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Former NBC News “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd argued Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a “huge miscalculation” during last week’s summit in Alaska by not giving President Donald Trump a “win.”
On his show “The Chuck Toddcast,” the former NBC host said that Putin has a “very low regard” for Trump and views the president as “really easy to manipulate” after he refused to make any concessions, such as a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine, for the duration of the Alaska summit.
“Why do I say this? Because he’s given Trump nothing,” he said. “And, you know, he pays him lip service, right? He tells Trump what he wants to hear about mail-in voting… what Trump wants to hear about whether the war would have started if Trump had been president or not. But he never actually gives Trump a win that Trump is asking for, right?”
PUTIN APPEARS TO BE VISIBLY ANNOYED AS REPORTERS BARRAGE HIM AND TRUMP WITH QUESTIONS
Todd argued that Putin made a “huge miscalculation” during last week’s Alaska summit by not giving Trump any wins.
Trump and Putin met in Alaska on Friday to discuss peace in Ukraine as the war nears its third year.
Todd noted that Putin “couldn’t even give him a ceasefire during the time that they were meeting in Alaska” or during the 72 hours that Trump was “playing shuttle diplomacy between Putin and Zelenskyy.”
“That is total disrespect by Putin, right?” he questioned. “It totally should undermine the idea that Putin wouldn’t have launched this invasion of Ukraine had Trump been president.”
Todd contended that if Putin respected Trump so much, “why couldn’t he just give him a temporary ceasefire?”
“I think Putin thinks he can just pay lip service and not actually have to match the lip service with an action,” he said. “I think he’s miscalculating.”
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Todd said Trump will eventually realize that Putin is “tapping” him along and that he doesn’t plan on making good on his “lip service.”
He argued that this is a mistake on Putin’s part, because Trump may be the “most friendly” leader of the United States the Russian president will ever deal with.
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“To not enhance his reputation at a time when he’s desperate to enhance it, not to help him get his ceasefire, get his peace prize, give him more credibility with the West with a guy that you have influence, really seems to be a mistake on Putin’s part,” Todd said.
