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Aug. 15, 2025 - Human Events Daily - Jack Posobiec
54:20
The Anchorage Accords: The Historic Meeting of Trump and Putin in Alaska

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Christ is King.
President Trump scheduled to meet with Vladimir Putin on U.S. soil.
The leader is set to meet on a U.S. military base in Anchorage, Alaska.
Expected to discuss terms for ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with nuclear arms control and trade agreements.
I think that President Putin would like to see a deal.
I think if I weren't president, he would take over all of Ukraine.
But I am president, and he's not going to mess around with me.
Putin is praising Trump's, quote, energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities.
Ukrainian President Zelensky was not invited to today's summit.
President Trump's suggesting the meeting with Putin could open the door for a second meeting that would include Zelensky.
I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having.
It's the first time, I should add, in about a decade or so, that the Russian leader will be on U.S. soil.
The Russian leader will be on the side of the road.
And there is the president making his way up to the top of the steps there for Air Force One making a wave.
We also know, guys, who the president's going to be traveling with.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Lutnik, Treasury Secretary Besson, and CIA Director Radclef will be part of the enclave.
Zelensky, concerned about Trump's support for an exchange of territory, is calling for a ceasefire first and then negotiations.
The Ukrainian president, backed by European leaders, also demanding security guarantees.
Trump said today that he estimates the chance of failure in the negotiations at 25%.
And what is our assessment?
We never make any predictions in advance.
We know that we have arguments.
We have a clear and understandable position, and we will present it.
I'm not doing this for my health.
Okay, I don't need it.
I'd like to focus on our country, but I'm doing this to save a lot of lives.
And now we're taking a look at Alaska live right now in anticipation of the presidential summit with Vladimir Putin of Russia, which should be happening just any moment now.
We'll keep you posted on that.
Welcome to Human Events.
I'm Bo Davidson, filling in for the great Jack Posovic, who is on Air Force One right now as part of the RAV delegation covering this historic meeting of President Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
And the weight of peace hangs in the balance in Alaska today.
These are the historic Anchorage Accords.
We are expecting Air Force One to land in Anchorage, as I said, at any moment.
And the stakes, folks, could not be any higher.
There are reports that both President Trump and President Putin will touch down within just minutes of one another.
And then we'll have an epic moment on the tarmac before the private meeting that could potentially, potentially, ladies and gentlemen, change the fate of millions around the world.
Now, how will this conversation go?
Well, President Trump has indicated that if it goes poorly, it will be short and he will depart swiftly back to D.C. But we pray that that's not the case today.
We hope and pray for peace and a lasting peace and an end to the killing.
That's what President Trump has indicated.
Now, overnight, Russia launched two ballistic missiles into Ukraine and sent ground troops into Donetsk, an area of eastern Ukraine.
So the tension could not be any more palpable.
And let's talk about some of the history here in this conflict.
This will be the sixth meeting between President Trump and Putin.
The first two were in 2017, and then Helsinki and the G20 in 2018, and then 2019 in Osaka.
So this is meeting number six between the two and the most consequential of them all, hands down.
Some out there have already nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, which seems to be very well deserved.
But this is his biggest test yet.
If he can thread that needle with two nations at war, depleted in manpower and resources.
This is a story that is three years in the making, and it harkens back to 1945, when the Security Council met to end World War II.
That is what is at stake today.
And earlier today, to that point, Vladimir Putin made a very rare public appearance at a monument honoring U.S. cooperation during World War II, just hours before this upcoming summit with President Trump.
The significance of this cannot be overstated because we were once allies and we can be again.
That's what's on the table today.
And let's talk about some of the possible outcomes from this summit.
Well, I mentioned the undesirable one, which is that they meet, it goes poorly, and they go home.
That likely means more war, more casualties.
But there are other options on the table.
What has been called closure of the skies.
I mentioned that Russia's ballistic missile attacks happened last night.
A win would be stopping the air attacks.
That's big for Ukraine.
And then there's this idea of land for peace or territorial swaps.
That is on the table too.
Donald Trump has indicated that he's not there to negotiate for Ukraine, but he is there to get the two sides to the table and create peace.
Putin has stated that he thinks President Trump is making, quote, sincere efforts for peace.
Zelensky has agreed to a ceasefire already, but Vladimir Putin has not.
That's why today's Anchorage Accord is so very important.
Now, Russia's economy is in trouble.
The price of war is steep, but it's not just the billions of dollars wasted on death.
It's the millions of lives wasted because of low IQ Joe Biden, his administration that allowed this to happen.
An entire generation of Ukrainians is gone, wiped out.
Zelensky can't find soldiers to fight, no matter how many missiles we send them.
And President Trump also spoke with Belarusian President Lukashenko.
Shout out to Atanyate, who facilitated the release of 16 Ukrainian prisoners.
Now, they're discussing now the release of 1,300 more.
That's clearly a good sign.
But not attending today's summit is Volodymyr Zelensky.
The meeting between him and Putin could take place, I mentioned could take place after this, depending on how things go today.
But he says the Ukrainian Constitution prevents him from ceding any land to Russia.
So here we are now, just moments away.
Scott Besant, who made inroads with Zelensky several months ago on rare earth minerals, is on board Air Force One as well.
So in the name of peace, you have to wonder, what carrots will President Trump be dangling to try to close the deal?
Will it be oil?
Will it be rare earth minerals, land swaps, security assurances?
What's it going to take to end the carnage?
We'll have those questions and answers for you.
Nothing will stand in our way, and our golden age has just begun.
This is human events with Jack Pasovic.
Now it's time for everyone to understand what America First truly means.
Welcome to the second American Revolution.
What will make a success of this summit today?
I can't tell you that.
I don't know.
There's nothing set in stone.
I want certain things.
I want to see a ceasefire.
This is not to do with Europe.
Europe's not telling me what to do.
But they're going to be involved in the process, obviously, as well as Zelensky.
But I want to see a ceasefire rapidly.
