The Truth with Lisa Boothe: Can Trump Broker Peace Between Ukraine and Russia with Rebekah Koffler

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show Episode: The Truth with Lisa Boothe: Can Trump Broker Peace Between Ukraine and Russia with Rebekah Koffler
Release Date: February 27, 2025
Host/Author: Premiere Networks

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Introduction

In this episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve into the intricate dynamics of the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Featuring insights from Rebekah Koffler, a Russian-born U.S. Intelligence expert and author of Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America, the discussion centers on former President Donald Trump's efforts to broker peace between the warring nations.

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Current State of the Ukraine-Russia War

The hosts begin by assessing the present condition of the conflict, highlighting Russia's continued military aggression against Ukraine.

• Bobby Bones ([03:49]): "The war continues, actually. The Russians keep on destroying Ukraine. They recently launched just a barrage of missiles. Putin is not slowing down because for two reasons..."

Koffler explains that despite significant losses, Russia perceives the benefits of the war as outweighing the costs, primarily aiming to pressure the Trump administration into a favorable deal.

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Legitimacy of Ukrainian Leadership

A critical point of discussion revolves around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's legitimacy and his actions amidst the war.

• Bobby Bones ([05:55]): "Zelensky is a con artist. I mean, he has built this image in the West that he's a Churchill in a T-shirt, but he's a miniature Putin."

Koffler elaborates on the constitutional ambiguities surrounding Zelensky's presidency, noting that his term expired in May and the invocation of martial law has put him in a "legal conundrum."

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U.S. and International Involvement

The conversation shifts to the role of the United States and other international players in the conflict.

• Bobby Bones ([12:22]): "Absolutely not. He will not win [re-election]."

Koffler criticizes the Biden administration's handling of military support to Ukraine, suggesting that it has inadvertently empowered Putin by allowing Ukraine access to advanced weaponry.

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Trump's Strategy in Brokering Peace

A significant portion of the episode focuses on former President Trump's approach to ending the war.

• Bobby Bones ([12:59]): "President Trump wants Zelensky to just shut up because Zelensky has been speaking too much."

Koffler argues that Trump's transactional mindset, as outlined in his book The Art of the Deal, is central to his efforts to negotiate peace. She emphasizes Trump's desire to prioritize American interests and reduce military expenditures.

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Rare Earth Minerals Deal

The potential rare earth minerals deal is examined as a pivotal element in Trump's peace strategy.

• Bobby Bones ([29:53]): "Rare earth minerals are very important because they go into, they are a required element in all kinds of high-tech industries..."

Koffler expresses skepticism about the viability of the deal, citing Russia's historical reluctance to relinquish control over its natural resources. She highlights the strategic importance of these minerals for U.S. technological independence, especially concerning competition with China.

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Challenges and Outlook

The hosts discuss the myriad challenges facing Trump's efforts to facilitate peace, including Russia's strategic positioning and the complexities of international diplomacy.

• Bobby Bones ([40:39]): "My intelligence analysis tells me Putin is going to drag these negotiations and he is going to continue destroying Ukraine and then eventually install a pro-Russian Ukrainian leader..."

Koffler underscores the difficulty in predicting the outcome, noting Putin's long-term strategic goals and distrust of U.S. leadership changes post-Trump.

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with a cautious outlook on the prospects of Trump successfully brokering peace between Ukraine and Russia. Both hosts acknowledge the formidable obstacles, including entrenched military strategies and geopolitical tensions, that complicate the path to resolution.

• Bobby Bones ([48:38]): "That's right."

• Host ([48:36]): "Rebecca Koffler, always enjoy hearing your insight, and I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much."

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Notable Quotes

• Bobby Bones ([05:55]): "Zelensky is a con artist... he's a miniature Putin."

• Bobby Bones ([12:59]): "President Trump wants Zelensky to just shut up because Zelensky has been speaking too much."

• Bobby Bones ([29:53]): "Rare earth minerals are very important because they go into... high-tech industries..."

