Rep. Mike Quigley on Trump’s Capitulation to Putin

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast: Rep. Mike Quigley on Trump’s Capitulation to Putin

Date: August 21, 2025
Host: MeidasTouch Network (Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas)
Guest: Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), House Intelligence Committee member and co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus

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Overview

This episode centers on the aftermath of Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and subsequent talks with European leaders. The discussion critiques Trump’s approach to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the American media's coverage (especially on Fox News), and the resulting consequences for democracy, NATO, and global security. The brothers bring in Rep. Mike Quigley for expert commentary, analyzing Trump’s foreign policy “doctrine,” the shift in American geopolitical stance, and what steps remain for supporting Ukraine and deterring authoritarian aggression.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fox News’ “Alternate Reality” Framing of the Trump-Putin Meetings

[01:29 - 05:54]

• The hosts outline how Fox News, including personalities like Laura Ingraham and Jesse Waters, have portrayed the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska and subsequent dialogues with European leaders as successes, despite the lack of tangible outcomes.
• Clips played on the show reveal a narrative of Trump as a strong leader supposedly “having Putin on his heels” and brokering security guarantees that, according to the hosts and other news sources, never happened.
• The Meiselas brothers lampoon this coverage, framing it as propaganda divorced from reality.

Notable Quotes:

• “They’re talking about a meeting that maybe they wished happened, but that’s just not what happened at all.” — Host, [05:54]
• “Why do they just say the most brazen and ridiculous? How do they do it? It’s a talent.” — Host, [03:00]

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2. Rep. Mike Quigley Rips the “Trump Doctrine”

[05:54 - 08:55]

• Rep. Quigley characterizes the Trump era as a dangerous departure from the Truman and Reagan doctrines, stating that under Trump, the U.S. appears to reward aggressors like Putin and abandons long-standing commitments to democracy and allies.
• He calls Trump’s approach “appeasement in the worst form,” drawing historical parallels to WWII and stressing the imperative of resisting Putin’s larger ambitions beyond Ukraine.
• He argues that Trump’s failure to achieve any meaningful objectives in his latest meetings hands legitimacy and momentum to Putin.

Notable Quotes:

• “Now, the Trump Doctrine is: the U.S. will be tough—until it’s not. And the invader of a sovereign, democratic country will be rewarded for their invasion…” — Rep. Quigley, [06:39]
• “This is appeasement in the worst form... We’re failing miserably right now.” — Rep. Quigley, [07:23]

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3. Assessment of the Current Situation in Ukraine Post-Trump Meetings

[07:57 - 10:15]

• The host highlights worsening conditions on the ground—renewed Russian aggression, increased civilian casualties, and the symbolic use of American flags on Russian tanks.
• Quigley explains that, by delaying or weakening American aid and resolve, Trump has allowed Putin to consolidate his gains, emboldening further violence.
• He reports that Putin “only understands strength”—which is not being demonstrated—and criticizes Trump for never directly articulating support for a Ukrainian victory.

Notable Quotes:

• “Putin understands strength. And he doesn’t see it in Trump.” — Rep. Quigley, [09:21]
• “The President will never say who he wants to win this war... hollow promises and words that only encourage Putin to go on.” — Rep. Quigley, [09:54]

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4. What the U.S. Can Still Do: Policy Options & Bipartisan Support

[10:15 - 12:21]

• The hosts and Quigley discuss possibilities for further action, especially rallying bipartisan Congressional support for Ukraine.
• Quigley points out the existence of frozen Russian assets (up to $300 billion in Europe and $5-8 billion in the U.S.) that can be leveraged for Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction.
• He calls for punishing secondary sanctions on Russia’s trading partners, and renewed supplemental funding for military aid.
• Despite partisan divides, Quigley sees potential among certain House Republicans (“true believers in the Reagan Doctrine”) for constructive action.

Notable Quotes:

• “There’s still a lot we can do. There’s somewhere between 5 and 8 billion dollars of Russian assets frozen in the U.S.—300 billion in Europe. We should seize those assets…” — Rep. Quigley, [11:12]
• “Trump could have ended this war, showing Putin again the only thing he understands, and that’s strength and resolve.” — Rep. Quigley, [12:06]

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5. Global Implications & The Message to Other Authoritarians

[12:21 - 14:07]

• Quigley warns that the U.S.’s tepid response is being watched by other potential aggressors, notably China with regard to Taiwan.
• He describes the disappointing evolution of what “victory” means for Ukraine, moving from aspirations of security guarantees, accountability, and territory restored to little more than temporary, illusory agreements.
• The podcast draws a sharp distinction between Trump’s rhetorical aggression targeting vulnerable populations (e.g., immigration enforcement) and his “wimpy” posture toward strongmen adversaries.

