Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Trump Ditches Ukraine and Cozies Up to Putin
Tue, 25 Feb 2025
Trump is pivoting toward Russia, GOP fractures are deepening, and Mitch McConnell is calling it quits. One month into his second term, Trump is slashing budgets, cozying up to Putin, and pushing a questionable $5,000 rebate plan with Elon Musk. Meanwhile, McConnell’s retirement raises big questions about the future of the GOP. Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov. Follow Prof G, @profgalloway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the main topics discussed in this episode?
I did my regular life. Das war ein verrückter Moment. Ich hatte den Doppelstrahler, ich hatte beide meine Mädchen mit mir. Ich war in die Kirche, um ein paar Kekse zu holen, weil all das, was du mit jungen Kindern suchst, ist eine Aktivität, richtig? Um sie aus dem Haus zu holen. Ich war so, lass uns Kekse holen. Und dieser junge Mann, den ich gesehen habe, war ein bisschen mich auszusehen.
Und ich war so, okay, das ist cool, ich habe es noch. Und dann sagt er, hi, Mama. Und ich war so, oh mein Gott, es funktioniert. What is happening now? Has my sexual identity become mom? And then he looks me dead in the eye and he goes, burp me. What? Yeah, burp me, because I have kids, right? Like burp me, like you burp kids.
Oh, like that was, that feels a little creepy.
It's so creepy. And then now I'm thinking, am I just a mom? Have I become only a vessel in life? And no one would want a cat call me about something distinct from my children. But I did have them with me. And also he seems like a total pervert. Anyway, that was the highlight of my weekend.
Ja, definitiv. Ich habe bemerkt, dass wenn Frauen, nachdem sie Kinder haben, etwa sieben, acht Jahre später, besonders Frauen, die ich glaube, viel Vertrauen aus ihren Ausgaben haben, wenn ihre Kinder etwas älter werden und sie bemerken, dass sie zehn Jahre lang nichts mit Kindern zu tun haben, Everyone talks about dudes' midlife crises.
I have never seen midlife explosions across some of my partners and their friends. Oh my God, they go crazy. So you got that to look forward to. I love how you brought that up and you kind of liked that. You didn't mind the pervy As long as it was a little bit. It sounds like you kind of didn't like it, kind of did.
Well, it's more interesting than watching Moana, which I also did a number of times this weekend. So you live for very little. You remember the baby phase?
I traveled a lot. I made a lot of excuses and left town.
I can't. I'm the mom.
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Chapter 2: How is Trump pivoting towards Russia and what are the implications?
Yeah, no, I was out. So, along those lines of children, today we're going to be talking about Trump turning on Ukraine, Trump's honeymoon coming to an end, and Mitch McConnell's retirement announcement and legacy. Let's bust right into it, Jess.
One month into his presidency, Trump is making a dramatic pivot toward Russia, upending decades of US foreign policy, while previous Republican leaders championed a tough stance on Moscow. That was kind of their go-to. Today's GOP is largely silent as Trump moves to cut support for Ukraine and cozy up to Putin. His administration has even floated, excluding Ukraine from NATO.
And he's blaming Zelensky for a war Putin started. Meanwhile, a Quinnipiac poll shows that 81% of Americans, including 73% of Republicans, don't trust Putin. So why is Trump ignoring them? Jess, Trump's team is pushing for a peace deal on Putin's terms, which European leaders say would weaken Ukraine. If this strategy backfires, what are the long-term consequences for US influence and alliances?
Well, I feel like first we should talk about what's going on. And you were away last week, so I'm sure you have a lot of pent-up thoughts about what seems like...
Oh no, I'm calm, I'm fine. I'm just fine.
As usual, super mellow about it. But, you know, the capitulation, the complete betrayal of Ukraine, it makes me feel as though every negative thing
dass wir in den letzten Jahren darüber nachgedacht haben, dass Trump vis-à-vis Russland, du weißt, von allem, und ich werde nicht sagen, dass er ein russischer Asset ist, aber offensichtlich haben wir in diesem Ort von 2016 angefangen, dann haben wir Helsinki 2018, wo er dort stand und mit Putin über die Intelligenz-Agenzien gesiedelt hat.
who had all told us that Putin meddled in the election and had wanted Trump to win, that it's all kind of coming to fruition. And Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister of the UK, who's a staunch ally of Ukraine, a friend of Zelensky, has been a number of times.
