeeding. And he just, you know, he's got this, you can all practically hear him grinding his teeth as he's doing it.

It's an amazing thing. Trump is like floating policy. Yeah, bring China in here. And then, you know, Putin still talks to me. You know, we're on the phone all the time. Call me for my birthday. We wish them a happy Russia day, you know, because he's treated very badly. Wouldn't you feel bad to if you know, black guy

and a Canadian had thrown you out of a club? He views it honestly, he must think of the the G seven G eight as if it is a golf club. Right? I mean, isn't this clear that he is assigning like social capital to this? Where it's like, well, you know, I mean, it's like at Bedminster, you know? The members don't go to war against each other.

That is such a great, I've actually never thought of it that way. I thought of like, you know, Trump thinks he's part of the country club of dictators. So he talks about his buddies, Putin and Kim Jong-un and President Xi constantly about,

oh, I'm chatting with these guys. But I hadn't computed that in terms of the G7, which is that it's really interesting. I think you're right. He can't believe that these people who shouldn't be in the G7 from Trump's point of view throughout the big guy, Putin, right? But it's totally amazing to me how in this rant he's doing,

he totally takes Putin's point of view. I mean, he says, you know, Putin doesn't speak to anybody else, he only speaks to me. And then he describes having a conversation with Putin and that Putin is very insulted as, and Trump says, as I would be, as anyone would be. That's, I mean, he's not just saying I've heard this from Putin, he's saying,

I totally identify with Putin. Putin's in the right, and he ends up saying, I agree with him. So he's like overtly taking Putin's side against the G7. Literally, Mark Carney, who's hosting him, who's standing right there. So you're right, Carney can't stand this, and then Carney eventually steps in and ends this weird, you know, this

rant of Trump's that's spoiling the whole message. I want to, I want to run something by you. Yeah, last week was Russia Day, Russia National Day, and our Secretary of State put out a statement on behalf of the American people, I want to congratulate the Russian people on Russia Day. The United States remains committed to supporting the Russian people as they continue to build on their aspirations for a brighter future.

We also take this opportunity to reaffirm the United States' desire for constructive engagement with the Russian Federation to bring about a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine. It is our hope that peace will foster more mutually beneficial relations between our countries. Does the KGB even need to do anything anymore? I mean, Trump has put these guys out of business, not the KGB anymore, I know that. Because this is all the stuff, if the Russians had an asset as president of the United States, this is what his State Department would put out. This is what he would say at the G7.

He would go to the G7 and say, boy, maybe we should have Russia back in here. It was really unfair that the Americans and Canadians kicked him out. You can understand why they were upset. Right? I mean, this is one of those cases where I don't think that Trump is a Russian asset,

but I do think it is impossible to come up with other things he might be doing to further Russia's national interest if he were formally belonging to Putin. Can I follow up on that though? What is the technical definition of asset? Let me put it this way. Someone who shows up as Trump has just done at the G7 and begins on his own with his main talking point being Russia should be here

and then proceeds to explain that Russia is on the right side. We were wrong to throw Russia out. Russia Putin has every reason to be upset. We're the reason that he started the war, not him. Is that not the definition of an asset? I mean, I think technically an asset is somebody for whom the handlers have some degree of control over. And I think the great thing about Trump is that they don't have to control him. He wants what they want.

Their interests align. And this is, you know, this is, he put out a statement on Sunday night about immigration. And in the course of talking about how he is going to step up immigration enforcement in major cities that happen to be in democratically controlled states, in the course of this, he said, these radical left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our country and actually want to destroy our inner cities. There is something wrong with them.

He would never talk about Vladimir Putin that way. And that's because he doesn't see Putin as the enemy. He sees half of America as the enemy. Yeah, that's absolutely true. of America as the enemy. Yeah, that's absolutely true. And I think that you flagged something in your triad about, he said that he was targeting enforcement at what he called, I think core, what was the term?

Core democratic areas. There's a phrase that he used. These and other such cities are the core of the Democrat power center, where they use illegal aliens to expand their voter base, cheat in elections and grow the welfare states, robbing good paying jobs and benefits from hard working American citizens. Yeah. I mean, that is a statement that his immigration enforcement is targeted not at enforcing the law generally, which is the nature of law. It's at the democratic power

centers and that the illegal aliens, according to Trump, are part of the democratic machine. So this is not about Americans versus foreigners. This is about Americans versus Americans. And we're trying to undercut the democratic coalition of which, in his mind, the illegal immigrants are just one part. Yeah, not a voting part, but sure.

No, but this, again, this is just state of mind. I guess Trump's defenders would say, guys, art of the deal. Right? This is art of the deal is that you insult your friends and your allies because they have to take it and you butter up your enemies because that's how you get them to do what you want. And I might understand that if we were seeing Trump making any movement in directions like that. That is a theory of international relations. The thing is, Trump seems to be insulting our allies in the course of not furthering America's interest and buttering up our adversaries also not in the course of America's interests. They're just in the interest of Trump or authoritarianism. It's not actually in the interest of America

Right, of course Trump those things are indivisible, right? They're the same right? So it okay as you just explained it doesn't make it's not logical It's not rational. There's not strategic. So what is it? Let me let me play one more clip here and this is from Thursday Trump was doing a signing ceremony And at the end of it he talked again about his relationships with Putin and specifically about his phone calls with Putin. Let's listen to this. And I happened to speak to President Putin at the time. Now, in all fairness to him, he lost 51 million people and he did fight.