• Bobby Bones ([40:39]): "Putin is going to drag these negotiations and he is going to continue destroying Ukraine..."

---

This episode provides a critical examination of the current Ukraine-Russia conflict, the legitimacy of Ukrainian leadership, and the potential role of Donald Trump in mediating peace. Rebekah Koffler offers a nuanced perspective on the geopolitical strategies at play, emphasizing the challenges and complexities inherent in resolving such a deeply entrenched conflict.

Transcript

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[Host]

News as directed, President Trump wrote the book the Art of the Deal. Will he be able to strike a deal between Russia and Ukraine? Also, President Trump is currently working on a deal with Ukraine that would give the United States access to natural resources in Ukraine in exchange for America's support amid this war with Russia. So what does that deal mean and why does it matter? We'll dig into the details of that today on this episode. Lastly, President Trump has been critical of Ukrainian President Zelensky. Is there a strategy behind that? What should you know? We'll get into all of this with Rebecca Koffler. She's a Russian born US Intelligence expert who served as a Russian Doctrine and Strategy specialist in the Defense Intelligence Agency she's also the author of Putin's Playbook, Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America. Stay tuned for Rebecca Koffler. Well, Rebecca, it's great to have you on the show. There's obviously a lot of Ukraine news to cover, so I'm looking forward to getting your input and what it all means. So appreciate you making the time.

[Bobby Bones]

Of course.

[Host]

So I kind of want to start out with, you know, just big picture, you know, where does this war between Ukraine and Russia stand today?

[Bobby Bones]

Well, the war continues, actually. The Russians keep on destroying Ukraine. They recently launched just a barrage of. Of missiles. Putin is not slowing down because for two reasons. You know, he wants to put pressure on the Trump administration to get the best deal. And in fact, he doesn't even have to end this war because he has positioned himself in a very good situation from the military standpoint. And when I say in the good situation, I don't discount the fact that the Russians have lost at least half a million people. They have been going through the weapons arsenal and that kind of thing. But the benefits outweigh the cost for the Russians. And the second reason why Putin continues is that he wants to also to demonstrate to Zelensky that Russia is not going to relent until Ukraine either capitulates or Zelensky holds the elections. Because currently Zelensky is not a legitimate president of Ukraine by the Ukrainian constitution itself. And Putin will not negotiate with Zelensky. His term expired back in May. And so the war continues.

[Host]

So the war continues. Tell us, what does the Ukrainian constitution say when you say that technically Zelensky is not, you know, you know what he's doing right now. Explain that a little bit further.

[Bobby Bones]

Right.

[Host]

So he's not a legitimate president is what I was. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

So he, in his term expired back in May. He had invoked, like, our version of the martial law. Right. Which says that there cannot be elections right now, that because Ukraine is at war. So he kind of put himself in. In a legal conundrum. He also put another sort of law approved which prohibits Ukraine's government from negotiating with Putin. Not many people know that there cannot be elections right now also because the only entity does hold the authority to negotiate on peace, to make any kind of, like, legitimate statecraft actions, is the Rada, the parliament of Ukraine. But Zelensky controls the Rada by virtue of winning the majority in Nerada. So it's kind of like a chicken and egg problem. And Zelensky, as far as I'm concerned, and I've been saying it for three years, at this point, he's a con artist. I mean, he has built this image in the west that he's a Churchill in the T shirt, but he's a miniature Putin. What he was able to do with the west, with the United States, just like what President Trump tweeted out the other day or posted on his True Social. He basically called them a dictator who was able to manipulate Biden into giving him billions and billions of US taxpayers hard earned money. He's continuing to sort of to drag us into this war. He's continuing to put pressure on the Trump administration to give Ukraine membership in NATO, which is a completely a red line for Putin, has been for years. That's why Putin started this war. Zelensky is even offering to step down. Well, these are all games, right? He's just trying to stay relevant because he knows the end of him is near. And once he's no longer president of Ukraine, he's going to be an O1. And until he is, even if, though he's legitimate, he's still in the news somewhere, you know, he can potentially strike book deals and this and that. So and we unfortunately, the United States are dragged in, into, into this circus.

