A New Top Advisor? Melania Trump's Advice on Putin, Ukraine
A smart man knows when to listen to his wife. (You'd better believe I do!) And Donald Trump is no dummy; there have always been indications that Melania was someone who, when she speaks, he listens. He's been listening, it seems, and is now giving her credit for his sudden realization that Tsar Vladimir I wasn't being forthcoming about his intentions in Ukraine. In other words, Tsar Vladimir I was trying to pull the wool over the president's eyes.
President Trump on Monday suggested that first lady Melania Trump convinced him that Russian President Vladimir Putin has continually backed out of his promises over a possible peace deal with Ukraine.
Trump was meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte when he spoke with reporters about the ongoing war.
He explained that his wife pointed out Putin's false promises following Trump's phone calls with the Russian leader amid calls for a deal to end the conflict.
Vladimir Putin, we might note, is an old Soviet apparatchik; he was a Colonel in the KGB, and for people in the intelligence services, well, lying can be part of the territory.
But it wasn't his voice, his mannerisms, or his demeanor that tipped her off; it was something more obvious.
"I go home. I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really? another city was just hit,'" he said.
"There's times I'd get home. I'd say, 'First lady, I had three most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think we're finished.' And then I'll turn on the television, or she'll say to me one time, ‘Wow, that’s strange because they just bombed a nursing home,'" Trump recalled in another conversation. "I'd say, ‘What?’"
Moscow has repeatedly attacked Ukraine with drones and missiles following calls between Putin and Trump.
It's a safe bet that the president doesn't address Melania as "First Lady" in their personal conversations.
With that said, it's all too often that the obvious things slip by us, and that would seem to be the case here. And that's a small irony - that the gracious First Lady Melania Trump may be in small part behind the president's worsening attitude towards Russia.
The president recently met with NATO's leader, Mark Rutte, about the Russo-Ukrainian war, and NATO is making some commitments as well; General Secretary Rutte has Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are all on board to ramp up support for Ukraine. (Germany in conflict with Russia? I think we've seen this show before.)
President Trump likes to be the peacemaker, and he's seen some successes at that. And NATO involvement notwithstanding, the Russo-Ukrainian war has been dragging on for some time now. Both sides have bled; both sides have lost a lot of people. And now, it seems that the Trump administration and NATO are thinking that the only way past this is through. It's anyone's guess how that will play out. Russia, after all, still has resources to spare.
As for President Trump, the primary advice I would give him is this: Keep listening to your wife, Mr. President.
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