, Columnist
Don’t Expect Trump to Put Ukraine or Europe Above Himself
All of the energy that goes into speculating about the president’s grand designs or philosophy about Putin or anything else is a distraction.
Living large.
Photographer: Gavril Grigorov (pool)/AFP/Getty Images
Soon after Vladimir Putin arrived in Alaska last Friday to discuss how he might end his invasion of Ukraine, President Donald Trump ushered the Russian leader into the back of his armored limousine, known as “the Beast.”
The pair rode alone together for about 10 minutes before reaching a conference room where their formal meeting was to take place. Putin speaks passable English, and there were no interpreters in the car. No other aides or officials were with them either, and thus far there is no public record of what they chatted about.