[Host]

Would he win if he held elections? You know, do we have any sense of his popularity with the Ukrainian people? Is there a good way to gauge that?

[Bobby Bones]

Lenski's true popularity according to intelligence assessments is a, is at 4%. However, the agency that has done the popularity polling in Ukraine has been funded by the USAID. That agency has rated his popularity at about 50, low 50%. But we all know that USAID basically has been funding, you know, leftist projects. So those numbers are not credible, the 50% approval rating. So I go with the intelligence assessments and some members of President Trump's team have actually revealed those numbers, though it is impossible for Zelensky to win at this point. And that is really because his low approval ratings is because people are tired of the speech war. I mean, the close to a million of Ukrainians are dead. 50% of Ukrainian critical infrastructure is destroyed. They see no victory in this war. In fact, this victory has been, you know, mathematically impossible from the, from the very start. So they want this to end. The conundrum. Another conundrum, in addition to the legal conundrum that Zelensky box himself in, is that if you hold the elections, and President Trump is insisting on those elections being held in Ukraine because otherwise Putin is simply not going to negotiate. Right. The conundrum that everybody's concerned about is that it's the Russian playbook to influence elections. And the concern both of the Europeans and of the Ukrainians is that Putin's special services, the spy agencies, are going to run clandestine operations to try and elect a pro Russia person as president. But that is just like how. How things are. Another piece to that is Zelensky outlawed all of the opposition parties. Right. So technically, no party right now that is opposing Zelensky can run, you know, can put their candidate. So there's a lot of moving parts. Right. And unfortunately, President Trump, you know, he has this very short timeline, and his team is pushing both Zelensky and Putin to strike this deal. But things just don't happen that fast in Russia or Ukraine. And part of it, it's not just cultural, but part of it is all of these different nuances that have been created by Zelensky himself.

[Host]

So he probably wouldn't win reelection.

[Bobby Bones]

Absolutely not. I would say 99.9%. He will not win.

[Host]

Yeah, we've seen President Trump, you know, take some aim at Zelensky, and he's been on the receiving end of criticism from Democrats as a result of that. You know, is there a strategy behind that criticism of Zelensky? Is there intentionality between. Behind that, or, you know, why do you think he's. Why do you think the president is taking some shots at Zelensky?

[Bobby Bones]

Two things. President Trump wants Zelensky to just shut up because Zelensky has been speaking too much. President Trump has a very specific strategy. He's a deal maker, Right? In the Art of the Deal, the book that he wrote, and he was promoting it back in 1987, he said, I like to make deals. That's what I do. And Zelensky needs to stay out of Trump's way and not give interviews, undermining Trump's ability to conduct those negotiations. Zelenskyy is refusing to make the deal on rare earth minerals. He is telling the Europeans that he still wants Ukraine to be part of NATO. He wants security guarantees, he wants this, he wants that. He wants more weap. President Trump wants him to stay quiet and only come if he becomes actually a legitimate person to conduct negotiations. And at this point, he isn't. And the second part to President Trump's strategy is that President Trump is a realist and he actually speaks the truth. When President Trump says Zelensky is the dictator, he's actually being candid and honest. As I said, Zelensky passed all of these various laws, whether it's he outlawed all opposition parties, he outlawed all the Russian language media. And remember, 20% of Ukrainian land in Donbas. The Russians lived there. And they were not able, during Zelenskyy's presidency to listen, to have their own native language tv. I mean, imagine that. Another thing. Zelensky's intelligence service, the SBU Ukraine, was grabbing Ukrainian men off the streets to send them on the front lines because they just running out of people. The average age of a Ukrainian sold is approximately 45. I mean, imagine, and those are not like American, you know, type 45s. These are men who are, you know, they, they look and act more like in their 60s because they don't have the same health care that we do here. You know, alcoholism is rampant in Ukraine. Just it is in Russia. And so this is the guy that, that you're dealing with. And President Trump is the only one who actually is brave enough to say the quiet part out loud, to call him out. He's not. Trump is not afraid of being called, you know, Putin's puppet, because there's nothing you can do to him anymore. They've, they've tried everything. They called him, you know, the Russia Trump collusion. They've done all of these things to him. And so there's nothing that he's afraid. He just calling a spade a spade at this point. He's the manipulator, he's the con artist. You know, Zelensky, he siphoned off $300 billion out of the Biden administration. You know, and those are our money, right? That, that is our money. And President Trump is trying to recoup some of that money right now to make the American people whole. That's what he's doing. That's his strategy.