I don't know if it's going to be today, but I'm not going to be happy if it's not today.
Everyone said it can't be today, but I'm just saying I want the killing to stop.
I'm in this to stop the killing.
They lost last week, 7,011 people were lost, almost all soldiers.
36 people in a town which got hit by a missile.
But 7,000, over 7,000 soldiers.
It's crazy.
Welcome back to Human Events on a historic day as we watch the president land in Anchorage for the Anchorage Accords, meeting soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
That clip of the video that you just saw comes from Air Force One, in which President Trump is asked what a successful meeting would look like.
And pretty simply, he says to stop the killing.
Well, joining me now is Steve Bruber, host of America's Voice Live.
Steve, what a day.
What a day.
What an occasion with peace hanging in the balance.
Now, Trump says that success would be a ceasefire and a stopping of the killing.
What is your take on where we are today ahead of this monumental summit?
Bo, it is a remarkable day to say the least.
Look at the irony of it all.
Meeting in Alaska, former Russian territory.
Russia lost the Crimean War in 1867 and sold Alaska to us for $7.2 million, 15 cents an acre.
And then he invites Mr. Putin back to Alaska with all those Russian Orthodox churches sprinkling the landscape.
It really is an ironic place to meet.
And Alaska, the Center of the University of the Alaska Accords, look, my advice to people watching today is the same as it's been for a while.
Do not underestimate Donald Trump as president of the United States.
59% of the poll I just saw today don't believe he's going to get anything out of today.
Maybe that's true.
Maybe it is.
But he's there.
He's on the ground.
He's present.
He's working.
And like he said on Air Force One, there's nothing in this for him.
He could be working on the economy or the border or what happens next with investment in the United States or 100 other things that he could be doing in the Oval Office today.
But instead, he's trying to end a war that kills 5,000 people a week, 20,000 people a month.
More people have died in this war than died in the first two years of the war in Europe in 1939 and 1940.
Think about that.
Put that into perspective.
That's the war he's trying to end now.
Having said that, I don't believe Crimea is ever going back to Ukraine.
It's been Russian territory since 2012.
I don't believe that Donbass is going back to Ukraine.
I believe that this is the same situation we've been in since the Biden administration turned down a deal a few weeks into this war back in 2022.
It's very complex, as Donald Trump has said for a few days, but think back, Bo.
We didn't even have this on our dance card a week ago.
President Trump works.
He puts it together.
He straights it.
And all of a sudden, he pulls off a summit in Alaska.
First time in 10 years that Vladimir Putin's been on American soil.
And it is ironic that it's former Russian soil.
I think that you cannot lose that irony.
And Donald Trump does these things for a reason.
And I don't think this was accidental at all.
Yeah, ye of little faith, beware, right?
Don't underestimate.
I think Mike Pompeo said just as much when he was meeting with President Trump and Kim Jong-un.
And they met, and a couple minutes later, he said this.
We're out of here.
We're out of here.
And so that could happen today.
We pray that that doesn't happen.
We pray that that doesn't happen.
We pray that Vladimir Putin comes in peace and it's sincere peace.
Steve, I want to play a bit of video here of the Russian foreign minister on this topic.
Let's roll that clip.
Trump said today that he estimates the chance of failure in the negotiations at 25%.
And what is our assessment?
We never make any predictions in advance.
We know that we have arguments.
We have a clear and understandable position, and we will present it.
A lot has already been accomplished here during Stephen Witkoff's visits.
The president mentioned this, and Witkoff spoke on behalf of President Trump.
I hope that today and tomorrow we will continue this very useful conversation.
So, Steve, Trump says there's about a 25% of failure.
Well, that means a 75% of success, I would say.
The Russian foreign minister does not like playing fan duel or craps or blackjack, I suppose, Steve.
He says they make no predictions.
But what do you make of his assessment and the steps that Steve Witkoff has taken to get us here?
Are we at the precipice of real peace?
Potentially.
And let me focus on Witkoff for a moment and let's focus on what the left has said about Witkoff from day one.
They call him a rookie, an amateur, a guy out of his depth, a guy that didn't belong in these high-stakes negotiations.
Every place that Witkoff has gone around the world, we found peace seven times over, whether it's in Central Africa or it's Indian Pakistan or it's pick your place Armenian Azerbaijan, which happened just last week.
Steve Witkoff has been instrumental in all of those negotiations.
So for the left, I say again, don't underestimate Donald Trump.
Do not underestimate his team.
They do their homework.
They work really hard.
I mean, how many times is Donald Trump in the Oval Office at five in the morning?
Just about every day.
I mean, that Marine is based outside that Oval Office just about every day, 5, 5.30 in the morning.
He comes in, he gets work done.
He makes things happen.
And I want to go back to the fact that a week ago, we didn't even see this on the horizon.
This is Donald Trump.
And look, this guy is 79 years old.
He runs circles around the whole world, Bo.
I mean, it is remarkable what he's doing.
And he's thinking all the time.
And Look, failure, is it possible?
Sure.
But I want to give credit to Witkoff.
I want to give credit to Donald Trump for picking him to get all of these important negotiations done because he has exceeded expectations, certainly of those on the left who have derided him and considered him, again, a rookie, a guy over his head.
Clearly not true.
So that's really important.
And here's something else that's on the table today that I haven't heard you mention yet, and we should.
Not only are we possibly looking at the end of the war in Ukraine, We're also looking at the possibility of an expanded nuclear arms agreement.
That's been mentioned.
And that was mentioned by Vladimir Putin on Russian television.
Wouldn't that be remarkable?
I mean, look at what Donald Trump has done in seven different wars around the world.
If he can bring the Ukraine war to an end, it is time for the Pulitzer Prize.
Stop the games.
Stop making the Pulitzer Prize some sort of a virtue signal for those on the left.
Donald Trump has earned it.
As I recall, Barack Obama solved exactly zero wars before getting the Nobel Peace Prize.
Donald Trump is working on it every day.
