Trump makes mid-terms gamble by siding with Putin

He knows which buttons to press to get President Trump to agree with him. And Trump falls into this trap time after time again. You may have seen that Putin's spokesman described President Trump's intervention on Zelensky as, and I quote, iconic and historic. That's just what President Trump wants to hear. And so certainly President Putin has President Trump wrapped around his little finger. Russia agreed to send us millions and millions of barrels of oil, and it's diesel, that's what we really need. It was clearly, I mean, I said yesterday, it was the equivalent of pulling the rug from under President Zelensky's feet in Ukraine, and then Donald Trump followed up that yesterday with this. Zelensky could have settled this war many times, many, many times, and he chooses not to. Very difficult. It's a war that should have never been started. If I were president, if the election weren't rigged, I would have been president, and that war would have never started. But he could have settled it many times, and he chose not to. We said you can do whatever you want to Russia, don't hit the refineries, because that's a world problem that's caused. And he wants to make problems for the world. He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel, because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world. And we told him, do whatever you want, but don't hit the diesel fuel because there's a big problem, a big shortage. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel. He'd better damn well stop. You've lost 30% of your country and you've had over a million people killed. Between the two of them, over two million people killed. That's a war that should have never started. And I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president. Paul has just messaged. Matthew, how can we tell Trump isn't a Russian agent? Is he one of these useful idiots we've heard about? Do the Russians have sufficient compromat on Donald Trump to push his buttons? Is Russia going to complete an overthrow of the United States without a shot being fired? I'm joined by Lee Turner, former British ambassador to Ukraine and author of Lessons in Diplomacy, Politics, Power and Parties. What we're seeing here is very much Trump's usual behaviour. Number one, he always believes what the last guy told him. We've seen this again and again. He talks to President Putin and then comes out with some fantastically pro-Russian lines. This is extremely damaging, not only to President Trump's credibility, but also to the war itself, where Trump's behavior is, as Zelensky has said, extending the war. He keeps Trump pushing on Kiev so-called deals to end the war that are fantastically pro-Russian. Trump seems to be suggesting that Ukraine should give up land that Russia has not been able to conquer militarily in nearly five years of war since its full-scale invasion. And then Trump complains that Kiev won't accept those deals. And then thirdly, Trump doesn't seem to understand the consequences of what he does. He launches an ill-conceived war on Iran, which has pushed up fuel prices in the United States. And then he blames everybody else for that happening, his blaming Zelensky for increased fuel prices in the United States, which is frankly bonkers. And then finally, we see again how thin-skinned President Trump is. You mentioned that terrible exchange in the Oval Office, perhaps the rudest that any world leader has ever been to another world leader. That resulted when Zelensky, who is usually very calm in response to President Trump's provocations, back in February 2025, he suggested that Trump lived inside an information bubble, which is pretty accurate, if you ask me. And Trump exploded. And on this occasion, Trump has announced this extraordinary deal to loosen sanctions on Russia that you were talking about. I mean, just incredible when Russia is bombing civilian infrastructure inside Ukraine like it's going out of fashion. And last, Zelensky said, well, this is a terrible deal. And again, Trump has exploded. It's it's it's really shameful. Do you I mean, the questions I almost can't believe I'm asking, but do you believe that Russia is playing him, that he is a useful idiot or perhaps worse? I certainly think that President Putin, who is, of course, whatever you think, whether you like him or not, has a lot of experience as president of president of Russia because he can't be voted out he fixed the elections himself back in 2010 and he has great experience he sticks to the same lines for month after month and year after year whereas president trump doesn't seem to have that ability you remember just three weeks ago president trump was signing into being new laws that penalized countries that imported russian oil and gas now he's doing it himself three weeks later. So Putin is very consistent and he knows which buttons to press to get President Trump to agree with him. And Trump falls into this trap time after time again. You may have seen that Putin's spokesman described President Trump's intervention on Zelensky as, and I quote, iconic and historic. That's just what President Trump wants to hear. And so certainly President Putin has President Trump wrapped around his little finger in terms of making Trump do what he wants him to do. This question of whether Trump is a Russian agent, I mean, I can't really comment on that. But certainly it's difficult to see what President Trump would be doing differently, how he could be more pro-Russian than he is already. A couple of questions. So the midterms are looming. I'd like to hear what you think, how you think the Republican Party is going to fare and what impact that will have on Donald Trump. And also, I was thinking about McCarthyism yesterday and you think they had this huge purge of anybody who even looked left and they could be arrested or whatever. And you come from a nation that was so anti-Russian, so anti-Soviet, to a president who seems to be hand in glove. So I don't know if you could comment on all of those things for me, please. Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a good saying in the diplomatic world that you should be very cautious about making predictions, particularly if they refer to the future. And what will happen in the midterms, I have no idea. But clearly, President Trump is extremely worried about what's going to happen in the midterms. He's worried about his legacy. He's stuck in this awful war with Iran. Now, I'm no fan of Iran, I've got to say. I mean, not the country, but the regime there. And the Iranians are causing trouble all over the world, as well as in the neighborhood. But the idea of launching a war against Iran without a clear exit strategy, without thinking about what might happen to the Straits of Hormuz if a war is started and what impact that would have on energy prices, one can criticise that. And clearly, that is the main factor that's driving increased diesel prices or fuel prices around the world, actually, as well as in the US. And yet Trump keeps blaming other people. And so I think you can see he's really, really worried about the midterm elections. And this is why he's lashing out in all directions. And frankly, President Zelensky has a point when he says that President Trump's behavior is going to prolong the war. What Trump could do very easily to end the war in Ukraine would be to start supporting Ukraine. Even without US support, Ukraine is holding off the Russians and causing enormous trouble to President Putin. Putin's hardly advanced in the last year and losing huge numbers of troops. That's without US support to Ukraine. And if President Trump were to be a bit more even-handed and to look at the interests of the United States, he could end the war tomorrow by supporting Ukraine, giving it more weapons and financial help. I think he should have an election. And he could have settled this thing many times. And he should have an election. And he can't raise the price of oil. He's done enough. This is a war that should have never happened. Ukraine-Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened. but President Zelensky could have solved this war or he could have made a deal many times. I've been there.