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[Host]

Why is Lenski untouchable?

[Bobby Bones]

I'm not sure. I'm not sure I understand the question. What do you mean, why is he untouchable? Who believes that he's untouchable?

[Host]

I would say the left and many.

[Bobby Bones]

Of the media, because they have created him. I mean, look at. Okay, so two parts to this. First, why did this war start? And why did the United States under the Biden administration engage in this proxy war with Russia over control of Ukraine? Why did Europeans engage in this? It is because the Europeans did not want to spend money on their own security, even though they knew about Putin's plans a decade ago. I personally briefed NATO in September 2013, just months prior to Russia's invasion of Crimea. I briefed in Brussels, Belgium, on Putin's mindset, his plans and intentions, Russian warfighting strategy. Everybody knew what was going to happen. And yet the Obama administration kept slashing U.S. force posture in Europe, and the Europeans never at that point even bothered to pay 2% of their GDP towards the collective security kitty. Right? Only very few countries such as Poland and the Baltics, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania paid their fair share. So once Putin invaded, they woke up and decided, okay, we're just gonna some weapons to Ukraine, effectively throw Ukraine into Putin's main grinder, use Ukrainians as human shields by having them fight Putin and deplete Russia's weapons arsenal. Right. This is what Lloyd Austin, the former Secretary of Defense in Biden administration, again said the quiet part out loud. He admitted it. We are wanting to weaken Russia militarily and economically. And that is why they want to keep Zelensky. Because Zelensky did not want to stop this war. He didn't want. He refused to negotiate. That's why Boris Johnson went over there when the Russians were trying. When the Russians encircled Ukraine, 190,000 troops Putin put up there right before the war. They were trying to negotiate. Zelensky refused. Boris Johnson put pressure on them because they wanted to protect themselves. They didn't care about Ukrainians. Right. And so the same about the left here in the Biden administration. They did not want to develop a counter strategy to Putin. They did not want to invest in our modern weapons arsenal, such as hypersonic, such as tactical nuclear weapons. Because remember, the reason why we can't deploy forces into the theater US Forces. Not only because Trump doesn't want to, but the reason Biden didn't want to, because Putin gave in the United States made militarily having developed an escalate to de escalate nuclear strategy and having transitioned his military industrial complex onto what I'm putting seven years prior to the invasion. If we provided more weapons, if the conflict escalates, Putin would go nuclear. And he even demonstrated the hypersonic missile capability and all of these high tech things that we had no response to. And so that is why both the Europeans and the Democrats wanted to prop up Zelensky so that war continues, so that we do not have to spend our money on our defenses and so that we don't have to put our troops and let just Ukrainian people keep dying in Putin meat grind or even in his nuclear furnace. Because that would have happened if Trump did not step in. If Trump did not deescalate this, we were firmly on a path to nuclear war in Europe.

