Ukraine Russia talks go wrong as Trump decline unavoidable

The David Pakman Show - December 29, 2025

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Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago highlighted how completely his promise to end the Ukraine-Russia war has unraveled. After boasting about ending the war in 24 hours, then a month, then 90 days, Trump now claims there are no deadlines at all, which is effectively an admission that he has no leverage or plan. Even before the meeting began, he insisted Vladimir Putin was serious about peace, despite Russia bombing Ukraine just hours earlier.

The post-meeting press conference only made things worse. Trump offered no concrete steps toward peace and instead praised Putin as generous and sincere, while showing little empathy for Ukrainians or even Americans killed in the conflict. He dodged questions about ceasefires, justified Russia’s continued attacks, and rambled about old grievances. The takeaway was clear: no strategy, no leverage, and no acknowledgment that Russia started the war.

All of this fits into the broader collapse of the myth of Trump as an anti-war president. In his second term, he has repeatedly turned to military force with minimal oversight. From a de facto naval blockade of Venezuela to airstrikes in Nigeria, major operations in Yemen, and direct strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Trump has expanded US military action across multiple regions.

At home, concerns about transparency extend to Trump’s health. Photos showing bruising and a visible indentation on both of his hands have raised questions not because they prove anything medically, but because the White House refuses to clearly explain what is going on. Given Trump’s long history of misleading the public about his health, the lack of straightforward information turns every new image into another point of concern.

Misinformation is also thriving elsewhere on the right, exemplified by Joe Rogan’s comments about measles. Rogan dismissed measles as essentially harmless, suggesting it was just a routine childhood illness that people his age went through without serious consequences. What he leaves out is crucial context. Born in 1967, Rogan grew up after the measles vaccine had already driven cases down by more than 90 percent, meaning widespread outbreaks, hospitalizations, and deaths were no longer common by the time he was a kid.

On housing, the administration’s interest in a 50-year mortgage shows a similar absence of real solutions. While it might lower monthly payments, it massively increases total costs, traps buyers in decades of interest payments, and does nothing to address housing supply. It benefits lenders, not homeowners.

The reaction to Charlie Kirk’s assassination exposed the cynicism of the modern right. After brief performative mourning, his death was monetized and repackaged. The message is unmistakable: people matter only as long as they remain useful to power.

Finally, Dr. John Gartner, former assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and founder of Duty to Warn, joins us to discuss signs of cognitive decline in Donald Trump’s second term.

On today’s bonus show:

Half of Project 2025 has been implemented already, scrutiny increases over betting market apps, the search for the missing Malaysian flight from 2014 restarts, and much more...

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