Trump ‘sends message' to entire world with FIFA Club World Cup appearance
'What Donald Trump did by standing on that stage was kind of just tell the world 'listen, I'm the most powerful guy in the world, the world cup is happening here in America and you haters cannot do anything in your power to stop it',' Mr Stein told Sky News host Rita Panahi.
'He sent a message to the entire world.'
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ABC News
28 minutes ago
- ABC News
Has Trump finally turned against Putin?
Sam Hawley: After heaping so much praise on his Russian counterpart, Donald Trump's view of Vladimir Putin has finally soured. But is the US president's demand for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war in 50 days' time and a promise of US weapons for NATO really a sign that the bromance is over? Today, Russia expert Matthew Sussex from the Centre for European Studies at the ANU on how Putin's still playing Trump. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal Land in Sydney. This is ABC News it was just six months ago, of course, that Donald Trump was ripping shreds off the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office. Donald Trump, US President: You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country. Sam Hawley: But now it seems he's realised he might actually be the good guy. Matthew Sussex: Yes, look, this is a big reversal by Trump having called Zelenskyy a dictator and told him that, you know, he was responsible for the war and that it was his choices that were making his people keep dying at the hands of the Russians to now suddenly saying that he's going to allow the United States to sell weapons to NATO, which those countries can then buy and give to the Ukrainians. Donald Trump, US President: The purpose of this is to say that there's a very big deal we've made. This is billions of dollars' worth of military equipment is going to be purchased from the United States going to NATO, etc. And that's going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield. Matthew Sussex: So it's a pretty big 180-degree shift. Sam Hawley: Sure is. All right. Well, Donald Trump's glowing view of Vladimir Putin, it has been going downhill for a while now, but it may have been his wife Melania who convinced Donald Trump that he actually cannot trust Vladimir Putin. Matthew Sussex: Well, look, I mean, supposedly Trump said to Melania I had another lovely call with Putin. Donald Trump, US President: I go home, I tell the First Lady, you know, I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation. She said, oh, really? Another city was just hit. So it's like, yeah. Matthew Sussex: And, you know, that he took inspiration from that and it changed his mind. Look, I don't know whether this is true or not or whether it's a convenient story. Certainly, you know, Nancy Reagan used to consult her astrologer before she gave Ronald Reagan advice, or at least that was the story. And if we're kind of left with Melania diplomacy, I think it is, you know, possibly scratching the bottom of the barrel and we'd prefer to go through official channels. Sam Hawley: Oh, that's harsh, Matt. All right. Well, Trump himself has acknowledged now that the war in Ukraine has been very difficult to end because, of course, he had wanted to do it in a day and now he realises, well, actually, it's pretty hard. Donald Trump, US President: It's more difficult than people would have any idea. Vladimir Putin has been more difficult. Frankly, I had some problems with Zelenskyy. You may have read about him. And it's been more difficult than other wars. Matthew Sussex: Yeah, and it's pretty hard because both sides don't have really an incentive to stop fighting. Putin doesn't have an incentive to stop fighting because, you know, Trump has effectively enabled him since getting into office. And, you know, his desire to maintain the bromance with Trump is something that Putin has read as, well, keep going. And from the Ukrainian side, if, you know, the Russians are continuing their advance and continuing to try and take your territory, then, you know, why would you necessarily come to the peace table? Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Matt, let's run through now this newfound approach to the war from Donald Trump, noting, of course, that we don't know how long it will last for because he does tend to change his mind quite often. He has given Russia 50 days to agree to a peace deal. That's almost three months, so it's a pretty long time, right? Matthew Sussex: Yeah, that's right. And as you say, this administration can turn on a dime. It can change its mind within an hour. And so, therefore, if you're sitting in Ukraine, if you're in Kiev, you'd be possibly a little bit worried about this because 50 days is an awfully long amount of time for Trump to change his mind. And the extra worry here, I think, is that Putin had told Trump about 10 days ago on a call that he was going to prosecute the war for at least another 60 days, and Trump gave him 50, which, you know, doing the maths, 10 plus 50 is 60. So, effectively, Putin got what he wanted. And that's why I think it's probably necessary to look beyond the, you know, the conclusion that this is somehow a fundamental reset in US policy because I think, you know, Putin gets what he wants, he gets a green light, and unfortunately it means that he will continue to attack the Ukrainians with every tool at his disposal. Sam Hawley: OK, well, let's unpack what Trump has done and is threatening to do. Let's just start with the weapons deal he has struck with NATO nations. Just tell me exactly what that entails. Matthew Sussex: Yeah, well, this is American weaponry, about $10 billion worth, which is quite a lot, but it comprises a variety of different things that NATO member countries will buy, from America, and then give to