[Host]

Well, because I just think that, you know, viewing it clear eyed is the healthiest and that, you know, obviously Putin is a dictator and you know, not a great guy. But then I also think we have to be honest about what's going on in Ukraine as well. Because, you know, in order to try to figure out how to end this thing, you know, you have to have that realistic viewpoint which you mentioned, which is the way I think that I agree with you in the way that President Trump views the world. Because if you're looking at it through rose colored glasses, then you know you're not gonna be able to solve the problem. Right. To solve a problem, you have to, you know, fully understand the problem and you know, the different moving parts and the players involved. Yes.

[Bobby Bones]

Not only you're not going to solve the problem, you are going to make your country poorer. We are now $300 billion poorer. Right. And our weapons arsenal is depleted to dangerous levels. Lisa, some of the weapons systems is going to take from anywhere from 5 to 18 years to replenish. Okay. Our stockpile has dwindled in a major, major way on Biden's watch. And that's why, that's another reason why President Trump wants to put an end to this conflict. Because he wants to stop the bleeding not only of Ukrainians, but of our own military hardware. Because we have China on the horizon to deal with that is getting ready to you secure control over Ukraine. That has been their long term strategic goal. Right. So in a year or two and we got no weapons to fight them with and Secretary of State Rubio today admitted on Fox News that China is able to build 10 fighter jets and 10 ships while we're building just one, barely because of our crazy procurement processes in the Pentagon. So, yes, Trump is absolutely a realist, and yes, Putin is a dictator. Nobody's arguing about that. But look, the United States has dealt with dictators for decades. We're dealing with Xi Jinping all the time. And we are highly, highly dependent on China. And he's as much of an assassin as Putin is. Look at what he's done to Uyghurs. We are dealing with the Saudis, and those are the people who chop up journalists and put them in the suitcases. Right. We dealt with Muammar Gaddafi. I mean, it's not, I don't know why. They have like a Putin derangement syndrome. They left us. Putin is, you know, he's capable of dealing with the US On a transactional basis. You know, and Trump doesn't care how Putin treats the Russians or how Ukraine, how Zelensky treats Ukrainians or Xi trains the Chinese. President Trump cares about Americans. He wants to put our security first. It's enough already that we've been sending our men and women into someone else's war to secure someone else's freedom. Well, what about our freedom? So that's what, you know, Trump is doing. And he decided that it's time to end this war and to call Zelensky on his, you know, on his bluff and to call him for who he is, which is a dictator, a Putin like dictator and a con artist.

[Host]

Let's talk about this before we go. I want to get into the mineral deal that President Trump is trying to get signed. You know, take us through that. Why does it matter? You know, why is it important, you know, kind of break that down for the audience?

[Bobby Bones]

Sure. Well, rare earth minerals are very important because they go into, they are a required element in all kinds of high tech industries and especially in the artificial intelligence. And it happens so that Ukraine, both Ukraine and Russia have large deposits of rare earth minerals. President Trump wants to secure those materials for two reasons. He doesn't want us to depend on China. China is for, for example, look at like electric vehicles. And why the Biden administration, you know, with his regulations put on the auto industry mandating that we all start, you know, buying those EVs. Well, get, guess what? China is the, the, the country that controls most of the required elements for the production of those EVs. Well, Trump does not want us to depend on anyone. He wants to Secure. And if we are to depend on somebody, it's better not be China. So he wants to secure control of those. But I am not optimistic actually as far as that is. And again, I love President Trump and everything, but the Russians are not idiots. They first the many of those rare earth minerals are in Ukraine, but they are in the Russian part. And so Zelensky is brandishing something in front of President Trump, but he is trying to sell something that he actually doesn't own. And the Russians are also securing the area. There are forces that in control of the area where there's a large deposit of titanium, of lithium and is now trying to position himself as the one who would deal with the United States on this rare earth minerals deal. He said Russia is actually the one that has the most rare earth minerals. It is willing to consider cooperating with the United States. But I'm not optimistic that Putin would actually make that kind of deal because his decades long line policy, line has been that the west is trying to rip off Russia of its natural resources and wants to use Russia effectively as sort of a colony. That's the cultural language that he usually uses, you know, to galvanize the Russian people against like Europe or against the United States. And so what I'm concerned is that Putin is going to drag, you know, the United States team, Trump's team brandishing this, this deal. But he's eventually he's not, he's going to make it so hard to conclude that we're going to just give it up. And so, because yeah, titanium, iron, uranium, the Russians have all that. But they want their industries to flourish. They don't want to be the seller of natural resources because they're already the same situation right now, like with, with oil and gas. Right. Russia is, is basically, you know, like some people say, it's a gas station masquerading as a country. I don't agree with that statement. But what that statement captures is that it is highly, highly reliant on energy and not unlike manufactured goods, not on services. And so they are not going to put themselves in that very same conundrum that they are with oil and gas. I don't believe Putin is going to release those rare earth minerals to the.

