Quite a Day on the World Stage

So Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska last Friday, got home, and played a round of golf on both Saturday and Sunday. The remaining big dogs of Europe, who have spent the past eight years sneering at this guy, dropped everything, jetting in to meet him at the White House today to hear all about the thing with Putin.

They were all working together – together.

President Donald J. Trump hosts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and European allies at the White House for a multilateral meeting on peace talks.

“We have had a very successful day so far. We are all working for the same goal. We want to stop the killing and resolve this.” pic.twitter.com/qVxIStibBE

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 18, 2025

Who else could have done this? Seriously.

Love him or hate him, the answer is ‘nobody.’

There were some memorable scenes coming out of the life or death discussions.

First and foremost, my girl- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, gracing the mewling and feckless German Chancellor Friedrich Merz with a look she normally reserves for the elfen Emmanual Macron.

🚨 OMG…the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni’s reaction is *PRICELESS* as Germany Chancellor Merz is lecturing Trump that he needs to go to a ceasefire with Putin instead of a full peace deal.

She just keeps rolling her eyes 🤣😭 the plan was NOT to do a ceasefire. Trump… pic.twitter.com/9fF72oB0U4

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 18, 2025

OMG she’s so precious. I could eat her up.

She and Trump have been like-minded buddies since forever, and she gave the props due to the man once Merz stopped mewling for the cameras.

🚨 Italian PM Giorgia Meloni just gave Trump HUGE props for helping to put an END to the bIoody war in Ukraine, while Biden made it worse

She also gave a shoutout to @elonmusk‘s Starlink 😏

“It’s an important day: a new phase, after three years that we didn’t see any kind of… pic.twitter.com/gs9iTOkgnk

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 18, 2025

For as much as people were holding their breaths that Volodymyr Zelenskyy might, as Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich reported, ‘put his foot in his mouth,’ the Ukrainian president was on his best behavior and actually sparkled with good humor.

This was a hilarious, light-hearted exchange.

REPORTER: “You look fabulous in that suit.”

POTUS: “That’s the reporter that attacked you last time.”

ZELENSKYY: “I remember…He’s in the same suit. I changed. You did not.” 🤣🤣

When did Zelensky get funny? lolpic.twitter.com/Q1GnfYD1rx

— Jack (@jackunheard) August 18, 2025

And Zelenskyy got to stay for the whole thing this time. That in itself is hugely hopeful.

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump’s meeting with European Leaders has officially ENDED, per NewsNation

Keep praying for peace! 🙏🏻

President Trump is working quadruple overtime to make it happen. pic.twitter.com/wM6xxy8C4K

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 18, 2025

I love this picture so much.

Remember how the Dems/MSM said Trump was an embarrassment and the meeting with Putin was a massive failure?

Yeah, well today proved that was a bunch of bullshit.

Trump is the catalyst that is about to end this war.

Trump is saving the world, and they are rooting against him… pic.twitter.com/gvzLTrKwQS

— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) August 18, 2025

There has been so much give and take, and no sign of the big, brash Trump everyone loves to hate. He managed the different personalities deftly, acknowledged their concerns regarding Ukraine respectfully, but always as the mediator from the head of the table.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine and his staff have been involved in working through potential security guarantees for Ukraine ahead of today’s meetings at the White House, according to a source familiar with the planning.

European governments are also holding similar discussions, the source added.

They did not provide details on what possibilities for US involvement are under discussion.

While Trump declined to rule out sending US troops to Ukraine, the source familiar with the planning process noted that the important part of the president’s comments was his apparent willingness to be involved in some way. Caine’s involvement in the planning process would appear to further demonstrate that the US is seriously prepared to help.

In the big meeting, the Europeans’ investment in Trump is paying off. Trump is gracious and warm, no trace of the hostility that caused panic in Europe in February, even as Vance and Hegseth sit in the wings. pic.twitter.com/xIW4C8MA6Z

— Lucian Kim (@Lucian_Kim) August 18, 2025

Even my favorite Bond villainess, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, could be said to have been as warm and gracious as is possible for her.

‘We are here, Europeans, as friends and allies. We had a fantastic NATO summit. Together, as the two largest and biggest economies in the world, we had the largest trade deal ever agreed, and now we are here to work together with you on a just and lasting peace for Ukraine—to stop the killing. This is really our common interest: stop the killing. And indeed it’s very good to hear that we’re working on the security guarantees, Article 5-like security guarantees, so important. But I want to thank you also that you mentioned the thousands of Ukrainian children that have been abducted. And as a mother and grandmother, every single child has to go back to its family. This should be one of our main priorities also in these negotiations: to make sure that the children come back to Ukraine, to their families.’

TDS IS curable.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Trump’ broke the deadlock.’ Trump is why they are ‘where we are today.’

🚨 WOW! NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to Trump: “You BROKE DEADLOCK with President Putin…from there, we are now where we are today! If we play this well, we could end this! […] I really want to thank you.”

President Trump is a geopolitical masterclass. pic.twitter.com/sorJY2eI8t

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 18, 2025

And the president of Finland, another country constantly under the menace of Russia’s aggressive posture, added his thanks.

🚨BREAKING: The President of Finland just ADMITTED world peace has made more progress in the past 2 weeks under Trump than “in the past 3 and a half years.”

PRESIDENT OF PEACE!
pic.twitter.com/UMaQ3CLCoD

— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) August 18, 2025

Trump broke away from the meeting with the seven for a brief personal call with Vladimir Putin. He said he had promised to do so, much as he had called Zelenskyy immediately after the meeting in Anchorage on Friday.

President Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders were gathered in the White House, two sources familiar with the call tell Axios

Why it matters: Trump said earlier Monday that Putin was expecting a call from him after the talks concluded. Trump said he hoped to quickly arrange a trilateral summit involving both Putin and Zelensky, but Putin has yet to agree to that idea.

• Trump similarly called Zelensky after his summit with Putin concluded.
• In this case, though, Trump took a break from his meeting with the Europeans to place the call. Bild first reported the Trump-Putin call.
• Trump expressed optimism during his meeting with Zelensky and in the larger meeting with the European leaders about the prospect of a trilateral summit, and a peace deal soon thereafter.

Trump’s statement after the end of the meetings today was again gracious and statesmanlike.

Presidential. Strong.

Trump, just now on today’s talks: pic.twitter.com/RU2d8a9rIA

— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 18, 2025

Hopes are rising that a trilateral summit will finally be possible after all this time.

What a momentous event to look forward to.

The ‘possibility of peace’ is tangible.

They (Trump, Zelenskyy, the NATO leaders) are all still meeting in the Oval Office at 6pm DC time.

Trump paused the meeting to call Putin.

This is what high-stakes negotiations actually look like, and no other President in recent memory was capable of this.

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) August 18, 2025

No one else could have done this, and the visuals alone have been remarkable.

Even Nancy Cordes, CBS News Senior White House correspondent, just said, ‘There’s a sense of gratitude from European leaders…’

There should be.

Now help him bring it home.

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