Russia fought. Sort of interesting, isn't it? He fought with us in World War II and everybody hates him. And Germany and Japan, they're fine, you know. Someday somebody will explain that, but I like Germany and Japan too. But Putin is a little confused by that, you know. He said, we lost 51 million people and we were your ally.

And now everybody hates Russia and they love Germany and Japan. I said, let's explain that sometime, okay? But it's a strange world. So he's making an argument there about why we should be on Russia's side. But he's not just making the argument in general. He's narrating a conversation that he had with Putin. He's had a couple of long phone calls with Putin. And he's basically saying, Putin said this to me, which was, we were your ally,

and now why are you with Germany and Japan, the two main big members of the G7? And then Trump goes on and says, I said, let's explain that sometime, as though he's narrating this conversation he had with Putin, and he's transitioning seamlessly from he said what Putin said to I said, which is the same thing, and basically

conveying that they were in total agreement in this phone call. So my answer to you, JVL, and tell me where you are on this, is the reason why Putin talks this way about Russia and talks very differently about the United States as having his domestic enemies, is that Putin is essentially lobbying him. They're having these phone calls.

And when Trump talks this way at the G7, he's parroting the talking points that Putin has just given him. They're having these phone calls. And when Trump talks this way at the G7, he's parroting the talking points that Putin has just given him. Yes. So this is I'm going to, I'm going to teach you a little trick of Trump's that I learned from the comedian Shane Gillis. And once you've heard it, you'll never unhear it. What Trump does is he makes an observation. And then he follows it up by saying that he said the observation.

It's very easy. All you have to do is like describe something and then say you described it that way. That's it. Like, what a big room this is. I walked in here. I said, Wow, what a big room. Right. This is this is how he does everything. That's how he was just now. Right. It's, you know, he's 51 million. I said, Yeah, 51 million. This is what. This is how he does all of his communication as part of the weave. And this is of a piece of,

this is now, I think a week and a half ago, maybe two weeks ago when he met with the German chancellor. And it was like the presidential equivalent, it was on D-Day, I guess. And he was like pointing at the score, but he's like, yeah, not such a good day for you, was it? This is D-Day anniversary when the Americans once ended a war in Europe.

That was not a pleasant day for you? No, that was not a pleasant. Well, in the long run, Mr. President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship. Right? In these, you know, as if Mertz is sitting there really nursing that grudge of, well, boy, you know, it's terrible that we lost World War II. I wish the Nazis were still in control.

Do you remember this, Will? Yes. And this is Trump's view of the world. That is all just some giant scoreboard. And I mean, I don't even quite know what to do with it. It's so stupid. Yeah. But also dangerous.

Like every time Trump, both stupid and dangerous. Right. And that, but that, that response to MERS is kind of classic because Trump doesn't understand anything about values, right? He only understands nationality. And so if you're a German, you should be on the side of the Germans. And if you're, for the Germans, right. And Mertz is trying to explain to him like, no, actually, although it was the

government of my country, it was doing bad things like mass murdering people. And Trump just doesn't seem to comprehend that. Right. And, and he, even today, when Putin says to him, you should be on our side, because, you know, 80 years ago, the Nazis controlled Germany. Trump doesn't understand any of that. He's like, well, yeah, it is weird that we would be siding with a country that 80 years ago was Nazi and against a country that was our ally 80 years ago and is now, you know,

destroying a democratic country. So here, what's so funny about this though, Will. So Trump in his own life is totally transactional. It doesn't matter what your history with him is. It doesn't matter how long you've gotten along. If there's something to his advantage right now, then he'll do it and you're in the past and he doesn't care anymore. But yet all of a sudden we get to international relations and everybody is supposed to be on these like long-term tribes that last for generations and like you know if you're German, then you're if you're Germany, then you're German through and through. And if you're Russia and you fought with us in 1941, then well, God darn it, why can't we, why can't we, why shouldn't we still be on their side? It's such a weird psychological view of the world. And I think it's unconscious.

I don't think there is a conscious thing going on here. I think we're just seeing how his id works. Yeah, yeah. And also the way he describes his conversation with Putin, it's just another. It's a it's a transaction with it's got a historical message behind it. But Putin is lobbying him the way some guy at the country club would say, you know, my company is trying to do this. And here's why you should give it to us a favor. We're tick tock. We're Apple, whoever it is. We're Russia, you know, come on, we're buds. Stand with us. We're Apple, whoever it is. We're Russia. You know, come on, we're buds. Stand with us.

Guys, it's something else. I mean, I guess I guess this counts as good because it's only the president growing up a G7 meeting and messing up our international relations with our biggest trading partners. It's not sending troops onto the streets. It's not having tanks in D.C. So this counts as one of our charming scandals. I guess.

Only another three years and seven months left. Good luck, America.