The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: What the Left Gets Wrong About Trump-Putin Summit

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Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk. Business. Last week, Donald Trump completed his summit with Vladimir Putin on Alaska, and then that meeting was met with a storm of criticism from the left, from senators, congressmen, pundits. They said that he'd given in too much for Putin. Putin had dominated him. Putin was going to do this to him and that. They kind of forgot the idea that Putin came to the United States soil, not vice versa.

Starting point is 00:00:50 Within, I don't know, 48 hours he had arranged for the major heads of state of Europe to fly all the way without much notice to meet with him, along with Ukrainian President Zelensky. And they all were on the same page. They were all very complimentary. And yet the left still was angry about this. I don't know what they want. What does the left want when they're so critical

Starting point is 00:01:11 of this rapprochement between Europe and the United States and a collective front against Putin? Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. Last week, Donald Trump completed his summit with Vladimir Putin on Alaska. They both gave, as I said earlier, brief statements for the press, no questions. And then that meeting was met with a storm of criticism from the left, from senators, congressmen, pundits. They said that he'd given in too much for Putin.

Starting point is 00:01:52 Putin had dominated him. Putin was going to do this to him and that. They kind of forgot the idea that Putin came to the United States soil, not vice versa. Franklin Delano Rosemel met with Joseph Stalin, called him Uncle Joe, the greatest mass murder in Russian history. Richard Nixon met with Mao Zedong, who is the greatest mass murder in all of history and civilization. But in any case, within, I don't know, 48 hours he had arranged for the major heads of state of Europe to fly all the way without much notice to meet with him along with Ukrainian President Zelensky. And they all were on the same page. They were all very complimentary.

Starting point is 00:02:35 And they were basically sending a message to the world that a million and a half people have been dead, wounded, captured, missing on our European doorstep. And no one has an answer. And yet the left still was angry about this. And so it begs the question, do you have any collective memory? The Ukraine war started when Vladimir Putin invaded the Crimea and Don't. under the presidency of Barack Obama. Remember the hot Mike and Seoul where he said, tell Vladimir that if he gives me space for my last election, I'll be flexible on missile defense.

Starting point is 00:03:13 Do you remember that? He also invaded, as you remember, in Joe Biden's tenure. He tried to take Kiev. He didn't during Donald Trump's four years. So I don't know what they want. What does the left want when they're so critical of this rapprochement between Europe, in the United States and a collective front against Putin. What do they want? Do they want more of the Biden policy, just give them enough to keep fighting and dying with no end in sight, with no plan

Starting point is 00:03:44 either for strategic victory or for settlement or on negotiation? Do they have any compassion that a million more? Do they want another three years of this Stalingrad? So they offer no constructive suggestions. No shadow government is saying this is what we would do. This applies beyond, by the way, the Ukrainian war, it applies to illegal immigration, crime, the tariffs, just give us a constructive alternative, but instead they don't. There was a point in this European delegation that met with Donald Trump where the president of Finland, Alexander Stub, made a statement, and it was not recognized at the time, but it was very astute. And he said, I'm from a very small country, but we have an 800-mile-long border with Russia. And we were invaded by Russia. He was

Starting point is 00:04:39 referring to the Winter War of November 1939 that lasted until 1940. And what he was saying is we managed to survive by negotiations and deterrence, a mixture of the two. The message he was giving to Zelensky and the Europeans was his own country. story. After Joseph Stalin did what Vladimir Putin did and says, I'm going to take over Finland and he invaded the Finns that were outnumbered 20 to 1, they put up a heroic defense. They probably inflicted half a million Russian casualties. They fought without parallel for November, December of 39, January, February, and finally they were slowly being ground down. So then the president of Finland said to Joseph Stalin, I will cut a deal with you. You can take an annex 10% of my country, but that's it. We will fight you to the death if you try to take any more. We will lose, but we will inflict so much damage that you will be weakened with your partnership with Germany that might not last. And so they did cut a deal. What was the result? There was an independent Finland. It agreed not.

Starting point is 00:05:53 to join in further years the enemies of Russia and not to be an ally of Russia. It was like Austria or Switzerland. It retained 90% of its territory. Was it appeasing? No. It fought tooth and nail to get that deal. And it stopped Stalin from absorbing all of Finland. So President Stubb, who was a close friend of Donald Trump, said to this delegation, we found a solution. And what he was really signaling to Mr. Zelensky is if you can give up 10 to 15% of this disputed land that you have with Stalin, however unjust it is, however unfair, however tyrannical Putin is, and then pledge to be a neutral country with help from the West to deter further aggression, you can cut a deal and save your country. And yet, given those negotiations, the left was not sympathetic. And so all I'm asking them is, please give us an alternative strategy. How long do you want to fight? Who is going to fight?

Starting point is 00:06:56 How many deaths wounded are you willing to incur to push Vladimir Putin all the way back to where he was prior to the invasion of 2014 when Barack Obama allowed him to come in? Just a question. Otherwise, I think you should take the advice of Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland, who offers a valuable lesson, and how to deal with Russian aggression. from us against a smaller power. Thank you very much, 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

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The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: What the Left Gets Wrong About Trump-Putin Summit

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