And in places, I mean, do you really know much about the Republic of the Congo and Rwanda?
Most people don't, but he went there and stopped a war.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, who knows much about that?
Most people don't.
Donald Trump went there and stopped a war.
This is what he does.
He is the most peace-obsessed president of my lifetime.
The most peace-obsessed president maybe of the last 100 years.
It's pretty remarkable what we're watching.
India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand.
You know, the list just goes on and on and on.
And you're right.
This wasn't even really on our dance card a week ago.
You can't underestimate this guy.
It's absolutely true what you're saying.
I think that we're at a moment of such unique uniqueness for so many different reasons, the arms deal that you mentioned as well.
And you're right, peace-obsessed.
I haven't really heard that phrase, but that's so apropos.
Peace-obsessed.
And everybody thought that Donald Trump was going to get us involved in World War III, and that just hasn't happened.
Steve, I got to get your take, though, on what is the Russian perspective.
A lot of people are not going to talk about this today.
They're going to be talking about our perspective, and understandably so.
But what does a win look like for them?
Because their economy is struggling.
They had to quadruple pay to their soldiers.
So will it be some sort of financial incentive that Trump can offer that gives Putin a possible win?
Well, one cannot avoid the echoes of Yalta, 1945, which occurred, obviously, in Russia at that time on the Sea Coast Resort of Yalta.
You look back and you wonder what's going to happen today, because as you know, Zelensky was not invited to the discussion today.
He's not been invited to the party.
He has, in advance, rejected anything that comes out of it.
Not a good card to play.
Look, it's in everyone's best interest to stop killing.
It's a slow grind.
It's 5,000 people a week, 20,000 people a month, 1.5 million people killed or wounded so far.
It is a horrible war.
And for Russia, I believe saving face here, saying we're going to keep Crimea.
We're going to keep sections of Donbass, whatever it might be.
That's what success looks like.
At least they got something out of it.
For Ukraine, not quite as clear.
They're going to cede territory.
Zelensky can say they're not going to.
I don't see any other way around this.
I think it's inevitable.
Look, Crimea was taken when Barack Obama was president in 2012.
It's been in Russian hands for 13 years.
It's not going back.
It's their seaport.
They're not going to give that up.
It's critical to their, well, to their trade, to their military, to all their infrastructure.
They're not giving that back.
You can see the map here.
It's not going back.
You look at the Donbass, you look at the eastern regions of Ukraine that have been under Russian control for the most part since February 2022.
It's not going back.
I don't believe.
I don't see how you could get there successfully.
Now, having said that, we did hear Donald Trump make a comment here a couple of days ago.
There could be some swapping of territory.
It's complicated, he said.
And so we might see a little give and take in that area.
But when it's all said and done, whether peace is found today or at some point in the future, I believe those territories have been ceded to Russia already.
You don't have enough people left in Ukraine to fight the war.
The Russians don't want to fight this war anymore either.
It's miserable.
People are dying out there.
It's a miserable fight that they don't really want either.
Look, a lot of these families are related.
I mean, there's some ways you could draw parallels to the United States Civil War.
There are families on each side of this border that are long-term families.
You have cousins on one side and brothers on the other.
That's how divided, but is at the same time so closely related.
And that's also what's on the table here.
I believe peace is coming.
I'm an optimist today.
I'm not afraid of that.
So what's a win for Zelensky and Ukraine then?
You mentioned that they say they're not going to cede any territory.
There could be this land swap.
What's a win for Ukraine?
Just stopping the killing?
So they stop losing war every single day?
You've got to look at that.
You've got to look at that.
Stop the missile attacks, the drone attacks, the attacks on its territory.
However, here's a loss for Ukraine.
If they give up that eastern portion of real estate, That's where a lot of the rare earth minerals are, the energy is, a lot of things that are real assets natural resource-wise are in eastern parts of that country.
So their hope is to retain something of value when you get to the end of the negotiations.
Something of value that they can take home.
Look, I'm not a fan of Zelensky.
I'm not a fan of Putin particularly either.
So I don't know what it would look like for Zelensky.
I don't know if he can come out of this winning or not.
My guess is his time in office, his days are numbered.
I don't think he's going to be there much longer.
He doesn't have the open checkbook that the administration previously gave him from Joe Biden.
It's a different day.
And I don't know what it would look like for Zelensky or for your father.
I think whatever happens today has much bigger global implications than people think about.
And I think it's a win for us, for America, to have this meeting today, regardless, because that's what Donald Trump can do.
We'll be back in just a couple moments with more great coverage here.
Today, you know, you talk about influencers.
These are influencers.
And they're friends of mine.
Jack Pisovic.
Where's Jack?
He's got a great job.
Welcome back to Human Events.
I'm Bo Davidson, filling in for Jack Pisobic, who is on Air Force One right now as part of our RAV delegation covering this momentous event.
It's all part of our collective team effort here at Real America's Voice, pulling out all the stops to give you the best and brightest coverage of the Anchorage Accords today.
Now, to touch off where we left off with Steve Gruber, these are Christians killing Christians.
They share the same religion, often some of the same family members.
That's why Steve said it's kind of like the Civil War.
This is human casualty.
Well, joining me now to further discuss today's summit is Ben Bergwam.
Ben, I'd like to get your assessment of where we are today and how peace or potentially more war are at stake.
And just this notion of the fact that there are families fighting against each other, very similar to our Civil War, and the fact that it is Christian brother against Christian brother.
Yeah, you know, I was in Ukraine not too long ago, just a couple years ago, in the middle of the fighting.
We went out to the front, and that's what you saw.
You saw these communities of people who identified with both.
You know, they had families that were on the Russia side.
They had families that were on the Ukraine side.
It sounds like a lot of people.
Ben, I want to cut in on you now that Trump is.
Yeah, he just landed.
Yeah, let's take a look at this shot right now.
Air Force One has landed in Alaska in Anchorage.
We're taking this now.
And Ben, go ahead and complete your thought because we are talking about the fact that it is brother against brother.