the Ukrainians. And, of course, what the Ukrainians need is, well, pretty much everything, but fundamentally they need surface-to-air missiles to knock down incoming Russian cruise missiles that are shot at their cities and critical infrastructure. The Patriot interceptors are the ones that they need, the surface-to-air missiles first of all, because what the Russians are doing is shooting upwards, some nights, 740 drones, decoys, and cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities, and it's very hard to knock all those down. But then they also need offensive weaponry that's able to, you know, strike Russian troop formations, potentially even hit targets in Russia itself. So, the laundry list of things that Kiev needs is quite lengthy, and a lot of these weapons have been actually tied up in Poland because Trump's Under-Secretary for Defence, Elbridge Colby, had put a stop to American weapons going into Ukraine. So, these have been held up for a while, and you assume that they'll be part of the tranche that goes into Ukraine as a result of this deal. Sam Hawley: All right. So, unlike under Joe Biden, where America was donating a massive amount of military aid to Ukraine, and picking up the cost, of course, for that, the Europeans will now have to pay for this. I assume that makes Trump's MAGA base happy. Matthew Sussex: Yes. I mean, this is a bit of red meat because it says to them, we're not actually giving aid to Ukraine. What we're doing is we're selling American weapons. And a lot of them, I think, will be absolutely fine with that. And it's worth recalling also that there are some people who might not be, you know, MAGA, but they are nonetheless very strong supporters of Trump and actually want American weapons flowing into Ukraine. Lindsey Graham is a good example. But even if you're the most, you know, rusted-on MAGA believer who absolutely doesn't want Ukraine to get, you know, a penny of aid or any weapons at all out of America, nonetheless, I think, on this type of issue, there might be a little bit of bluster, but ultimately they'll fall into line behind Trump because they owe his positions to him. Sam Hawley: But Matt, this is good for NATO too, isn't it? Because it wanted Trump to be more engaged. It's a win, if you like, for the Secretary-General of NATO, Mark Rutte, who's really been sucking up to Trump, hasn't he? Calling him "Daddy". So it's the soft diplomacy. It works, does it, with Donald Trump? Matthew Sussex: Well, perhaps it does. Maybe it's a combination of Rutter and Melania and a whole bunch of other things. Ultimately, look, it is good for NATO because it shows that the United States is, you know, at least to an extent, prepared to take European security worries seriously, even if that's only through selling weapons. So it is something that will give them comfort, but I don't think it's something that will change the minds of European leaders, that Trump is someone who ultimately is really just going to pursue an America first and a Trump first policy, rather than necessarily have their interests always at heart. Sam Hawley: Hmm. All right. Well, Matt, that's on the weaponry side. Now, if there's no end to the fighting in 50 days, Trump is also threatening tariffs against Russia. Donald Trump, US President: We're very, very unhappy with them and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. Tariffs at about 100%. You call them secondary tariffs. You know what that means. Sam Hawley: Although they're secondary tariffs. So what does that mean? Matthew Sussex: Yeah. Well, he said there's two things. There's going to be 100% tariffs, direct one-to-one tariffs on any imports from Russia for the US. And that's small beans because the size of that trade is about $3 billion. These secondary tariffs are the things that potentially could make the Kremlin sit up and take notice because they're tariffs that America would put on countries that trade with Russia. And there are, you know, a number of countries throughout the world, in South East Asia, in Africa, that continue trading with Russia. And so putting large tariffs on those countries might get them to change their own policies and might then have an effect on the Russian economy. Sam Hawley: Right. Yeah. And big players in that, of course, are China and India, allies of Russia. So what does Donald Trump think that by putting economic pressure on them, they might then try and convince Vladimir Putin to end the war? Matthew Sussex: Well, he might. I think part of this also is an attempt to get those countries to buy American energy rather than Russian oil and gas. But then you have to question the fundamentals of this because is America really going to slap a 500% tariff on India? The relationship with New Delhi is something that's really pretty important to Washington. And that would make it very, very bad indeed. And so any attempts by the Americans to sort of pry the Indians away from the Russians would be stymied, I think. So, you know, when it comes to those really big economies that could put a dent in the Russian purse, you, I think, have to think carefully about whether, in fact, Trump will follow through on that. