Letters from an American - November 23, 2025

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

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November 23rd, 2025, do I understand correctly that there is now a dispute within the administration about whether this peace plan was written by Russians or Americans? Foreign Affairs journalist Ann Applebaum asked last night on social media. Applebaum was referring to confusion over a 28-point plan for an end to Russia's war on Ukraine, reported by Barack Ravid and Dave Lawler of Axios last week. After the plan was leaked, apparently to Ravid, by Kirill Demetriov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is under U.S. sanctions, Vice President J.D. Vance came out strongly in support of it. But, as Scholar of Strategic Studies Phillips P. O'Brien noted in Phillips's newsletter, Once it became widely known that the plan was written by the Russians, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to back away from it,

posting on social media on Wednesday that ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas. And achieving a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions. That is why we are and will continue to develop a list of potential ideas for ending this war based on input from both sides of this conflict. And yet, by Friday, Trump said he expected Ukraine President Volodomir Zelenskyy to sign on to the plan by Thanksgiving next Thursday, November 27th. Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky, said, Putin has spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool. Rewarding Russian

butchery would be disastrous to America's interests. Yesterday, a group of senators, foreign affairs specialists gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the Halifax International Security Forum, told reporters they had spoken to Rubio about the plan. Senator Angus King, an independent of Maine, said Rubio had told them that the document would, was not the administration's position, but rather a wish list of the Russians. Senator Mike Rounds, a Republican of South Dakota, said, this administration was not responsible for this release in its current form. He added, I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives, Rounds said.

It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan. But then a spokesperson for the State Department, Tommy Piggott, called the Senator's account of the origins of the plan blatantly false, and Rubio abruptly switched course, posting on social media that, in fact, the U.S. had written the plan. Anton LaGuardia, diplomatic editor of The Economist, posted, State Department is backpedaling on Rubio's backpedal. If for a moment you thought the grown-ups were back in charge, think again. We're still in the search.

Marcus. Unbelievable, mutters one of the disbelieving senators. Later that day, Aaron Banco and Graham Slattery of Reuters reported that the proposal had come out of a meeting in Miami between Trump's special envoy Steve Whitkoff, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Demetriov, who leads one of Russia's largest sovereign wealth funds. They reported that senior officials in the State Department and on the National Security Council were not briefed. about the plan. This morning, Bill Crystal of the bulwark, reported rumors that Vice President J.D. Vance

was key to U.S. embrace of Russia plan on Ukraine, Rubio, and even Trump, out of the loop. He posted that relations between Vance and Rubio are awful and that Rubio did, in fact, tell the senators what they said he did. Yaroslav Trophimov, chief foreign affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, posted. foreign nations now have to deal with rival factions of the U.S. government

who keep major policy initiatives secret from each other, and some of which work with foreign powers, as the succession battle for 2028 begins, is how one diplomat put it. The elections of 2026 and 28 are clearly on Republicans' minds, as polls show Trump's policies to be increasingly unpopular. On Friday, Trump met at the White House with New York City mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani. Although Trump had previously called Mamdani a communist lunatic and a stupid person, and had threatened to withhold federal funding from New York City if Mamdani won,

the meeting was friendly. Trump, who has seemed warm and affable since snarling, quiet piggy to a reporter on Air Force One on November 14th, praised the mayor-elect and said he'd feel very comfortable living in New York City after Mamdani takes the reins. Trump's friendly banter with Mamdani appeared a way to acknowledge voters' frustration with the economy. During his campaign, Mom-Dani promised to address those economic frustrations. Trump told reporters, we agree on a lot more than I thought. I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job. This embrace of a politician, MAGA Republicans, had attacked as a communist, left Trump supporters unsure how to respond.

On Friday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, a Republican of Georgia, announced she is resigning from Congress. Her last day will be January 5, 26, days after she secures her congressional pension. In her four-page announcement, she maintained she was frustrated that those like her, her, who she said represent the common American people, cannot get their measures passed because the political industrial complex of both political parties ignores them in favor of corporate and global interests. She blamed Trump for forcing her out of Congress, saying, I have too much self-respect and dignity, love my family way too much, and do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for only to

fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms, and in turn be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me. Green appears to be shifting to fit into a post-Trump future. When the common American people finally realize and understand that the political industrial complex of both parties is ripping this country apart, that not one elected leader like me is able to stop Washington's machine from gradually destroying our country, and instead the reality is that they, common Americans, the people, possess the real power over Washington, she wrote, then I'll be here by their side to rebuild it. Another scandal coming from the cabinet will not help the administration

dig out from its cratering popularity. Just after midnight Friday night, the former fiancé of the journalist who had a romantic relationship with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., dropped another installment of his version of the saga. It included a graphic, pornographic poem that would have ended a cabinet member's career in any normal administration. The ex-fiance said other poems he had found were even more explicit. This revelation came the day after Kennedy acknowledged that he had personally told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, to change information on the CDC website, to say the claim that vaccines do not cause autism is not evidence-based. As Cheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times notes, Kennedy admits that studies have shown no link between

vaccines and autism, but he wanted the change because there are still other studies to be done. As Stolberg wrote, he is not saying vaccines cause autism. He is simply saying there is no proof that they don't. Kennedy is neither a doctor nor a scholar of public health, and Stahlberg notes that it is highly unusual for a health secretary to personally order a change to scientific guidance. In order to get support for his cabinet nomination, Kennedy promised Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican of Louisiana, a physician, that he would not remove from the CDC website a statement saying that vaccines do not cause autism. That statement is still at the top of the autism and vaccines page of the CDC website, But now it has an asterisk, keyed to a footnote, saying it has not been removed because

of Kennedy's promise to Cassidy. And the text of the page says that studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities. Today, CNN's Jake Tapper said to Cassidy, he lied to you. Cassidy answered, well, first let me say what is most important to the American people, speaking as a physician, vaccines are safe. As has been, pointed out, it is actually not disputed. It's actually quite well proven that vaccines are not associated with autism. There's a fringe out there that thinks so, but they're quite a fringe. President Trump agrees that vaccines are safe. Cassidy tried to suggest that focusing on Kennedy's lie was titillating, but that Americans needed to move on. Tapper answered, this isn't about

titillation, this is about the fact that you are the chairman of the Health Committee and you voted to confirm somebody that by all accounts from the medical and scientific community and his own family is actually making America less healthy. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.