Grotesque, greedy, gullible, graceless, gaslighting, gormless, god-forsaken grifter - Trump thread #147

[Spandauer]

Desperately seeking that Peace Prize.
May have to settle for the Hero of the Russian Federation award. Bigly sad.

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5372669-still-dancing-the-tariff-tango-vlad-and-bibi-still-playing-him-like-a-fiddle-and-epsteins-list-must-be-written-in-invisible-ink-trump-thread-146

Dh mentioned this morning that there is speculation that the whole purpose of this trip was nothing to do with the “formal” meetings - which delivered nothing of substance - and everything to do with the 9 minute 1 on 1 journey in The Beast to get to the meeting venue after having met on the red carpet

I'm trying not to go insane over it, but given how "the news" works these days, by algorithm clickbait, I do wonder if some of the "huh ?" events we sometimes see are actually a crude (or not so crude) attempt to stack the deck ?

Remember how when it became necessary to pretend Boris was nowhere near the Brexit Bus, his never-before-mentioned "hobby" was .... building model buses.

So I wonder what the past 24 hours might have achieved to the algorithms that feed the MAGA beast ? Apart from the obvious crowding out of Epstein news ?

@prettybird Oh, I do so hope that Vlad has planted an undetectable bug in the Beast...Imagine some of the shit that comes out of 🍊🌮 mouth being published.
They'll probably end up handing that one to Vance, just in case

What better way to meet your handler than in plain sight?

Surely the great Bigly deal maker wasn't outsmarted by the former KGB officer who has gone from ordinary to President of Russia somehow and possibly acquired any wealth/property/power by means of which Bigly Donald can only dream/hope of. Not that he would dare. I have no doubt Putin would/could pull the trigger. Trump would want someone else to do it

Russian media are having a field day with uniformed US armed forces rolling out the red carpet for Putin.

Oh dear

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/16/nx-s1-5504196/trump-putin-summit-documents-left-behind

Stun a stoat sideways! That's a mistake even the most junior person in an office generally wouldn't make.

They didn’t have the one-hour press conference…..🧐

https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2025/08/13/microsoft_pushes_pull_print/

Yeah it was only 12 minutes!! 9 mins=Putin then 3mins=Trump. No press questions

No lunch either apparently!

NOTHING could persuade me to go to the US at the moment.
Its so sad
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/16/new-zealand-woman-and-six-year-old-son-released-from-us-detention

In govt these things are far more common than you’d think. You only have to google Govt papers left on train and there are at least 4 examples including files to do with Al Qaida and Theresa May’s schedule.

Maybe they didn’t manage to prep for it as the papers they needed to brainstorm had been left on the photocopier?

Here with my beach towel.

Rumours that Zelenskyy will have European leaders with him at WH meeting on Monday. Hope that is the case.

I do think they massively dropped the ball on supporting him last time. I also hope he chooses to use a translator because that slows the conversation and prevents things from escalating too quickly.

Is it time to call Putin's bluff, that if foreign boots appear on Ukrainian soil Putin will declare war on that - those - nation?

According to an interview on BBC news, a Russian professor at Moscow University said that Russia does not recognise Ukraine as a sovereign nation, and that any attempt to aid Ukraine will be an attack on Russian soil. That is what is being taught to Russian students, and the tens of thousands of Ukrainian children taken hostage into Russia and brainwashed.

An international court has published a warrant for the arrest of Putin if he steps out of Russia for the atrocities Russia has wrought on Ukrainian citizens.

If that is the case, surely he would have to prove Ukraine was Russian territory. To date the world acknowledges Ukraine as an independent sovereign nation, democratically elected. If Europe gives military aid and boots on the ground in Ukraine, how would Russia attack Europe if he cannot prove Ukraine is Russian?

If he attacked a country in Europe which belonged to NATO, he would be attacking a NATO member, and they are bound to come to the aid of another NATO member.

If that professor is right, and that is why Putin invaded Ukraine (he also called it a civil war, said he was aiding the Russian speaking minority of the Donbas and so on), then surely he would have to prove that Ukraine doesn't exist as a country, and he cannot, because the United Nations says it is a sovereign nation.

I am sure someone more knowledgeable than myself could give a clearer understanding of what I am attempting to say.

You are right, they did, big time. It was a Vance faux pas. President Zelenskyy turned the conversation at one point to the invasion of Crimea in 2014, and Trump said ''Wasn't it 2015'' and Vance jumped up and intervened when he saw his master about to make a very big mistake of forgetfulness.

The President of Ukraine is of equal rank to Trump, unlike Putin, who was elected by being the only candidate, having murdered the opposition. President Zelenskyy was elected by the people, and like Trump represents Americans, so President Zelenskyy represents the people of Ukraine.

When he insulted him, Trump insulted the Ukrainian people. I don't think he gets that.

I wonder if Trump had any interest in the visit of Putin in Alaska at all?. He had a yard wide red carpet from his plane and a few inches of red carpet for Putin. I think that points to a bit of contempt, which could be why Putin pointed the finger at him in the same way he pointed the finger at President Zelenskyy on that occasion.

It will be interesting to see who goes with the President of Ukraine. He should have a delegation in toe far higher than anything Trump has.

Might be worth taking his own - wider - red carpet!

I wonder if Putin was peed off because his little red carpet was inches, and Trump's a yard?

God help us if those two rule the world.

I don't see why Zelenskyy is going to the WH. Why? What's the point? He's been once and was treated with astonishing rudeness. Trump can do absolutely nothing. He has no authority over either Ukraine or Russia.
Let Trump travel to Ukraine if he wants to speak to Zelenskyy again. Or is he chicken?

Trump told European leaders he believed a rapid peace deal could be negotiated if Mr. Zelensky agreed to give up the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops, according to two senior European officials briefed on the call.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/16/world/trump-putin-meeting-alaska?smid=nytcore-android-share

The latest episode of Silicon Curtain (which I generally really rate) is interesting. Suggestions of rumours of a shouting match between Trump and Zelenskyy ahead of the Alaskan summit and potentially a tense phone call between the two during the meeting itself. I haven’t seen reference to it elsewhere but Jonathan is generally pretty well looped in.

Once more he's TACOed. Backtracked on the agreement that no peace agreement can be discussed unless there is a ceasefire first.

Also - haven't found any verification that Zelenskyy will have other leaders with him so it looks like he's probably going to suffer the 🍊💩alone

Sky news suggesting that they may well join him.