‘If I Did [Talk to Putin], It’s a Smart Thing’ – Ukraine at War Update for Oct. 16

In a televised interview at the Chicago Economic Club on Tuesday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump again boasted of his tight relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and spoke dismissively of his allies.

An upcoming book by legendary Washington Post journalist and presidential biographer Bob Woodward claims that former president Trump has had about seven telephone conversations with Putin since leaving the Oval Office in 2021.

When pressed on this by the moderator in Chicago, Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, Trump refused to answer the question directly and instead offered, “Well, I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing.”

“If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said.

According to the book, some of those phone calls took place after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after which the Kremlin began issuing nuclear threats as America and other Western allies supplied Kyiv with more advanced weapons.

Trump has regularly boasted of his friendship with Putin as he campaigns ahead of the Nov. 5 elections, claiming he could have the war in Ukraine settled in a day.

When he received President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York last month, Trump nodded at the Ukrainian leader and said, “We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And I think if we win, I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly.”

Other Topics of Interest

Ukraine's Zelensky Invited to Present 'Victory Plan' at EU Summit

Military support to Kyiv and strengthening Ukraine's battered energy sector are among the topics on the table as leaders from the EU's 27 nations meet in Brussels on Thursday.

Zelensky responded that he hoped their relationship was better than that of Trump with Putin.

On Tuesday, discussion at the Chicago Economic Club revolved around tariffs, one of Trump’s consistently favorite topics, along with his calls on NATO members to contribute more, financially.

The former president said he’d prefer if no foreign-made cars were sold in America and would hit the exporters with high tariffs, at one point throwing out self-admittedly arbitrary figures of “100 percent, 200 percent, or 2,000 percent,” numbers much larger than those mentioned before in his policies.

“You’re talking about slamming allies with 20 percent, 30 percent tariffs. You’re trying to rally the West and you’re dividing it instead,” Micklethwait said. “How does it help you take on China, turning all of your allies against you?”

Trump said it helps him “tremendously” because “China thinks we’re a stupid country.”

The Republican nominee repeatedly dodged the specific question about allies when pressed (a tactic the casino investor and convicted felon referred to as “weaving”) until finally offering, “Our allies have taken advantage of us more than our enemies.”

Trump boogies to ‘YMCA’, ‘Con Te Partirò’ and ‘Ave Maria’ while rally attendees receive medical treatment

The day before the Chicago event, at a campaign-rally-turned-bizarre-dance-party outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Trump had to stop his stream-of-conscious cultural musings and insults as two of the attendees there fainted and required medical attention.

Rather than suspend the question-and-answer from the crowd portion, Trump and his producers elected to go to an impromptu musical session, with the candidate attempting to dance and entertain the crowd, as co-host South Dakota governor Kristi Noem nervously tried to keep all attention on Trump rather than the attendees dropping to the floor.

“Here we go, YMCA, nice and loud!” Trump exclaimed, dragging on a 39-minute injury time-out at the rally with a pre-arranged playlist that featured Andrea Bocelli, the Village People, Luciano Pavarotti ( “Ave Maria,” typically played at Catholic funerals), Sinead O’Connor (who was notoriously anti-Catholic), Guns 'N Roses “November Rain” (“Sometimes I need some time on my own; Sometimes I need some time all alone”) and a similarly eclectic mix as paramedics attended to the weakened attendees.

American TV networks could only marvel at this theater of the absurd, putting the 78-year-old candidate’s awkward upper-body gyrations on a loop.

EC asks Zelensky to present the latest iteration of his peace plan at its summit this week

On Tuesday, European Council president Charles Michel posted an online invitation for Zelensky to lay out his updated Victory Plan in Brussels on Thursday when state leaders of the 27-member European Union meet for their summit.

“I have invited President @ZelenskyyUa to the European Council summit on Thursday, 17 October to take stock of the latest developments of Russia’s war against Ukraine and present his victory plan,” Michel wrote on social media.

Among other priorities, the Council is expected to revisit defending and rebuilding Ukraine’s power grid and energy sources, a frequent target of Russian air strikes as the fall weather turns cold, and increasing military aid to Kyiv.

Zelensky had already presented his peace plan to other EU members last week, meeting with leaders in London, Berlin, Paris, and Rome on a week when US President Joe Biden was supposed to be in Europe for the scheduled Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany. Biden had to postpone his trip to this Friday because of massive hurricane damage in Florida.

The Ramstein meeting has not been rescheduled.

On Tuesday, CNN reported that Biden is expected to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Berlin as originally planned, citing unnamed “Western officials.” Known colloquially as “the Quad,” the US, Germany, Britain, and France are Ukraine’s largest suppliers of military aid.