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Matt, I guess the real question is, will any of this actually change anything on the ground? Trump has never outlined what his so-called deal with Russia and Ukraine would look like. So why would Putin stop the war now when he has refused to do that for so long? Matthew Sussex: Well, look, he's at least got another 50 days before anything happens from the American side, with the exception of arming Ukraine. So I think that incentive for Putin remains to just let's keep going and see what happens. And for the Ukrainians as well, you know, they will have come out of this big reveal by Trump thinking, well, it's great that we got the weaponry, but it's not terrific that the sanctions aren't going to kick in for 50 days. So therefore, you know, we need to redouble our efforts too. And that means, I think, that the protagonists, you know, Russia and Ukraine are still really a long way apart. Sam Hawley: Yeah. So what do you think we should expect from Vladimir Putin over the next 50 days? Matthew Sussex: I think Putin will throw everything he's got at Ukraine, which means a lot more drones, a lot more cruise missiles, and, you know, a really concerted ground offensive. There are reports that the Russians have managed to mobilise, cobble together a really significant force to add to their offensive troops in Ukraine, and they will try and seize as much of Ukrainian territory as possible in those 50 days, because that will strengthen Putin's hand. He will be able to say, well, you know, my troops are advancing. You need to give me a better deal if you want me to even think about peace. Sam Hawley: Matthew Sussex is from the Centre for European Studies at the ANU. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
Daily Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
‘He didn't fool me': Four words from Donald Trump that say so, so much
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. Comment Three quotes here, all uttered by Donald Trump after he took office in January, and all referring to Vladimir Putin. 'I believe he wants peace. I mean, I know him very well. Yeah, I think he wants peace. I think he would tell me if he didn't.' 'I think he'll keep his word. I've spoken to him, I've known him for a long time now, you know? I don't believe he is going to violate his word.' 'I believe him. I think we're doing very well with Russia, and right now they're bombing the hell out of Ukraine. I'm finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine.' And here is another, from this week, which came as Mr Trump finally lost patience with Putin's doublespeak. 'He's fooled a lot of people. He fooled Bush, he fooled a lot of people. He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn't fool me.' Donald Trump. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP A bit shameless, isn't it? This man's capacity to revise history so blatantly, and to expect everyone to accept it, as though we have neither eyes, nor ears, nor functioning brains. Putin did fool George W. Bush, who after meeting the Russian leader, claimed to have gotten 'a sense of his soul' and said he was 'very trustworthy'. He did at least somewhat fool Barack Obama, who got then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton to pose for a stunt with an obnoxious red 'reset button', representing the relationship between America and Russia. That predictably doomed move fell over when Crimea happened. Joe Biden? Hmm. He did agree to attend a summit with Putin during his presidency, which felt naive at the time. But the Biden administration was unequivocal about Russia's intentions in the lead-up to its invasion of Ukraine. So there is plenty to criticise in other US presidents' approaches to the Putin regime. But that last part, the 'he didn't fool me', takes some goddamn cheek. Nothing any of the presidents above said or did comes close to rivalling the credulousness with which Mr Trump has approached Putin, one of the most nakedly malicious leaders on the planet, since he first took power in 2017. Vladimir Putin. Picture: Maxim Shemetov/AFP And this goes right to the heart of the eternal, perhaps unanswerable question about Donald Trump: Does he actually believe his own rhetoric? When he says something brazenly false, as is his habit, is he doing it cynically, with the knowledge that enough people will believe him anyway? Or has he convinced himself it's the truth? Put in context: does Mr Trump genuinely think Putin did not outfox him, did not string him along with fake talk of peace for months? Or is the American President saying such nonsense with full self-awareness, to cover up his own embarrassment? The shift in stance from the Trump administration this week is an improvement. It's a recognition, seven years after Mr Trump met Putin in Helsinki and took his word over that of his own country's intelligence agencies, that the murderous Russian dictator with a record of breaking nearly every pledge he makes might not be trustworthy. So in relative terms, OK. Good, even. If American policy towards Russia is on a spectrum, with exploitable innocence on one end and cynicism on the other, we are at least heading in the right direction. In absolute terms though? Pissweak. A 50-day deadline, after which new sanctions might be imposed unless Putin agrees to a peace deal. Why not impose those sanctions now? The man has lied to you for months, Donald. At no point has he displayed anything resembling good faith. Why give him the leeway of a delay? Do it now. We've already seen Putin bomb Ukraine again since Mr Trump's announcement. He hardly seems worried. And honestly, why should he be? He's dealing with a serial flip-flopper, whose record indicates he'll sooner push back a deadline than enforce it. Genuine shoutout to George Bush though for his naivety. I mean come on, you can judge that guy from his skin alone, never mind his soul. And he's dealing with an American President who seeks to project strength, but even in his own telling comes off as credulous and manipulable. 'I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done,' he said of Putin, and a peace deal, while speaking to reporters after completing the flip-flop. 'And I always hang up and say, 'Well, that was a nice phone call.' And then missiles are launched into Kyiv, or some other (Ukrainian) city. And I say, 'Strange.' 'And after that happens three or four times, you say the talk doesn't mean anything.' No s***. He has retold a version of that anecdote several times, with First Lady Melania Trump usually serving as the unlikely snap back to reality. 