Democratic strategist James Carville suggested during a Thursday podcast that President Donald Trump is only pursuing a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire because Russian President Vladimir Putin directed him to do so.
Putin told reporters at a Thursday news conference in Moscow that he is tentatively open to the idea of a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, provided mutually-agreed upon terms are met. Speaking on “Politics War Room” before the Russian president’s remarks, Carville said that he believed Russia was struggling in the war and was using Trump to push for a ceasefire to buy time.
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“My suspicion is that Putin needs a 30-day ceasefire. He’s got to regroup, he’s getting the shit kicked out of him. And he instructed Trump through his cutouts to propose a ceasefire so that way you look good, you look like a peacemaker,” Carville said. “I got to get 30 days, I got to figure out what to do because I’m getting the crap kicked out of me. And I think that’s the most logical explanation there is.”
The Democratic strategist said his opinion was based on what his friend and historian Anne Applebaum told him, as well as reporting he read in The New York Times. He also claimed a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report found that Trump is linked to Russia.
The committee found a link between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a former business partner named Konstantin Kilimnik, who the report said was a Russian intelligence officer. However, it “found absolutely no evidence” that Trump or his 2016 campaign engaged in collusion with Russia’s government.
“I mean, the Russian-U.S. contacts, entanglements, everything is just breathtaking. And we even voted with them in Belarus and North Korea,” Carville said. “What explains that? Well, why are we doing Putin’s bidding by trying to get a ceasefire when Putin’s getting the shit kicked out of him? I think that this all points to the fact that they’re just total tools of the Kremlin.”
Ukraine also agreed Tuesday to a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire, according to a joint statement from the U.S. State Department and Ukraine. The U.S. pledged to “immediately” restore weapons and intelligence aid to Ukraine during the interim period.
The war has spanned three years and taken tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives. It has cost the U.S. over $170 billion in aid.
Trump threatened to sanction and tariff Russia after they initiated a major attack on Ukrainian infrastructure Mar. 7, asserting Russia must pursue a ceasefire and “final settlement agreement.”
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