The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 26th, 2025: Trump Blasts ‘Crazy’ Putin In Rare Rebuke & U.S.-Iran Talks Inch Forward

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   We’ll start things off with a surprising shift from Donald Trump—he’s calling Vladimir Putin “crazy” following a weekend of intense Russian strikes on Ukraine.   Later in the show—modest progress is being reported in the fifth round of talks between the U.S. and Iran. We’ll lay out what we know.   To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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See you on the roof. It's Monday, the 26th of May. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with a surprising shift in tone and rhetoric from President Trump. He's now calling Vladimir Putin, quote, crazy following a weekend of intense Russian strikes on Ukraine. Later in the show, modest progress is being reported in the fifth round of talks between the U.S. and Iran. We'll have those details. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We'll begin with

President Trump, issuing a rare rebuke of Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, calling him, quote, absolutely crazy after Moscow unleashed its largest aerial barrage of the war on Ukrainian cities. In a post on truth social, Trump wrote, quote, I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely crazy, end quote. Now, the president continued by saying, I've always said that he wants all of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia. Speaking to reporters, Trump doubled down, saying, quote, I've known him a long time, but he's sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all, end quote.

Hmm. Trump's remarks came just hours after Ukrainian officials confirmed what they described as the largest aerial onslaught of the three-year war. As we noted in this morning's PDB, Russian forces launched 367, so-called, quote, air attack vehicles from Saturday into Sunday, including ballistic and cruise missiles, guided bombs, and waves of Iranian-made Shahid drones that left at least 18 civilians dead. The unusually sharp tone from Trump toward Putin comes as he faces renewed pressure from European leaders and members of his own party to adopt a more aggressive posture toward the Kremlin. Until now, Trump has resisted laying down explicit red lines, opting instead to keep diplomatic channels open. But on Sunday, he appeared to

shift gears telling reporters he's now, quote, absolutely weighing new sanctions in response to those attacks. That stance, however, does appear to be at odds with his own Secretary of State. Last week, Marco Rubio warned that threatening sanctions now could torpedo fragile negotiations. What negotiations? Telling lawmakers that premature pressure might push Russia to walk away from the table, altogether. Now, honestly, I'm not sure what table Secretary Rubio is talking about. As we've long tracked here on the PDB, peace talks remain frozen, and really, the talks aren't so much frozen as just non-existent. Moscow continues to dangle vague proposals, one recently labeled a potential quote memorandum, while Kiev insists that a full 30-day ceasefire must come first before any serious dialogue can begin.

Meanwhile, the war effort shows no signs of slowing. By early Monday, Ukraine's defense ministry confirmed that Russian forces had launched yet another overnight wave of drones. In a coordinated response, Keev struck deep inside Russian territory, most notably targeting a Shahed drone factory in the Tadistan region, some 500 miles east of Moscow, as well as a chemical facility northeast of the capital. In a telegram post Monday, Zelensky warned that Russian strikes were fueled by impunity. He wrote, quote, only a sense of complete impunity can allow Russia to carry out such strikes and constantly increase their scale. Zelensky went on to argue that force remains the only language that Moscow understands. He stated, quote, like any criminal, Russia can only be brought to

justice by force, the force of the U.S., the force of Europe, the force of all nations that respect life. The Ukrainian leader closed his message with a direct call for punitive action, urging Washington and Brussels to enact a, quote, blockade of Russian finances and trade in Russian oil. As for the Kremlin's response to Trump labeling Putin as crazy, mouthpiece Dimitri Peskov said, honestly, Trump may be right. Putin does seem full-on crazy at this point. Okay, I just made that up. Peskov did not say that, although, you know, I'll bet he's thinking it. Peskov actually chalked up Trump's comments to quote, emotional overload.

but stops short of a full-throated rebuttal, opting instead to praise Trump's ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire. But as drone warfare intensifies and diplomacy remains, for the most part, a non-starter, Trump's evolving tone toward Putin, well, it may mark a recalibration of how the White House looks to influence the war's outcome. All right, coming up next, there is a flicker, I guess a flicker is a decent enough way to put it, of progress in the latest U.S.-Iran talks. We'll tell you what's new in round five of these talks when we come back. This is Euphoria Calvin Klein, the new elixir collection, featuring three perfum intense scents, inspired by a unique orchid accord, paired with vanilla, each with its own distinct attitude,

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Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. The fifth round of negotiations between the U.S. and the Iranian regime wrapped up on Sunday in Rome. And while a breakthrough remains elusive, meaning nowhere in sight, officials from both sides and the Omani mediator are cautiously optimistic that progress is within reach. Omani foreign minister abouter al-Bosedi, who's been facilitating the talks, posted on X following the Rome meetings, quote, the fifth round of Iran-U.S. talks have concluded today in Rome with some but not conclusive progress. He went on to say that he hoped the parties could clarify remaining issues in the coming days, laying the groundwork for what he called a sustainable and honorable

agreement. Now, the Iranian foreign minister echoed that sentiment in an interview with Iranian state TV, saying, I'm hopeful that in the next one or two rounds, we can reach solutions that allow the talks to progress. He admitted that, quote, we are not there yet, but we are not discouraged either. And from the American side, a senior U.S. official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, described the talks as, quote, constructive. There's that word again, but emphasize that there's still plenty of work ahead. Now, not to sound cynical, but taken collectively, the statements from the Iranian regime and the American side and Omani mediators can be realistically interpreted to mean that while there's no actual or meaningful progress, nobody involved wants to come out and say that these

talks are potentially a waste of time. The Iranians, of course, are happy to drag this process out for as long as possible while they continue their enrichment and weapons programs and continue hardening their key sites from potential attack, while the U.S. is, well, reluctant. to admit a meaningful agreement is not possible, since that would mean moving on to plan B, which is a military response. Still, nobody sounds more upbeat about where things are headed than President Trump. On Sunday, he told reporters, quote, we've had some very, very good talks with Iran, and I don't know if I'll be telling you anything good or bad over the next two days,

but I have a feeling I might be telling you something good, end quote. So, you ask yourself, what's actually happening? At the heart of the negotiations is a familiar formula. The U.S. would offer partial relief from economic sanctions in exchange for Iran placing limits on its nuclear program. The big sticking point, as we've discussed in the past, is uranium enrichment. Trump has repeatedly insisted that Iran must stop enriching altogether. Tehran, meanwhile, is making it clear that that's not going to happen. This weekend, a foreign ministry spokesperson from Iran reiterated that they will not even temporarily suspend enrichment to secure a deal. And today, Iranian president,

Masood Pazeshkian underscored that point even further, telling reporters, quote, it's not like we will die of hunger if they refuse to negotiate with us or impose sanctions. We will find a way to survive, end quote. As of now, no date or location has been set for the sixth round of talks, but both sides expect negotiations to resume in the coming weeks. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday the 26th of May. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And as you may have heard on the nightly news, to listen to the show ad free, just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDP Premium.com.

Finally, for those of you in the U.S., I hope you've had a very good Memorial Day weekend. If you haven't already, please take a moment to thank a veteran or an active duty member of the military. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion-dollar swings.

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