Act II of the Trump-Putin Ukrainian Two-Step Set to Debut in Budapest in a Couple of Weeks

One of the commentators on TV today (can’t remember if it was on CNN or NewsNation) called the Trump-Putin Alaska Summit “silly,” and I would have to agree, although I would prefer the appellation “tragic.”

President Trump, in the joint press conference at the close of that erstwhile summit, looked like a defeated man. Soon thereafter, he attempted to pawn everything off on Ukraine by attempting to arrange a Putin-Zelenskyy summit that he knew would never happen.

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Anyway, today we had Ukraine’s Zelenskyy visiting the White House again, this time hoping that Trump’s triumph (so far) in Gaza peace negotiations could be transferred to his nation.

As a prelude to the visit, Trump held a lengthy phone call yesterday with Putin — which he claimed the Russian dictator initiated — that he proclaimed to be “very productive.” Now, I ask you, has Trump ever termed any phone call or contact he had with another foreign leader anything except “productive”?

That being that, today Trump announced that peace in Ukraine is “very close” and that he hopes to close the deal during another summit with Putin in Budapest in two weeks.

Putin, of course, is no closer to peace than he was heading into Alaska. He’ll declare peace when Ukraine is part of Russia once again, Trumpian charms notwithstanding.

The question is: What will Trump announce after this go-round? Another P-Z summit? Or “Very close, but we need more time…?”

Anyway, stay tuned.