Notable Quotes:

• “The rest of the tyrants of the world are watching eagerly to see what we do...” — Rep. Quigley, [13:15]
• “Trump’s a tough guy when it comes to going after some kid who’s undocumented... But when he comes up against somebody who’s tougher than him, this president is a wimp.” — Rep. Quigley, [14:07]

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Memorable Moments & Timestamps

• Fox’s alternate reality: [01:29–05:54]
• Rep. Quigley’s definition of the “Trump Doctrine”: [06:23–07:23]
• The shift from bipartisan support to partisan fan fiction: [10:15–10:49]
• Quigley on U.S.’s leverage with frozen Russian assets: [11:12–12:21]
• Warning to the world’s other tyrants: [13:15–13:56]
• Sharp contrast between Trump’s posturing on immigrants versus foreign autocrats: [14:07]

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Summary Tone and Takeaways

This episode is a bracing critique—infused with the brothers’ signature humor and frustration—of Trump’s foreign policy, Fox News spin, and the stark real-world effects on Ukraine. Rep. Mike Quigley provides sobering analysis, arguing that U.S. resolve has crumbled, which has emboldened Putin and sent a dangerous message to other authoritarian regimes. But he also lays out potential bipartisan policy avenues, emphasizing the urgency of action for the sake of democracy and global security.

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Notable Quotes: Quick Reference

• “I think now we live with I’ll see it when I believe it. Forget the reality that’s in front of you. It’s what you want it to be... because Trump said so.” — Rep. Quigley, [06:26]
• “Putin understands strength. And he doesn’t see it in Trump.” — Rep. Quigley, [09:21]
• “We’re failing miserably right now.” — Rep. Quigley, [07:23]
• “Trump’s a tough guy when it comes to going after some kid who’s undocumented... But when he comes up against somebody who’s tougher than him, this president is a wimp.” — Rep. Quigley, [14:07]

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

If you haven’t heard the episode, this summary captures the main developments in U.S.-Russia-Ukraine relations post-Trump’s summit with Putin, the media landscape’s distortion of events, expert congressional perspectives on what’s at stake for global democracy, and actionable policy suggestions. The tone is urgent, candid, and occasionally cutting, reflecting a deep concern for the weakening of U.S. alliances in the face of growing authoritarian threats worldwide.

Transcript

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[Host/Interviewer]

Fox continues to be in a total panic over this disastrous meeting that Donald Trump had in Alaska with Vladimir Putin. Then the meeting that Donald Trump had with the European leaders and here we are, you know, as we approach August 20, August 21 and all of the things that Donald Trump said were going to happen did not happen. He said there was going to be severe consequences if Putin didn't agree to these things. There's no ceasefire, there's no trilateral meeting scheduled. There's literally like quite literally none of the objectives that Donald Trump said were going to be achieved were achieved. So then they bring in on Fox the Treasury secretary. I'm not sure why, why he's the guy right now who they have on here, but the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessant. Oh, I think as Donald Trump thinks that, that Putin just cares about money and if we can just do bribe for bribe, maybe, maybe that's how it'll, it'll be done. They bring in Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Bessant goes, it's great meeting. The greatest meeting ever. Here's what Bessant said on Fox. Here, play this clip.

[Laura Ingraham]

Well, Laura goes all the way back to Friday in Alaska because President Trump had a great meeting with President Putin. My take was he had President Putin on his heels for most of the event after the flyover. And then yesterday, a fantastic meeting with Zelensky, then with the Europeans and then back in the Oval, he had a call with President Putin. And I'm very optimistic they'll be able to have a bylaw bilateral meeting.

[Host/Interviewer]

Bilateral meeting happened in Alaska, a trilateral meeting. You think Putin wants to meet with Zelensky? That's been tried multiple times. Zelensky said, I'm ready to do it. And I'm sure we all watch that. Absolutely. Donald Trump had Putin on his heels. Why do they just say the most brazen and ridiculous? How do they do it? It's a talent. Like, how does he get up there and do it? Like, literally. And then he'd, then you have Besant talk about, you know, look, what we all know is that Trump had a strategy and he executed that strategy. And Laura Ingraham now pretends that Putin agreed to Article 5, like NATO security guarantees, when Putin and Russia said they absolutely don't agree to these things. Here, play this clip.

