Hello, and welcome to TGIF. I’m Will Rahn, filling in for Nellie Bowles, who is currently trapped in a sensory deprivation tank somewhere in Marin County. Thankfully, we still have the heart of TGIF (Sean Fischer) and its witty soul (Suzy Weiss) to see us through. Now, onto the news.
→ Trump’s quest for heaven: Trump is getting a fair deal of criticism for his efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. Just check out what Peter Baker, the New York Times’ chief White House correspondent, has been saying about it. And while Baker is no dummy and I sort of am, I’ve been kinda impressed with this round of Trump diplomacy.
Trump didn’t get the ceasefire he was hoping for when he met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week. But I liked it when, a few days later, he was at the White House standing with Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders. Trump critics insisted that the Europeans went to babysit him and prevent another fight with Zelensky in the Oval Office. But to me it looked like a united West, led by the U.S., trying sincerely to end the war while showing Putin that he would be very stupid to launch another one. And now, in a welcome departure from his previously hostile stance toward Kyiv, Trump is talking about security guarantees for Ukraine. They all laughed about Zelensky’s new, suited look in the Oval Office, and there was no spat between him and the vice president—the whole thing was like, “Mom and Dad might really work this one out in time for Christmas.”