'We thought we had a deal. Numerous times. I'd get home, I'd say, 'First Lady, I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we're finished.'' As in, finished hammering out a viable path to peace between Russia and Ukraine. 'And then I'll turn on the television. Or she'll say to me one time, 'Wow, that's strange, because they just bombed a nursing home.' I said, 'What?'' What's the fictional equivalent here? Mon Mothma gets off the holo-phone with Emperor Palpatine. 'That was a really wonderful talk I had with Palpatine,' she tells some other rebel bigwig. 'Wow, that's strange, because he just blew up Alderaan,' her colleague replies. To which Mothma, would-be leader of the free worlds, offers an impotent: 'What!?' Before proceeding to publicly insist she was the only rebel leader to never be fooled by Palpatine. (Do watch Andor. Wonderfully written show, regardless of your politics. No I will not stop sneaking TV recommendations into serious rants about serious politics.) Apparently Melania Trump is more abreast of international war news than her husband, who has the entire US national security apparatus at his beck and call. But that's a discussion for another day. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP Look, there are two elements here. One is US policy towards Russia, which has improved a bit. Second is Mr Trump's personality, which at the age of 79 is probably set in carbonite. The man's hatred of his political opponents, or for anyone who dares to criticise him, is one thing. Plenty to dissect there. But the shamelessness with which he can lie through his teeth to his own supporters, and mock the intelligence of the people who gave him the power he now wields? That, more than anything he could ever say or do to the Democrats or the media, speaks to his character. Twice this week, we have seen it in action, once with the Putin backflip, and again with his attitude towards the Jeffrey Epstein case. 'I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody,' Mr Trump said today when asked about the backlash against his sudden indifference within MAGA. 'It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring. And I don't understand why it keeps going. I think, really, only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.' Jeffrey Epstein. Picture: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department Boring, is it? The years-long, unchecked, unprosecuted sex trafficking of minors to the rich and powerful? You find that boring? Only Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were charged. All their clients are free without consequence. An election campaign last year in which Mr Trump and his associates eagerly fed the conspiracy theories. And now Mr Trump cannot comprehend why people still talk about it. Nor can he understand the dissatisfaction of those who were promised a reckoning by his own confidants – Vice President J.D. Vance, Attorney-General Pam Bondi, head honchos of the FBI Kash Patel and Dan Bongino – only to be told to 'move on' without any result. The blow-up over Epstein, this past fortnight, is of Mr Trump's making. His handpicked officials said they were practically drowning in Epstein-related material never before seen by the public. His officials released what they called 'phase one' of documents to selected right-wing influencers, implying more phases were coming. His Attorney-General said the Epstein 'client list', long sought by the cranks, was on her desk for review. Now they say there never was any client list, and no more material will be released, and no third parties will be pursued, and Mr Trump's contemptuous reaction boils down to: 'Why do you even care?' It's insulting. Donald Trump. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP And so is his rhetoric concerning Putin. Mr Trump told his supporters he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, if not before. He has since sought to brush that off as a joke, as though we all have the memory of a goldfish, and cannot recall the dozens – no, sorry, hundreds – of times he said it without a hint of humour. It's the Trump playbook now, apparently. Say something ridiculous. Have it blow up in your face. Pretend it never happened. Assume your followers will accept it unquestioningly. 'Look, it's clear from what the President himself has said – although he wouldn't put it this way – that he got played by Putin, and dragged on for months,' the longtime chief political analyst for Fox News, Brit Hume, said this week. 'And he was being jollied along under the impression, that Putin had obviously given him, that Putin wanted to end the war, and was prepared to negotiate from where we are. 'And it's pretty clear now that Putin didn't want to end the war where we are. He had more conquests in mind, and perhaps wanted his whole original purpose of taking Ukraine.' We all bloody knew it, the whole time. Hume knew it, I knew it, you probably knew it. Putin certainly knew it. The only man in the dark, the only man of actual consequence fooled, was the one with genuine power to act. Originally published as 'He didn't fool me': Four words from Donald Trump that say so, so much
Sky News AU
3 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘Most bizarre fissure of all time': Donald Trump claims Epstein files are ‘pretty boring stuff'
Sky News host Caleb Bond says it's 'bizarre' that US President Donald Trump said the Epstein files are 'pretty boring stuff'. 'Donald Trump and Pam Bondi are now saying that there are no Epstein files, after, of course, they promised and campaigned that they would be releasing the Epstein files,' Mr Bond said. 'Donald Trump is claiming that the Epstein files, that apparently don't exist … [are] pretty boring stuff. 'This is the most bizarre fissure of all time.'