[NBC Correspondent]

Why didn't you do it yesterday? So NBC's take on what happened yesterday is that the president was susceptible to total flattery, that the European leaders were there wooing him, that Zelensky put on the suit and it was, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir, for all your effort. And that's the only reason President Trump was as magnanimous and as open to security guarantees and so forth. You were there. Tell us what we should understand and take away from what happened.

[Laura Ingraham]

Well, Laura, again, let's go back to Friday because the security guarantees go back to Friday. President Trump's meeting with President Putin in Alaska. And President Trump has wanted to end this conflict that never would have started if he had been president.

[Host/Interviewer]

President.

[Laura Ingraham]

And he convinced President Putin about the security guarantees. That it is, you know, a what the Europeans call.

[Host/Interviewer]

No, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't do that. That didn't happen. That, that, that never happened. Putin's not agreeing. Putin's state regime media there says that that didn't happen. But here's what Jesse Waters saying. This is how Fox wants to portray the meeting with our European allies. Here, play this clip.

[Jesse Waters]

The Europeans were sitting around the Resolute desk yesterday like they were waiting for class to start. Trump was giving Europe a geography lesson. He even put up the big beautiful map and sent it home with Zelensky as homework. Zelensky can read a map like Trump can read a pot. We'll have a deal in no time.

[Host/Interviewer]

Well, how about Donald Trump making a phone call to Putin while he's with the European allies? This is how it's framed by Scott Bessant that Putin said, you can call me tomorrow or call me in the next 15 minutes. And then Donald Trump rushed and said, let me call you you before you go to sleep, Daddy. Here, play this clip.

[Laura Ingraham]

And as I said, I'm optimistic.

[NBC Correspondent]

Was Putin up waiting for the call? Did you get the sense?

[Laura Ingraham]

Well, the president gave him the option I could call you sent a message. And Putin said, well, I'll be up for 15 more minutes or you could call tomorrow. And I think Putin wanted the call last that night. So that shows he was eager to hear what the President had to say.

[Host/Interviewer]

The way that the let's bring in Democratic Congressmember Mike quigley from Illinois, 5th congressional district on the House Intelligence Committee and co chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus. It's great to have you here. I mean, I show you those clips. I mean, just they're talking about a meeting that maybe they wished happened, but that's just not what happened at all. I mean, what, what do you make of those clips? I showed you just where we're at now with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[Congressman Mike Quigley]

I think the way Trump world works is you and I grew up with, I'll believe it when I see it. I think now we live with I'll see it when I believe it. I mean, forget the reality that's in front of you. It's what you want it to be. Whatever you want it to be. That's what it is because Trump said so. I think we're also on the, on the perch of a new era here. Forget the Truman Doctrine, forget the Reagan Doctrine, Right. Which was we will always help our allies against Soviet aggression at the time. Now, the Trump Doctrine, Trump Doctrine is the US Will be tough until it's not. And that the invader of a sovereign democratic country will be rewarded for their invasion with the land that they took and their war criminal president will not be held accountable. That's kind of the sum and substance of this. There is nothing that should give anyone any hope that there's going to be a resolution for this. And look, we all want peace, but this is appeasement in the worst form. And the reason we were helping and are trying to help Ukraine is same reasons we fought the Second World War. To prevent a sovereign, democratic country from being wiped off the face of the Earth with the recognition that Putin's aims go well beyond Ukraine. So that this is a strategic as well as immoral imperative for us, and one we're failing at miserably right now.

[Host/Interviewer]

It seems that if we were to report accurately on what's taken place Friday, earlier this week with the European allies, what we're seeing across Ukraine, in Kyiv, in Sumy, in Kharkiv, in Zapia, things are worse. Things are appreciably worse. Like, to me, that's just what the objective data is. Putin is emboldened. The attacks since Trump has been in office and the killings on innocent Ukrainians have doubled or getting higher. And we are further away from peace because Putin got what he wanted. Legitimacy. No ceasefire. Continue the war. And now you see Russian tanks having American flags on them. And the Russian military bloggers are bragging about that as. As a troll. That's how I see it. You're closer to the ground. How do you see it is. Are we in a worse position now with these meetings?

