President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska in a historic attempt to end the more than two-year war between Ukraine and Russia. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, tens of thousands have died, while millions have been displaced. The Alaska summit marked the first serious step toward direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.
But for ABC News’ Martha Raddatz and the rest of the propaganda press, a Trump-negotiated peace itself was a problem. Instead of acknowledging the significance of Trump’s diplomacy, Raddatz spent her Sunday segment disparaging the president for daring to treat Putin like a foreign leader who can choose to keep the war going rather than a pariah.
Raddatz opened her report by sneering at diplomatic courtesy:
Russia’s Vladimir Putin, responsible for invading Ukraine and the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainians, given a red carpet arrival, a warm handshake and a ride in the presidential limousine to a closed door three-hour meeting with the whole world watching and waiting.
Notably, Raddatz apparently had no such objections (based on a cursory search of the web) to “warm” welcomes when then-President Joe Biden rolled out the red carpet for Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
Raddatz then insisted that progress toward peace — which a sane world demands — is a triumph for Putin.
Trump writing on Truth Social, “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which oftentimes do not hold up.” That reversal, a significant triumph for Putin.
Raddatz later doubled down on her left-wing talking point, arguing that the existence of a meeting to pursue peace somehow measured as a “loss” for Trump. But that framing is as backward as it gets: If genuine negotiations could end the killing that is happening, that is a victory for everyone. To recast this meeting — and the potential end of a war — as a win for Putin is to suggest that peace itself is bad only because Trump is the one who made it possible.
Raddatz then welcomed in an ABC News’ foreign correspondent who uncritically cited Ukrainian media criticisms of Trump.
Ukrainians are shocked at what they witnessed in Alaska. One newspaper here calling the summit, sickening, shameful, and, in the end, useless. Vladimir Putin has successfully flipped the script.
And later, after an exchange with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Raddatz turned the floor over to none other than Jake Sullivan, former national security advisor under President Joe Biden, who was eager to pile on Trump.
What should have been a moment of optimism for the world — a real chance at ending the Ukraine-Russia war — was instead spun by Raddatz and ABC News as a scandal that ceded ground to the villain. For Raddatz and the like, peace negotiated by Trump isn’t peace at all — it’s defeat. In their telling, ending bloodshed is less important than protecting the political narrative that Trump can never be right.
But the losers in that scenario aren’t Putin or Trump or any world leader — they’re the Ukrainians and Russians whose lives hang in the balance.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