[Host]

US So why go through the song and dance of trying to get the mineral deal done then if you're President Trump?

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, because President Trump firmly believes, firmly believes that he is able to do it. I mean, he is the master of the art of the deal. And I mean, you know, Trump was discounted many, many Times, and I am happy to be corrected. You know, I would love for Trump to make that deal. There's nothing in Russia's history or in the way that I understand Putin or in my intelligence analysis that leads me to conclude that that deal is viable. But I can't get in Trump's head. Trump is a very, very different, his brain thinks very differently. And so who knows, maybe he will put a rabbit out of a hat. You know, Russia did you know previously Russia did. Like, for example, in 2017, Russia supplied about 50, 15% of all American aluminum imports. Right. So there is precedent of that kind of transactional approach. But it depends on how President Trump wants to structure that deal. If he just wants Russia and, or Ukraine to commit to just like to relinquishing control of these materials to the United States, I don't see that happening. If somehow President Trump, and I'm just speculating here, I don't know exactly the contours of the deal that Trump is trying to make. But from the speculative standpoint, if, let's say Trump is willing to put some direct investment in Russia and help them without technology, use their own production facilities to process those materials, that could be a different thing. Back when I, you know, I'm originally from the former Soviet Union, as you know, and even during communist times, for instance, the Russians couldn't even like have their own duty free shops at the airport. The Russians could not, the Soviets, manufacture their own toaster or their own microwave. Right. But they were really ahead of the United States in missiles and in nuclear technology and all of those things. So. But even during those times, they allowed the Irish to come in and help them stand up a duty free shop as long as The Irish promised 51% ownership to Russia and they had 49. So there are various ways of striking those deals. And Scott Besson, who is advising Trump on that, who's actually, you know, he's part of the team of heavyweights who are negotiating with the Russians. They might slice that cat in a way that might be palatable to Putin, and I'm hoping that they do.

[Host]

We've got a quick commercial break. More with Rebecca Koffler on the other side.

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[Host]

Go, Will President Trump be able to end this war between Russia and Ukraine?

[Bobby Bones]

