Steve Witkoff, the man Donald Trump sent to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, stood in St. Petersburg this week and called Vladimir Putin "a humanitarian." Susan Collins called Putin a "warmonger" and a "thug." Thom Tillis posted, "WTF, Steve? Look up the definition of 'humanitarian.'"
The Prisoner Swap Heard Round the Dictionary
Here is what happened. Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a retired American teacher it had been holding since 2022. Witkoff flew to St. Petersburg, collected the gratitude, and thanked Putin on camera, as reported by NBC News. The word he chose was "humanitarian."
Putin is the man who launched a full-scale invasion of a neighboring country, a war now in its fifth year. He is also the man who held a retired schoolteacher for four years to begin with. Releasing a hostage you took yourself is not a humanitarian act. It is a landlord returning the couch he stole and asking for a Yelp review.
Even Republicans noticed. Collins, who is fighting for her political life in Maine, said Putin is "certainly not a humanitarian" and "is the aggressor in the war against Ukraine." Tillis, who is not running for re-election and has decided to speak like a free man, put it on social media in four characters and a question mark.
Trump's Defense: Technically, For That One Thing
When the White House was asked about the remark, it pointed to Trump's own comments at a cybercrime roundtable. Trump said you could call Putin that "for that particular purpose," meaning "for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life out."
So the official position is that Putin is a humanitarian in the narrow sense that he stopped doing one specific bad thing to one specific person. By that standard, every arsonist who calls the fire department is a firefighter.
Trump then praised Russia for having "not gotten involved with Iran," which is a bar so low it needs a permit. He also said that some "stupid people" were critical and that "the last thing I want to do is upset an apple cart where we're getting close to settling a war." Remember that phrase, "getting close." We'll come back to it.
A Pattern, Not a Slip of the Tongue
If this were a one-off gaffe, we could laugh and move on. It is not. Trump hosted Putin in Alaska last year and rolled out a red carpet for him. A photo of the two men standing side by side hangs in the White House Palm Room. That summit, for the record, was a futile attempt to end the war, and it ended nothing.
On Oct. 9, Trump thanked Putin after a deal in which Russia agreed to release hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel into global markets. Trump said it would ease energy costs. It has not. Since then the average price of diesel has gone from $6.26 a gallon to $6.30. Four cents up. That is the payoff for the gratitude.
Then came the invitations. Trump asked Putin to attend the G20 summit at his Doral golf resort in Miami. He also said he is open to a trilateral meeting with Putin and Xi Jinping to discuss nuclear weapons. The West expelled Putin from the G8 after he took Crimea in 2014. Trump is now trying to seat him at the grown-ups' table at a resort with his own name on it.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy Gets the Other Treatment
As the flattery flows east, the criticism flows toward Kyiv. Leaving the White House on Monday for a campaign trip, Trump said Ukraine's president "is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine."
Read that again. The country that was invaded should have settled the war faster. The country that did the invading gets a red carpet, a photo on the wall, and a humanitarian award from the guy holding the clipboard.
Trump promised during the 2024 campaign that he would end this war, and he predicted he could do it on day one. He has since conceded it is more stubborn than he figured. Funny how that works when the other side keeps shooting.
The Experts' Verdict: Flattery Is Not a Strategy
To be fair, there is a theory behind all this. Robert O'Brien, Trump's national security adviser in his first term, argues the cordiality is a tool. Putin has been intractable, he said, and "there'd be no hope of getting Putin to engage in talks, with the U.S. as the mediator, if he viewed Trump as 100% aligned with Ukraine."
That is the best case, and it comes from a Trump loyalist. Michael Kimmage of the Brookings Institution lays out the same theory and then explains why it probably fails. The administration's bet, he said, is that distancing from Ukraine and flattering the Russians will pay off at the bargaining table. But without a clear agenda and "very serious forms of leverage over Russia," which the administration "has shied away from," he finds progress "very difficult to imagine."
Brett Bruen, a former Obama White House official, was blunter about the G20 plan. Putin would be "the shiny object that Trump would dangle in front of the world press corps as purported progress toward peace." That is a photo op dressed up as diplomacy.
What Putin Has Actually Given Up
Let's run the ledger. Putin has handed over one American hostage he was holding in the first place. He has agreed to a fuel deal that has not lowered fuel prices. He has not come to the table in any serious way, and he has not stopped the war.
In exchange, he has received a red carpet, a presidential photo in the White House, a standing invitation to a G20 summit in Florida, a possible three-way summit with the leader of China, and a public endorsement as a humanitarian from the American envoy. That is not a negotiation. That is a customer loyalty program where only one side earns points.
The Dingo Take
Does anyone else notice that the flattery only runs in one direction? Trump has spent weeks buttering up the man who invaded Ukraine while telling the man who got invaded that it is time for someone else to negotiate for him. If this is a strategy, where is the part where Putin gives something up that he didn't already plan to give?
The defenders say it is a negotiating tactic, and maybe it is. But a tactic needs a theory of how it ends, and the experts cannot find one. Fifth year of the war. Diesel up four cents. A hostage released that should never have been taken. Meanwhile the one Republican running in a tight race and the one Republican with nothing left to lose both looked at Witkoff's remark and said, in their own ways, absolutely not.
Here's the thing. You do not have to believe that Trump is secretly working for anyone to see the problem. All you need is a calendar and a dictionary. The war has gone on for years, the flattery has not shortened it by a day, and the word "humanitarian" is still defined as someone who works to reduce human suffering. Putin has not done that. Witkoff said it anyway, on camera, and the president's best defense was that it only applies for that one purpose. Congratulations to all involved. The apple cart is safe. Ukraine is still on fire.
Comments