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How Putin Dominated Trump, and Can Ukraine Survive by Ben Rhodes, Tommy Vietor

How Putin Dominated Trump, and Can Ukraine Survive

from Pod Save the World

by Ben Rhodes, Tommy Vietor

Published: Wed Aug 20 2025

Show Notes

Tommy & Ben sift through the week’s flurry of meetings on Ukraine, including Putin and Trump’s Alaska summit and Zelensky’s White House visit. They discuss how territory and security guarantees factor into negotiations, what Putin means by the “root causes” of the war, and how Russia won the optics game. They also talk about why a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel isn’t likely, massive anti-war protests in Israel, the Free Press’s ghoulish “reporting” on starving Gazan children, Laura Loomer’s malicious influence on medical visas for injured Palestinian kids, and the imprisonment of a 16-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Israel. Also covered: a rightward shift in Bolivia, Trump’s mobilization against cartels, and we say a fond farewell to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce. Then, Ben speaks with Representative Ro Khanna about his letter supporting the recognition of a Palestinian State and how to think about the future of Democratic Foreign Policy.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

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How Putin Dominated Trump, and Can Ukraine Survive | Podcst