The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Message to Putin: You Blew It.  

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

In this episode, Hanson explains what Trump is really signaling: that his strategy was always about making peace through strength — not appeasement. And now that Putin is throwing that opportunity away, the world sees who truly wants war. “ I think what Vladimir Putin thinks, that he's going to continue the war; continue the terror campaign; get greater concessions from the Europeans, the Americans, and the Ukrainians; and move the battle lines a little bit to the west. And I think he's sorely mistaken. He's misreading Donald Trump.  “If I was Vladimir Putin, I would cut a deal today. And then, I would resume natural gas and oil shipments to Europe. I would open the economy back up. And I would tell the Russian people what you did.  … And that's a lot better—it's not a good scenario, but it's a lot better than another Stalingrad or Verdun or Somme for the next two years for Russia.” 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1    👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/victordavishanson7273    👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com  0:00 New Developments in the Ukraine War 0:12 Trump's Reaction to Putin's Escalation 0:43 The Proposed Deal and Its Breakdown 3:19 Putin's Justification for Continuing the War 5:23 The Misreading of Trump 6:55 Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. There's been a new development, a new phase in the Ukraine war. More recently, Vladimir Putin has escalated his attacks on civilian targets, and this has solicited an angry response from Donald Trump. He said, Vladimir's acting crazy. The left went kind of ecstatic. And they said, Trump finally came around to our point of view.

It was of all Putin's fault. What Trump is really doing is saying to the world, if we had followed your lead and put pressure only on Vladimir Putin, we would have never got a deal. deal. They would have said the United States was a two pro-Ukrainian. The Russians would be seen as sympathetic to parts of the world. But I came in and was willing to give him a chance. And now the world sees that he doesn't want that chance. The next question is, why would flatter who would pass up a deal?

Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. There's been a new development, a new phase in the Ukraine war. I know we've talked about it before, but more recently, Vladimir Putin has escalated his attacks, not so much on the battlefront per se, but on civilian targets that he's hitting with missiles and drones far east, far west is Kiev. And this has solicited an angry response from Donald Trump. I think the subtext of Donald Trump is, well, wait a minute, Vladimir. I have sort of told Zelensky not to ask. for so much and be willing to have a ceasefire. And we have a deal in the works, and now you're kind of fouling it all up.

And the deal was pretty much you're going to get the Donbass and Crimea and institutionalize it, and we're going to get some kind of arrangement to arm Ukraine, but it will not be officially in NATO. And somewhere where the battle line is today will have a ceasefire, and then there will be an economic zone of rare minerals, it'll be kind of a tripwire. And out of that general framework, we can have a peace conference and hammer out the details. But now you're doing this escalation that's kind of fouling up my dreams of solving the problem that I inherited from Joe Biden. And Trump is kind of exasperated. He said, you know, Vladimir's acting crazy. The left went kind of ecstatic. And they said,

see, see, see, see, Trump finally came around to our point of view. He now agrees with us. It was all Putin's fault, and he stopped appeasing Putin, and now he's going to follow our lead. I don't think that's quite what's actually happened. What Trump is really doing is saying to the world, if we had followed your lead and put pressure only on Vladimir Putin, we would have never got a deal because the Russians would be seen as sort of sympathetic to parts of the world, and they would have said the United States was too pro-Ukrainian. But I came in and was willing to give him a chance. And now the world sees that he doesn't want that chance,

and the world sees that he's blowing a deal. The next question is, why would he do that? Why would Vladimir Putin pass up a deal? And I think the answer is that he has to account for a war that he preempted and started that was designed to take all of Ukraine, Ukraine by decapitating Kiev in February of 2022. Fast forward, there's probably a million point five dead,

wounded, and lost on both sides in climbing, but the majority of those losses are Russian. There's probably one million dead Russians, wounded Russians, are missing Russian. And Vladimir Putin, although he is a dictator with absolute power, no dictator is quite with absolute power, he has to account informally to a complex of oligarchs, wealthy oligarchs, bureaucrats, high-level bureaucrats, and the military.

And there is a point in which he has to show that what he has done in Ukraine is worth one million dead wounded and missing. And he thinks he's not there yet. In other words, he is going back to them and saying, only Vladimir institutionalized the acquisition of the Dombas and Crimea, which by the way, I got for you in 2014, and now there's no question that they're part of Russia. Only Vladimir got Ukraine out of NATO. Only Vladimir advanced 40 to 60 miles westward from the Dombas and Crimea. And I think he thinks that complex that I just mentioned is saying, you mean you basically didn't give a

anything. We had the Donbass. We had Crimea. We were already pushing a little bit westward. We knew there. Ukraine, Europe didn't want them in NATO. The United States didn't want a NATO. So what did you really give us, Vladimir? You're not far west enough. Now, you go back over there, and we've got to justify a million casualties, and there's not much on the battlefield. So I think what Vladimir Putin thinks that he's going to continue the war, continue the terror campaign, get greater concessions from the Europeans, the Americans, and Ukrainians, and move the battle lines a little bit to the West. And I think he's sorely mistaken.

He's misreading Donald Trump because Donald, the reason he did not invade in 2017 and 2021 of those four recent administration, that was the only one that he did not. He did not invade during Donald Trump's administration, but he did invade a neighbor during George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden's tenure. In other words, he saw in a way that he does not see now that Donald Trump is very unpredictable and very erratic in some ways that it's beneficial in the making of foreign policy. And if he continues to go westward or continues to have this terror campaign, I think he will see that Donald Trump will be able to hold his MAGA coalition together and continue to arm Ukraine. And the Europeans will continue probably to arm them as well. And the quagmire will only escalate. And he will not be able to knock Ukraine out of the war.

and it will be increasingly difficult for him to justify any continuation to his constituents. If I was Vladimir Putin, I would cut a deal today, and then I would resume natural gas and oil shipments to Europe. I would open the economy back up, and I would tell the Russian people what you did. I don't think it would be quite accurate, but you could tell them that only because of me, Crimea, forever, is where it belongs in Russia, the same as Donbass. And I stood up to the West and said, no, NATO, and I won this war. And that's a lot better.

It's not a good scenario, but it's a lot better than another Stalingrad or Verdun or Somme for the next two years for Russia. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansen.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.