Gosh, that's, that's really, really a tough one, Lisa. So I'll give you my assessment is that it's going to be extremely difficult. Why is that? Because Trump inherited an untenable situation from Biden. Biden, by allowing Ukraine to use US Long range missiles to strike deep into Russia, effectively demonstrated to Putin that Putin was correct. By invading Ukraine. Putin cannot afford having Ukraine, which is part of Russia's strategic security perimeter on which it relied for centuries for its security, to be on its doorstep with that kind of capability. So my intelligence analysis tells me Putin is going to drag these negotiations and he is going to continue destroying Ukraine and then eventually install a pro Russian Ukrainian leader so he has geopolitical control of it and he gets the guarantees that Ukraine is not going to be part of NATO. That is his plan. Because Putin doesn't trust us. He doesn't trust Trump either. Right? He respects Trump, but he doesn't trust Trump. He said it once a few years ago during Trump's first presidency when somebody asked him, you know, do you trust President Trump? Or he said, well, look, we are both representing the national interests of our country. He represents his country and I represent mine. And so Putin also, Trump is a very unusual leader, unconventional leader. He basically has upended the 25 century worth of U.S. u.S. Russia policy. And Putin is looking beyond Trump. You know, he understands that US Leaders change every four years. And, you know, a person can come after Trump. I'm describing Putin's thinking because as you know, that's kind of my expertise. And I wrote a book on him, Putin's Playbook. So that's how he thinks. He doesn't think like an American who thinks like a Russian. So he was thinking, okay, someone will come after Trump and is going to flip that whole policy and it's going to start pushing Ukraine into NATO again. So my assessment is that peace is unlikely right now. Putin also said, because we are now pushing for a ceasefire, because a ceasefire is a lot easier to achieve than a long lasting peace. Let's just say Putin said about a month ago, a ceasefire, we're not going to go for that. Because that would be considered from the military doctrine standpoint, a strategic pause. What does the strategic pause do? Strategic pause gives a breather to everyone, to all the forces, the Russians, the Ukrainians, the Americans and, and the NATO alliance. Putin right now is an excellent position from the combat potential standpoint, which is calculated as a combination of armed forces, military hardware, defense, economics and the military industrial complexes ability to produce sufficient armaments in order to prosecute the war. The Russians now are producing in one month more missiles than the entire NATO alliance produces in one year. Let that sink in. He also mobilized, he, Putin, that is mobilized, rather increased the size of the Russian armed forces above the maximally allowed by the Russian constitution to 1,350,000. For comparison, US forces, including the National Guard is between like a million and a million 200. So he can continue this war until the last Ukrainian and until the last weapon, both in US Arsenal and in European weapons arsenal. Right. Putin believes that if he gives that strategic pause, the Ukrainians can rearm, we can start manufacturing more weapons, because right now we can't. We don't have the military industrial capacity to, because we are Officially not on the wartime footing. And so. But we could change that if time is given to us, to the United States, to NATO and to Ukraine, we can optimize our force posture. We can optimize our weapons stockpile. And Putin does not want to do. That's what he said. He said that. So that's why I am not very optimistic on that deal. Does Putin want to deal with the United States on a transactional basis? Does he want to be seen as an equal with President Trump, the leader of the free world? Yes, absolutely. Does he want his sanctions lifted? Absolutely. So it's a very complicated and a very long dance with a lot of steps. Tango, I think, and President Trump, temperamentally. President Trump is different from Putin. He wants things done very quickly, and Putin understands that. He understands that. Not a hot button and something that he can push with Trump. If Trump is not patient and if he starts blaming his people, his team, for not being fast enough, Putin is going to use it against us. Putin wants to sow discord and disorder in our team so that we are exasperated. And so we either conclude the deal. That is not the best deal for us, or he can just. We don't conclude the deal, and he just keeps going. So that's kind of the master manipulator that Putin is. Does Team Trump understand that? I don't know who on my team actually speaks Russian and understands how police thinks? I don't know anybody. You know General Kellogg, He's a wonderful guy, but is he a Russia expert? Absolutely not. They need somebody who actually understands the guy and advises them on how to proceed with these negotiations and interprets. When Putin says something, there needs to be not only a language interpreter, but somebody who understands how Putin thinks and how to push his buttons, because they understand how to push our buttons very, very well. They study us, and they study President Trump. They study Biden. They know how to deal with us, and that's why they are able to kind of like, run circles around us, at least previously. Will they be able to run circles? You know, Champ? Hopefully not. I don't think so, but we'll see. We'll see. It's too early.

[Host]

All right, well, we'll see if the author of the Art of the Deal can be the author of this deal, so.

[Bobby Bones]

That's right.

[Host]

Rebecca Koffler, always enjoy hearing your insight, and I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

[Bobby Bones]

Of course.

[Host]

That was Rebecca Koffler. Appreciate her for taking the time. Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Tuesday and Thursday. But you can listen throughout the week. I also want to thank John Cassio, my producer, for putting it together. Until next time.

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