And you were talking about you were in Ukraine.
Go ahead and finish that thought.
Yeah, I mean, that's really what we're up against.
You know, here in Cal, I'm actually in California reporting outside of Riverside.
And you go across the state here.
It's, you know, you're talking about people and neighborhoods that are as close as you can see the neighborhoods behind me.
You know, it's streets that separate some of these communities that once were Ukraine and now belong to Russia or once were Russia and became Ukraine.
But the people themselves, the families themselves, the religion, their culture, their identity, very, very similar.
And so it's a really ugly thing to see firsthand.
You talk about the generation loss, you know, million lost, over a million lost.
It's just, it's tragic.
Nobody wants it.
And well, I shouldn't say nobody wants it.
Clearly, President Trump doesn't want it.
That's why he's been fighting to end it.
There are a lot of people that did want it.
Clearly, you know, in the last administration, we spent billions and billions of dollars to watch more people die.
And so that's my prayer is that this can end, that we can stop the killing unnecessarily.
And hopefully it becomes a win-win-win.
We'll see what the end holds and what kind of resolution, you know, what kind of peace negotiation they can come up with.
Obviously, that's the big question.
Yeah, there's so much hanging in the balance.
And again, we're talking about the battle of souls here, too.
You know, you got to focus on the soul component, too, of the life loss, too.
Well, Ben, you know, you deal so much with our southern border.
We've seen you down there, law and border.
So you know a lot about borders and their integrity and how important they are.
On the Air Force One gaggle earlier, President Trump was asked about territorial land swaps of Russia and Ukraine.
And if maybe we can get this in a quad box since I know we have to keep an eye on Air Force One.
But let's take a listen to this clip from the Galgon.
I want to get your reaction on the other side.
Are the territorial swaps on the table?
Will you be discussing that?
They'll be discussed, but I've got to let Ukraine make that decision.
And I think they'll make a proper decision.
But I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine.
I'm here to get them at a table.
And I think you have two sides.
Look, Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine.
If I wasn't president, he would right now be taking all of Ukraine.
But he's not going to do it.
So, Ben, territorial land swaps.
Is that what you think we could see today?
Because, you know, Zelensky is saying he's not going to give anything else up.
That's what he says.
But is this what we could see today as a possible outcome, is a land swap?
Well, Zelensky's in a tough spot.
I mean, he's putting himself in this position.
He's made a lot of big claims about this.
And getting back to the last question you asked me about the proximity of a lot of these communities.
There's proximity.
There's love in some of these communities.
There's connection to families in some of these communities.
There's also a lot of hate.
There's a disdain for the Russian Empire, for the USSR, for the history of that, for the KGB and what Russia was to a lot of these communities.
And so there is, on the Ukraine side, there are a lot of people that don't want to give up anything.
But you're also in a position where if you don't, how many more deaths?
How many more lives?
How many more young people are you going to lose?
How much more of this generation will you not be able to replace?
So it's clearly it's on the table.
How much will they give up?
I agree with Steve.
I don't think Russia is going to give back anything that they've taken.
And the saddest part about this is this really started because of forces, external forces, NATO basically going into Ukraine saying, we'll bring you to the table.
And Russia saying that's a deal breaker.
You're going to start a war.
And we allowed that to happen.
We were a part of it under Obama, pushing those conversations.
And now we've seen over a decade of lives lost because of it.
So when it comes to it, you got to ask the question, what's more important, land or lives?
And I think that's the big question that's going to be asked and the answer that's going to have to be answered by both sides.
Yeah, I mean, look, you have to respect the Ukrainians.
They have fought valiantly.
They fought where people thought that this would end a long time ago.
And as I mentioned, it seems Zelensky is unwilling to yield any further land to Russia.
But Trump said he's not there to negotiate for Ukraine.
They've got to make that decision for themselves.
So do you think that Zelensky is as ready for peace as he stated?
Or are we going to find some sticking points?
I don't know what it's taken, how it's taken Zelensky this long to get to this point.
You know, again, when I was there two years ago, it was clear this was not going to end well.
I mean, we were getting bombed.
We were having missiles landing in our neighborhood.
I mean, I was woken up to a missile landing less than a mile from where I was staying, and I thought, how much longer can this country sustain this?
And the only reason they stayed in the war, they continued it, was because Joe Biden and the Democrats continued to pump arms into him.
And all of the globalists that want forever wars kept pumping money and arms into them.
I think having President Trump at the table, not negotiating for Ukraine, simply negotiating for peace, I think Zelensky's in a place where he has to realize this is over.
He just has to come out, you know, figure out a way of coming out of it with the best option for his country.
I don't think he, you know, if he's coming into this with the best option for himself, I don't see any good options.
I agree with Steve.
I think his political days are numbered, but he's simply got to come into it and say, how do I get the most for the people of this country if that's what his actual intent is?
And how do we get out of this thing in the fastest time possible?
I mean, it's been too long already.
But we don't speak for him just like President Trump can't.
Yeah.
Well, we've seen, you know, so many, we've seen the Ukraine pins.
We've seen a lot of Democrats voice unending support for Ukraine.
My question is: okay, we know Vladimir Putin's probably not a guy to be trusted, but is Vladimir Zelensky a guy to be trusted?
We saw what happened when he came to DC.
That didn't work out so well.
He didn't seem like he came in earnest, ready for peace.
So is this a guy that can be trusted?
Well, look, I'll say the same thing I said when I went to Ukraine when I was there.
I don't trust Vladimir Putin, any more than I trust Vladimir Zelensky, any more than I trusted Joe Biden at the time.
I didn't trust any of them.
And it's one of those things, it's the trust but verify Reagan model.
I don't think you trust him at all.
I think you set some boundaries and you follow those boundaries.
If you come up with a peace deal, there's got to be some clear boundaries.
Those will be decided.
And then if they're broken, then obviously, you know, there's consequences to that.
But no, short answers, I don't trust any.
