As I began this article, I wondered to myself:
Why do left-wing media Democrat Party lapdogs willingly humiliate themselves (on their own silly shows) regularly by trying to play games and match wits with the likes of Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (AR) and Josh Hawley (MO), Vice President JD Vance, and various Trump cabinet members like SecDef Pete Hegseth and DHS head Kristi Noem, and “border czar” Tom Homan?
My favorite example on Sunday was ABC’s “This Week” with host George Stephanopoulos when Stephy tried to outwit Secretary of State Marco Rubio about embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his ill-fated meeting (fiasco) with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office on Friday.
READ MORE:
Zelensky Attempts Oval Office Grandstanding; Finds Out Trump and Vance Don’t Play That Game
While trying to fly wingman for Zelensky, Stephanopoulos attempted to drop bombs on Trump and Vance.
As I asked in the headline, any guesses how that turned out for him? Yeah, it was awesome.
During one segment of the interview, Rubio blasted Stephanopoulos for suggesting that Trump is siding with Russian dictator Russia over Zelenksy and Ukraine (emphasis, mine):
No one here is claiming Vladimir Putin is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize this year, or whether he should be The Man of the Year of the Humanitarian Association. What we’re arguing here is, he has a very large country on full war footing — they’re cranking out weapons now at a war-footing pace — and we need to figure out — is there a way to get them to stop the war? And the only way you’re going to do that is to get Russians engaged in negotiations — something the Europeans haven’t be able to do; the Biden administration wasn’t able to do or didn’t even try.
That’s the goal, here; it’s that simple. Can we try to sit with them and figure out … what are the Russians demands? [Under] what conditions would the Russians be willing to stop this war? And we don’t know because we haven’t talked to them in three years. That’s the singular goal, here — to bring an end to this conflict and it begins by getting them to the table.
Exactly.
First, let’s get one thing straight: Zelensky is neither Europe’s next “Winston Churchill,” as some on the left absurdly proclaim, nor the personification of evil, as some on our side insist, But without a ceasefire first, it’s hard to see Putin coming to the table to negotiate an end to the war otherwise.
Rubio continued to educate Stephanopoulos:
Ultimately, like any truce — like any peace agreement, anywhere in the world — those things will have to be enforced; they’ll have to be enduring; there’ll have to be safeguards put in place, everybody understands that. But it begins with a first step, and that is engaging them to see if that is even possible. Because if it’s not possible, then what we’re looking at is a protracted stalemate, with thousands of people dying, billions of dollars pouring in, and more death and destruction, and that’s not something the president wants to do.
Yep, and it’s also something that clear-thinking Americans shouldn’t want this country to do, either.
.@SecRubio tells it exactly like it is: “No one here is claiming Vladamir Putin is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize … We need to figure out — is there a way to get them to stop the war? And the only way you’re going to do that is to get Russians engaged in negotiations.” pic.twitter.com/h6f04sI2gR
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 2, 2025
At one point, Rubio turned the tables on Stephanopoulos, pointing out that the Biden administration had put more pressure on Israel to end its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas than on Zelensky and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire.
“We’ve been nice [to Ukraine] by comparison,” Rubio said.
Pressed by George Stephanopoulos, Secretary of State Marco Rubio argues the U.S. has pressured Israel more than Ukraine, defending Trump’s approach to bringing Russia to the negotiating table.
“We have been nice by comparison.”https://t.co/naPDhqKTJy pic.twitter.com/2YfqBkcWIP
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 2, 2025
Meanwhile, while Trump made it clear he wants nothing to do with Zelensky until he’s ready to talk peace, the Democrat Party continues to give the Ukrainian strongman the worst advice possible.
READ MORE:
WHOA: Fox Reporter’s Backstory on Trump-Zelensky Meeting Shows Just How Mad Trump Was
Why you don’t think it has anything to do with Trump Derangement Syndrome, do you?
The Bottom Line
Sometimes, we have to make choices about the best (or least worst) of two evils. This is one of those times. Putin isn’t some grand seeker of peace, as some absurdly suggest, while Zelensky isn’t Winston Churchill — but he also isn’t the Devil.
Rather than carrying water for one or the other — and spending political capital by doing so — perhaps a real “art of the deal” deal is yet to come. Let’s hope so.
