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Jan. 27, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
07:19
Scott Ritter : Can Trump Successfully Threaten Putin?
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And this anniversary, the 80th anniversary of the defeat, is a huge, huge deal.
Donald Trump would be better off Calling up Vladimir Putin and saying, hey, I'd like to send an American delegation.
Let's send the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne to march in your parade to join you in the celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
That would be the best negotiating ploy.
If he did that, he'd have Putin eating it out of his hands.
But instead, he wants Putin to sign on to an agreement that is, in effect, a surrender for Russia.
It's just never going to happen.
A nation that lost 27 million dead to defeat Nazi Germany isn't going to turn around and surrender to the very Nazis that continue to rule in Ukraine today.
The current regime in Kyiv is happy to receive hundreds of billions of dollars from its sponsors.
Excuse me for the simplicity of popular expressions.
As we say among the people, they are like hamsters chewing with pleasure these hundreds of billions of dollars on both cheeks.
But they are in no hurry to follow the instructions of their sponsors.
And we know that such instructions exist to cancel the adopted decree banning negotiations.
But I think that in the end, those who pay him money, they should still force him to do it.
And I think he will have to do it.
Does the United States force him to sit down with Putin or does the United States get rid of him and replace him with someone who will be more realistic?
But you missed the point, Judge.
It doesn't matter what the United States wants.
Putin will never sit down with Zelensky.
Zelensky is an illegitimate leader who hasn't had elections.
Putin has already called him illegitimate.
Putin will never meet with Zelensky.
No Russian official will ever meet with Zelensky.
The reality is the United States must remove Zelensky and then bring in somebody who is going to be able to negotiate what is the terms of surrender.
Russia isn't going to make a deal with the United States.
I don't know why Trump doesn't understand that.
What Trump needs to do is think strategically.
Stop talking about Ukraine because Russia won that war.
Accept that Ukraine is defeated.
Accept that NATO lost its bid.
And accept that the United States isn't going to get what it wants out of this.
And focus instead on the larger strategic picture or question of what will European security framework look like in a post-Ukraine environment?
That's the most important question.
What will the role of NATO be in European security?
What will the role of the United States be in NATO?
And how do you balance that with On the day after Trump was inaugurated,
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping spoke on the phone for 90 minutes.
How significant was that?
It's as significant as every single one of the meetings between these two.
I always remind people that before the special military operation began on February 24th, 20 days prior to that, on February 4th, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met in Beijing where they...
Basically, it ain't a strategic agreement, a 5,000-word agreement that talked about how they're going to join forces against the United States to defeat the rules-based international order.
And they haven't lost purpose or sense of direction ever since then.
You know, Donald Trump can have a short conversation with Xi Jinping.
Donald Trump is the president of a very powerful country.
There's no doubt about that.
The Chinese...
We'll take that call and listen.
But does Donald Trump, does Marco Rubio, does Keith Kellogg, do they understand this?
No, they don't understand anything.
They labor in this artificial world that they've constructed of American primacy.
And, you know, there's ways for America to leverage its considerable strength.
And it has considerable strength.
But there's ways for America to bleed off whatever advantages it has.
For instance, seeking $45 a barrel oil.
That's a suicide pill that will destroy the American economy.
You know, so Trump really needs to start dealing with reality.
And instead, he's just a lot of bluster, a lot of bluff.
And for a man who says that he doesn't want to get in wars, he's moving us, inching us towards conflict all around the world right now.
This is a very dangerous situation because he apparently doesn't understand the reality of the world.
How much longer can...
Well, before I ask you that, has the spigot been turned off to Ukraine?
Or is there still military hardware and ammunition in the Joe Biden pipeline still making its way to Kiev?
That I can't give you a definitive answer.
There's been a lot of contradictory information coming out in the press.
Even the Trump administration isn't clear on what exactly...
Rumors about him firing the officials in the Pentagon who were responsible for that haven't played out with demonstrable fact.
My guess is that there's still material in a pipeline, and that pipeline is trickling material into Ukraine, but that Anything that required additional approvals from a Trump administration isn't going to go forward.
But those where all the final paperwork have been finished, that will go in.
But this will be devastating for the Ukrainian government.
You know, I think Putin has said and Zelensky has pretty much acknowledged that two weeks after the United States cuts off military aid, that that's it for the Ukrainians.
And I think that this may be...
One of the goals and objectives of Donald Trump is to basically destroy the Ukrainian ability to resist by eliminating American weaponry.
And then you have Russia creating a reality that can't be ignored.
Scott Ritter, thank you, my dear friend.
Thank you for your analysis on...
Thank you.
Thank you.
Terrific. Terrific conversation.
Coming up tomorrow at 8 in the morning, Ambassador Charles Freeman at 12 noon, Max Blumenthal at 2 in the afternoon, Matt Ho at 3 in the afternoon, Karen Kwiatkowski.
Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.
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