I mean, I trust President Trump, but the other two, I don't trust Putin or Zelensky.
But they're in a place now where they just have to make a decision for what's best for their country.
So hopefully they make that.
Hopefully we see what costs will that be.
Yeah, exactly.
At what cost will that be?
Especially.
And as Ken Ruber said, if you're a pleasure, go ahead.
Well, no, I mean, you look at what President Trump's already doing with Thailand and Cambodia and all of these peace deals that are already going on.
That's clearly his desire to see peace in the world, to see these countries not be killing themselves, to see economic prosperity, not just in our country, but globally.
And so that's my prayer is for not just that region, but for the entire globe.
Yeah, and Russia seems to have been winning the war of attrition on this.
They seem to have been able to outlast it for this particular period of time.
And there's this idea that Jack Bosobic has spoken about that the reason Trump has been kept moving the deadline up and up and up is because if he didn't, Ukraine's going to run out of people.
They're going to run out of troops.
And they're on their last thread.
So that's something we do want to discuss as we keep going on here.
I do think we have Brian Glenn now, who was on Air Force One.
Brian, can you hear me okay?
Nope.
Hey, Bo, I can hear you.
I did not travel in on Air Force One this time.
So I came in yesterday prior to the president.
Sure, okay.
Well, even so, you got there a day early.
Brian, set the scene for us about what's going on right now.
You know, he said that this meeting goes poorly, that it'll be in and out, and he'll head back to D.C. He's got bigger fish to fry.
But what's your take?
Do you think this is going to be a two-minute meeting and he's going to turn around and go back?
Or are you more optimistic?
No, I'm a little bit more optimistic than I was maybe six months ago on this.
I think these conversations do extend longer than you would think.
I do am optimistic as far as who's coming with President Putin.
We've got some business leaders, some business, huge financial people in Russia traveling with Putin to come here, which makes me think that there is some type of maybe economic deal that will develop in regards to achieving peace with Ukraine.
Let me set the scene for you real quickly where I'm at.
I'm inside the media tent here, just outside where the arena there, the stage, if you will, is right behind me where the two will meet.
This is kind of a makeshift media tent that the military here has set up.
They've also got kind of a mess hall, if you will, kind of a break room.
It's got food, snacks, drinks, coffee, things like that.
So they've really done a good job accommodating the media.
Now, the amount of media here today is like no other event that I've ever been to, obviously.
This is just, I would say, hundreds, if you will.
I'm on the U.S. side, obviously.
Across from me over there, that is the Russian media.
We've got two separate areas, two separate work tents, but we're all working together under one tent.
And of course, I think all of us want us to see peace come out of this deal a little bit later today.
What's the feeling like there?
I know you're on the U.S. media side.
Could you cut the tension with a Gensu knife at this point?
You know, I would say everyone's kind of silent.
You know, the three-hour process it was to get in here as far as going through security, sweeping the buses and things like that.
It was a process this morning to get to here.
Once the media arrived here, then it was everyone had to find a place to set up, get situated with the staging area behind me.
So it's been a very, very busy last hour and a half.
So it hasn't been a whole lot of conversations going on.
A lot of people are just trying to get the workspaces up.
But obviously everyone is anticipating this meeting.
Now, just moments ago, we heard a plane land.
I'm assuming it's Air Force One because he was scheduled to land at 10.10 here local time.
And it was about 10.10 when that happened.
So I'm assuming that President Trump is on the ground here.
Now, President Putin is scheduled to land at 11 a.m. here local time.
So really probably here in just a few minutes, we should hear another plane start to land.
So once we have these two leaders on the ground, Bo, then they're going to go into a bilateral meeting.
And as this whole conversation has developed, how long will the meeting last?
President Trump has said numerous times that he's going to be able to know in the first two minutes or so whether or not President Putin is there to negotiate.
And of course, Zelensky, from all the things that I have read today, a lot of analysis of people who have been following this engagement for a long time say, look, you know, President Zelensky does not have the cars, and that's exactly what was told to him in the OVA office.
He simply does not have it.
And I agree with Steve Gruber.
His political career is coming to an end.
I feel like he knows this, and I feel like he needs to do what's best to end the bloodshed.
And that's one thing that President Trump has said from day one.
This isn't about U.S. lives being lost.
We don't have one U.S. soldier over there in that fight in that particular capacity.
Matter of fact, we're making money through selling weapons to NATO on this.
So this is something he wants to see end to save lives.
And of course, we want peace in that region.
I do, however, said, and I do think this is one of the reasons why Putin is here.
You know, with these sanctions that have been on Russia for so long, and also with the new tariff and the sanctions that have been put on India and any other country selling goods, oil, things like that to Russia, that has put them in a financial crisis.
So I do think Putin is coming here to make a financial deal with the U.S. And we definitely want to make sure that they get well, I'm hearing a plane right now.
I think we have some Russian media that are making their way through here.
So I think they've just got the indication that Putin has just landed here at the base.
But to wrap it up here, as far as the meeting is concerned, I think that we're going to see peace through an economic deal.
That's just my personal take on it, taking a look at all the financial situations for both those countries.
I think they both want peace.
I do.
But I think they're both need some economic takeaways as well.
Well, Brian, it was Air Force One that landed just a couple moments ago, and our very own Jack Besobic was on Air Force One.
We do have a clip from him that we want to play right now.
Let's get to it.
Jack Pesovic just landed here.
Hankers, Alaska, Helenburg Air Force Base.
Air Force One directly behind me.
First plane of the Russian delegation directly across the tarmac.
East is here, waiting for President Trump to disembark.
Get a full outfit.
The military delegation here to meet President of the United States and the President of Russia.
Well, that's some footage that you don't get to see very often.
Our very own Jack Pesobic on Air Force One coming up.
Usually, Brian, it's you, and you're the one painting the scene for us.
And I guess you could only hear the plane come in rather than see it.
But we are keeping an eye on Air Force One.
President Trump has not disembarked just yet.