[Congressman Mike Quigley]

We're in a far worse position because it's bought Putin time. Putin has always understood that he wins a war of attrition, not just because he has six times the manpower, but because he treats his troops like cannon fodder and he could run 40% of his economy into this war machine. And he knows one thing. Putin understands strength. And he doesn't see it in Trump. He sees a president that's never stood his ground. Right. Or six deadlines that were passed. President Trump has never even said who he wants to win this war. So he's given Putin every opportunity to continue this war. When zelensky was in D.C. and I've been to Ukraine five times since the war started, he's always said, help us win quickly because he understands why that matters. And the fact that the President will never say who he wants to win and that, that we're not going to promise NATO. And when they say Article 5, but it doesn't involve our troops and it doesn't involve NATO. I'm not sure what they're talking about, but hollow promises and words that only encourage Putin to go on.

[Host/Interviewer]

So what can we do? I mean, once upon. Once upon a time, you know, this was a bipartisan issue. You still have some Republicans who definitely are out there supportive of Ukraine, but they do it and they create a fan fiction of what Donald Trump says that really doesn't meet the statements that he's, that he's making. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. When you go, well, Donald Trump said that he didn't say those things, but I don't know if that's. You tell me from your.

[Congressman Mike Quigley]

Look, there's a core group of Republicans who I think McCall, Fitzpatrick, French, Hill, Bacon, who are true believers in the Reagan Doctrine. And they're trying. Maybe half of the Republicans in the House would vote for another military supplemental to arm Ukraine as it needs to happen, but the rest, you know, not so much. So your question, what can we do? There's still a lot we can do. There's somewhere between 5 and 8 billion dollars of Russian assets frozen in the U.S. 300 billion in Europe. We should seize those assets and use them to help Ukraine defend itself and to help Ukraine rebuild after this conflict is over. And if there's a bipartisan bill to put additional sanctions on Russia, but really punishing secondary sanctions on those countries, still trading with Putin, funding this war machine, those are two pretty strong things we could do. In addition to saying, hey, what would a new supplemental look like? Putin is willing to do a lot. But I think he has a breaking point. Trump, when they talk about ending this war, Trump could have ended this war, showing Putin again the only thing he understands, and that's strength and resolve.

[Host/Interviewer]

Before we go, anything, you think that's not getting enough coverage out there, whether it's about Ukraine or just another thing that you're seeing out there.

[Congressman Mike Quigley]

Yeah.

[Host/Interviewer]

That you're like, I think is just important. We have 6 million subscribers here. Just from your vantage point, I want.

[Congressman Mike Quigley]

People to remember what. When we started this conflict and I was in Ukraine the first time, and I stood on the, the battlegrounds and I stood on the mass graves and the. When the maternity hospital was flattened, I talked to the families that had their kids stolen by Russia taken, their tens of thousands of them, and heard of the bloody war crimes. We asked what was victory. Right. And victory was security guarantees and not fictional ones. Helping Ukraine rebuild after the war, holding Putin accountable for his war crimes to get in the territory back. Now we're down to talking about maybe one of those. The rest of the tyrants of the world are watching eagerly to see what we do. And when they see Trump's NATO ambassador say that no big chunks or sections are going to be given away, that haven't been fought or earned on the battlefield. That's Trump's NATO secretary saying, in effect that Putin has earned that land because he won it on the battlefield. Well, I'm sure Beijing will find that very interesting as they look again towards Taiwan.

[Host/Interviewer]

And just Xi Jinping's testing Donald Trump on that too, saying, don't allow the Taiwan president to land in New York and go to Central America. And Trump, like, stop the guy from like going, it was crazy.

[Congressman Mike Quigley]

I mean, just Trump's a tough guy when it comes to going after some, some kid who's undocumented, right? You can take their mother away from them, right? Break a window in a car and take their mother away screaming, right? He's a tough guy there. But when he comes up against somebody who's tougher than him, this president is a wimp.

[Host/Interviewer]

Congressman Mike Quigley, thanks for joining us.

[Congressman Mike Quigley]

Anytime. Thank you everybody.

[Host/Interviewer]

Hit subscribe let's get to 6 million subscribers. Love this video, support independent media and unlock exclusive content, ad free videos and custom emojis by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.

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