I would like you, Brian, to get a reaction from you off some audio from Air Force One earlier in the gaggle.
Let's take a quick listen to that.
Possibility of the United States providing security guarantees to Ukraine, maybe along with Europe and other countries.
Not in the form of NATO, because that's not going to, you know, there are certain things that aren't going to happen.
But yeah, along with Europe, there's a possibility of that.
So, Brian, you can hear that Trump says we could provide some security assurances to Ukraine, but not in the form of NATO.
It seems that NATO must be kept out of all of this for it to be successful or it may draw Putin's anger.
What's the prevailing wisdom there with respect to NATO since you mentioned it earlier?
Yeah, well, I think it does.
When you kind of look at what that area looks like, I even said this: a post-Trump administration.
What does that region of the world look like?
And I think if they would, obviously, I think Zelensky would love to have some type of military, you know, say military, but if you say support, security, people in that region to make sure that peace is maintained.
And you think about these raw earth minerals that the deal that we have with Ukraine as far as getting some of the money back that we've put into that country, $380 plus billion dollars.
So, Bo, there may require some type of security backup for that region because that is a very volatile area.
And so, you're going to have personnel in there mining these rare earth minerals.
So, I think that it's definitely an option.
I think he just wants NATO to have nothing with that and wants that to be on the U.S. But we'll see how that side of negotiation goes.
And I'm sure that discussion will take place as well.
And we don't know that those discussions have not already taken place.
Or if you remember, Bo, just a few days ago, President Trump had a phone call with European leaders and Zelensky to talk about several things.
So maybe this was a part of it.
He was very, very tight-chested on what they talked about.
Yeah, and you know, Brian, I do want to get your reaction to this too.
And I don't know if you've seen it yet, but Hillary Clinton, of all people, said that she would nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize if he can put an end to this war if Ukraine doesn't have to cede any more territory.
Now, isn't this rich that this comes from a woman who started RussiaGate and said, we came, we saw, he died.
What are your thoughts on that claim?
And coming from a warmonger like her who has no regard for human life?
Yeah.
The next time I see Hillary Clinton, I want it to be in front of an oversight committee on her testimony for what with the Russia, Russia, Russia Gate.
I don't care what she has to say right now.
I think what she's trying to do is reach for a headline, any type of positive headline.
The approval ratings right now for Democrats is at a historical low.
So for Hillary Clinton or any Democrat to come out right now and start pushing for this peace, Nobel Peace Blice for President Trump, they're just trying to grab some type of positivity in connotation to their party.
So I want to see her in the oversight committee for the collusion and all that stuff that they mustered up and peddled to the media.
That's where I want to see her speak.
But other than that, I'm glad that she's had a come to Jesus moment.
But Hillary Clinton can sit down and shut up right now.
President Trump is in charge of all this.
Well, yeah, not only that, but what she's proposing is something Trump could actually pull off.
So I think she might have put her foot in her mouth a little bit.
Brian, we are awaiting President Putin to touch down.
Once he lands, we're going to have some sort of basically ceremonial handshake, a little bit of a meeting, and then they're going to go into this meeting that you talked about, this bilateral meeting.
How long do you think?
And I know there's no way of you knowing this, but how long do you think that meeting could take?
You know, Vladimir Putin says it could be six hours.
He's just, that's kind of his way to say things.
President Trump says he'll know within about 30 seconds whether he's serious or not.
How long do you think that that meeting will go?
And do you think he'll give oppressor to you and all the other reporters there after it's over?
I do think, you know, the press conference has scheduled here, there's two podiums on there.
I wish we had a shot of that.
I don't know if we could take the White House poll fee if there's a shot of that.
Because right now there is two podiums set up, obviously for President Putin and President Trump.
Now, if this initial conversation after the handoff, the welcoming at the tarmac, when they go into their meeting, if there's any indication that President Trump feels like there's not going to be a deal, there's no need to move forward, then I don't think you'll see President Putin behind that podium.
That's just me.
I don't think President Trump's going to give him the opportunity to be in front of the world like that.
I think President Trump would pump the brakes on that and just say, thanks for coming.
We're going to move on.
But I don't think that's going to happen.
I really don't.
So you're telling me that you're telling me that there are two podiums.
There are two podiums side by side, meaning the anticipation, or maybe the optimism, is that these two leaders will stand side by side and address the media after it?
Correct.
They're about six feet apart.
There's two podiums that the flags behind the podium.
So this is a buildup of an anticipated press conference with both of them.
But I know this for a fact, that if this meeting does not go well, you will only see one president behind that podium, and that'll be President Trump.
Wow.
Well, Brian, I want to give you a sports analogy because I know you and I have talked sports before.
Mariana Rivera, the great closer of the New York Yankees, is Trump the Mariana Rivera of this deal?
Is he the guy who can get this done for a time such as this?
He is.
You might even throw a Nolan Ryan in there, too.
He'll throw a fastball inside, high and inside on any batter.
So I think that he would be compared to a closer, but also would compare it to someone that's going to throw the meanest, hardest fastball that you would ever face.
That's what this is.
But that's what it takes.
If you look at the foreign policy under Joe Biden and really any other Republican president, this is something we have not seen in the Republican Party in a long time.
And it is strength.
And I think that the warmongers of D.C. and the military-industrial complex are going to have to check themselves for a little bit.
This is not a war that we want to get into.
This is a war that we want to end.
This is Biden's war.
Biden started this war, not President Trump.
Now, I know a campaign promise, Bo, he did say on day one he would stop this war.
And a lot of people on the left, the Democrats love to criticize and say, well, it didn't happen on day one.
Whatever happened.
You overpromised.
Can you really do it?
And we've had several conversations about that.
But this is it today, and it's got to happen today.
We must have progress today.
Or I do think if this thing does go south in a couple of hours, I don't think you're going to see.
I think we are going to fold our cards, walk away, cut bait, however you want to say it.
We'll be done with this conflict.
And they'll just lead up to these two leaders to whatever.
Sadly, more people will die.
At the end of the day, this is a stop the war that's going on right now.
He often says this is not about American lives.
This is about human lives on Ukraine and Russia side.
We must stop the bloodshed.
And that's all he wants to do today.
But I will say this: I think it's an economic opportunity for everyone right now, an economic opportunity for everyone right now.
And peace will be the outcome of that.
Yeah, well, I want to bring back in our panel now, our previous guests, Steve Gruber and Ben Bergwam.
And of course, we got Brian Glenn, who we just heard from.
Gentlemen, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, but we've seen President Trump broker peace deals already, which have earned him some Nobel Prize nominations.
Steve you and I talked about that earlier, whether it's Rwanda and the Congo, Cambodia, and Thailand, Israel, and Hamas, India, and Pakistan, or Armenia and Azerbaijan.
If he can do it, he seems to be a lot closer to that.
But as Brian said, the stakes are very high.
He kind of has to deliver on that.
So I know he's giving himself about a 75% chance of that happening.
So, Steve, I want to bring you back in here and just say, you know, I know there's got to be a lot of personal pressure he's putting on himself to do this to get this done because it was, as Brian mentioned, a campaign promise.
He said it would be done in a day.
That hasn't happened.
But at the same time, there's a lot of promise that he can get it done.
What do you think is on his shoulders today to get this done?
Well, clearly, he wants the success here.
Clearly, he wants this to happen.
He has been angling for this from the time that he was campaigning up to November of 2024, as you know, is one of the routine things he said during his rallies along the way that he could get the war stopped in a day.
Look, that was campaign hyperbole.
We understand that.
And he has worked diligently ever since.
And you forgot Egypt and Ethiopia, by the way, another little conflict to be stopped.
But there's seven on the board, all right?
I mean, that's a remarkable accomplishment for any president in eight years, right?
This is in 200 days.
This is an incredible accomplishment.
He has brought Vladimir Putin to Alaska, the former Russian territory.
It is incredible.
As we sit here and we watch Air Force One waiting for the president to emerge, it's an incredible accomplishment.
I do believe if he pulls this off, and again, at the top of the broadcast, I said, I'm an optimist.
A poll I saw said 59% of Americans do not believe that he can pull it off.
I'm of the mind that he can because that's what Donald Trump has done for 200 days is stop war, stop conflict, and stop killing.
And I think he's going to do it again today.
May not be done today, but we'll take a great step forward.
And Ben, let's talk about some of the geopolitics of this as well.
I teased this with Steve earlier when we had him on, just in terms of let's look at how China is going to look at this because they've, you know, they've got a relationship with Russia.
Obviously, Russia has been an ally of ours before.
But you look at what China wants to do with Taiwan.
They may be looking at this summit today saying, hmm, if it goes well for Donald Trump and for Vladimir Putin, maybe we shouldn't be toying around with Taiwan so much.
If it goes poorly and we bug out and we go home, maybe they say, hmm, maybe we should go take a closer look at bringing Taiwan back into our own fold.
How do you see this?
Because see, I see this as having much bigger implications than just between Russia and Ukraine today.
How do you see that in terms of what China could do, what the CCP could do with respect to Taiwan?
Well, clearly, I mean, that's part of the decision-making that China's making.
You look at what we had under the first four years of President Trump, no new wars.
And you saw what we had under Joe Biden, endless wars, new wars, conflict everywhere, because we didn't have that.
There was that power vacuum in the world.
President Trump seals that.
He's the one who comes in and is that stabilizing force globally.
You'll have the left.
What's crazy is you think about this.
President Trump is ending these wars.
We've got peace around the globe.
Hopefully we have peace between Ukraine and Russia.
But the chaos we see is actually on the streets of the United States.
This is what's concerning to me.
You've got, you know, you ask about China.
We have more communists now in America that are trying to turn America communists.
Those are the enemies that I'm really concerned about.
And going back to our own border, you know, you think about, we've been talking about Ukraine's border and Russia's border.
Well, we just gave up our border for four years.
President Trump is the one who came in, secured our border, and I believe he's the only one globally that can help bring peace, not just to Ukraine and Russia, but globally, because he is that stabilizing force that other countries look at and say, well, if we do that, we're screwed because this guy's actually going to come and actually do what he says.
He's got the power.
And look, he's got the track record to prove it.
And that's, I think, what we're seeing today.
Hopefully, we see an end to this conflict.
And China, you know, they have to look at that and recognize that.
And I think we saw that in the first four years.
I think we're going to see that these four as well.
Brian, you mentioned earlier that there are some Russian businessmen that are coming with Vladimir Putin today.
What sort of financial package or economic incentives do you think that President Trump can dangle in front of them that would incentivize them?
And potentially, could we see a re-entry into the G8 in terms of becoming a trading partner with them?
I think you just nailed it.
I think that's exactly what I'm thinking is going to happen.
Imagine if he was to say, President Putin, we are going to lift all sanctions against your country.
We want you to be a strong, vibrant partner with the U.S. We've got one of the two biggest economies in the world.
Let's get back to doing business together.
Let's get that in the G8.
Let's get everything unified.
I think opening up the U.S. markets and opening up trade amongst the two countries would build a trust again.
I think it would also give Putin a financial motivation to do a negotiation in Ukraine in terms of this war.
I think it stops through economic policy.
I really do.
I think that I think at the end of the day, both sides are tired of the bloodshed.
There's no doubt about that.
I mean, there's reports coming out of Ukraine where they've got seniors and they're taking people that are 60 years and older for to fight and people that have certain handicaps.
I mean, they're down to that recruitment level.
So they don't have any more, I think, a whole lot of fight left in them on this.
But if we can do some type of economic deal that would open up opportunities within the U.S. between the two countries, does that offset, you know, that might offset a little bit of what he is looking to do in Ukraine?
So I know it's complicated.
It's got multi-layers on it, but I do think it comes to economic policy that stops this war.
And of course, Ukraine with the mineral rights has been one of the things they've negotiated back.
So we'll see.
But, you know, he's traveling with some economic and business leaders from Russia.
So I'm kind of reading into that as well: of who's coming with them.
And also, who's coming with President Trump as well?
I think that's important to note.
Those involved on Air Force One.
Scott Besant, right?
He's with them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that says something.
That says something about a potential business deal in the making.
Steve, I just want to ask you just straight up because I think to get in the mind of Vladimir Putin is difficult.
He's a Russian KGB guy.
Is President Putin really looking for peace today, or do you think he thinks he can just hold out because the war of attrition is on his side?
He knows Ukraine is bleeding troops.
He is too, but not to the extent.
Is he really looking for peace today?
Well, you've raised a good question there, Bo.
Look, his economic outlook for his country is not good.
Him recruiting people to be in the Russian army right now, not good.
This has been tiring.
Look, this is fatigue at this point, three and a half years on.
Vladimir Putin would like a way out of this war as well, I believe.
It would loosen the purse strings from America and Eastern and Western Europe on his country.
The sanctions would be lifted.
The energy could flow again.
His oil could go more freely to China and elsewhere without the restrictions and the global sanctions that are in place.
Look, Donald Trump has made it clear that if there's not a deal put together here, it's going to be very difficult for Vladimir Putin to move forward economically.
And look, the country is already impoverished.
This war has cost them billions of dollars and thousands of lives.
We know that the cost in life and treasure has been very high for Russia.
So, can I get into the mind of Vladimir Putin?
No, he's a snake.
He is a wolf.
He's out there trying to eat the chickens.
That's what he's been trying to do.
And let's be honest, Bo, let's go back to February of 2022.
Most people, myself for sure, anticipated that this war would go about two weeks, maybe three, maybe four at the most, because we felt that Russia, being the most powerful military in that part of the world, would run over Ukraine.
It didn't.
They found a lot of problems with corruption and so forth.
Their MREs, their meals ready to eat, were contaminated because they were past their due date by not just a few days, but by a few years.
Their ammunition didn't work.
We saw their tanks getting destroyed.
Their military is not at all what we imagined it to be.
That's an embarrassment for the Russians.
And I don't believe they're ever going to Poland or anywhere else in Europe because I don't think they have the capability.
I think we've seen that.
The scary thing, the wildcard, of course, is that they have the biggest, biggest nuclear arsenal in the world.
I don't think Vladimir Putin would use it.
Not at this point.
You have to assume that your enemy is rational.
That's part of the art of war.
You have to know that your enemy is rational.
I believe, if nothing else, he is rational.
And what good would it do him to launch some sort of a nuclear offensive?
So the best exit for Vladimir Putin is to take Crimea.
It's to take the Donbass and whatever pieces of real estate he can take off the eastern edge of Ukraine.
Say, this is why we did it.
We returned Russian territory because he believes it is.
He believes it's Russian territory.
Return it to the Russian Federation and hang on to it and put that on the mantle as his prize.
I think he'd like to bow out of this gracefully.
And look, everything's on the table if he does not, economically speaking.
And we'll see where it goes from here.
We know that Donald Trump has pushed NATO into investing into its military in all the countries, Germany, France, the UK, and so forth.
Donald Trump has done several key things.
He's increased spending by NATO to what they agreed to originally.
He's held Russia to where they are without them going further.
And I do believe what he says, if not for Donald Trump, this war would be going a lot more aggressively towards Russia.
It's been a stalemate, is a fair way to put it.
I don't know where Vladimir Putin goes.
He's come to Alaska.
I think that's a step in the right direction.
And like everyone else here on the panel today, I'm hopeful, I'm prayerful that we can find peace in Ukraine today.
And Ben, from the American perspective, let's go America MAGA style right now.
I mean, to me, this is a win just by getting Putin to come to the table.
Steve, and I said, you know, a week ago, this was not even, this was on nobody's dance card that this could even happen.
And he said detractors and he has people doubting him every single day.
But he's negotiated all of these peace deals up until this point.
And I know a lot is on his shoulders.
But what does success look like to us?
Let's take a look right now.
Putin's plane is landing right now in Anchorage.
We're taking a look at that live right at this moment.
He is right on time.
Putin is traditionally not on time for things, but he is on time, if not four minutes early.
It is 3 p.m. Eastern time, I believe about 11 a.m. in Alaska right now.
So we're taking a look at that plane land right now of Vladimir Putin.
And shortly, we will see the summit of these two leaders.
And as Steve said, prayerfully, we're hoping that some great things will come out of this.
So, Ben, from the American perspective, what's success today for Donald Trump?
I think it's successful.
He even got this meeting to begin with.
Is a second meeting success?
Well, I think from the MAGA base standpoint, ending our dollars being spent on killing any other country's countrymen is the only success, the ultimate success that we're looking for is taking our dollars out of continuing these wars and putting them back into the wars that matter, our own southern border, our own country, defeating the enemies within our own country, increasing our economic benefit.
But I think there's also economic benefits that Brian Glenn brought up, that Steve Ruber brought up, that you brought up, that Jack's been talking about.
All of this, you know, this idea that we can just pump money into these countries year after year after year, endlessly, our own dollars, our own tax dollars, when our countries and our cities are going broke.
You drive across California and it's bums everywhere.
You got illegals everywhere.
Why are we wasting any more of our own money?
If anything, we need to be making money.
We need to be creating deals.
And again, you got the art of the deal there with Vladimir Putin.
I don't think, I think success means the end of the war, but also economic benefit for the United States, primarily between these countries, both with Russia.
Hopefully, again, I agree with Steve.
I don't trust Putin.
You keep him at armed length.
You use sanctions when they're necessary.
But if we can create some trade deals, great, let's do it.
And the same with Ukraine.
Look at ways that, but every single one of these decisions, every single problem that President Trump faces needs to be looked at through the lens.
And I believe he looks at it through this lens of what is best for the American citizens, what is best for our people, for our country.
That's why it's America first.
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