He tried to soften this a bit, I guess, on X, and he posted, you know, obviously Zelensky is not a dictator, obviously they didn't provoke this, this is all Russia's fault, etc. But he said that he thought that Trump was trying to shock Europe into unfreezing the 300 billion that they have in Russian assets and to use that to support Ukraine. Now, that feels...
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Chapter 3: What is the reaction to Trump's foreign policy from key figures?
That the number of people who get to be with their dying partner because we embrace civil rights. That the opportunity for
a black girl to become a lawyer or a doctor based on her merit without being held back based on her ethnicity, the color of her skin, her gender, her sexual orientation, that the post-World War II operating system in the West has been the most prosperous, decent, righteous era in history. And central to all of that was this post-World War II
in einer Ordnung, in der westliche Demokratien einander zurückhaben würden, dass wir Ziele hatten. Aber am Ende des Tages erkennen wir, dass die Wahlen, die Rechte, die Regelung der Regeln, ein gewisser Niveau der Dezimalität, keine dämonisierenden Special-Interest-Gruppen, dass wir ein Gruppe von Leuten aus der Dunkelheit gebracht haben, Deutschland,
Und die Alliierten haben unsere Feinde in unsere Alliierten gesetzt. In diesem erstaunlichen Wandel der Vision hat der Marshallplan unsere ehemaligen Feinde investiert. Und wir hatten diese neue Weltordnung der größten, prosperierenden Nationen der Welt, die einander zurückgebracht haben. Und wir haben dieses Operationssystem verabschiedet. Es war so unglaublich.
It yielded such incredible fruit for so many people that we kind of took for granted that, well, of course, that's a default operating system. Why would we do anything else? So when Trump decides to ignore history and give in to a murderous autocrat that is invading Europe and lie to say things like Zelensky is a dictator or that Ukraine started this war,
I think even the Russians are shocked at this shit. I think they're like, what? Yeah, how did this happen? And you just can't help but think, okay, so is this essentially Trump saying to Putin, let's carve up the world, let's have spheres of influence. You have these rights to Antarctica or to the, you know, to the North Pole, not that all the ice is melting. We have...
Du kannst ein Domain über diese Nationen haben, ob es die Ukraine oder die Türkei oder die Crimea ist, und du machst dein Geld, ich mache mein Geld. Europa, sie sind fucking Wimps, ich bin müde von ihnen, ich bin müde von ihnen, die mich leuchten, was auch immer. Wir werden einfach die Welt öffnen. Und du bekommst deins, ich bekomme meines.
Und wir sind Diktatoren und wir sind Autokraten und wir werden beide ein shit tonne Geld machen. Other than that, I can't find reasoning for it. Is there a silver lining here? I think Europe is saying, okay, we can no longer depend on the US and we can no longer depend on their umbrella of military support. That might be a healthy thing.
Europe is substantially increasing their own military budget. But this is an upending of the world order since World War II that has been the most prosperous. The North Atlantic Treaty has been the most prosperous operating system in the history. So this is in my view, while everyone's focused on all this bullshit and this misdirects of DI or Andrew Tate or even Doge, I think is a misdirect.
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Chapter 4: How does the current US policy impact Europe's stance and military strategy?
I think this is an opportunity for leadership in Europe to say, Ukraine and Germany has said this, we've got your back. We recognize that this is a huge loss, but be clear, you don't need to surrender and fold right away. And the other silver lining is,
I don't know if you've seen any of these Republican town halls, but there are enough people who have grandparents who fought in the war, who remember how terrible Russia has been in terms of our own interests, and hate the idea that America is surrendering. Ich glaube, die Mehrheit der Amerikaner, die von diesem Daten beurteilt werden, denken, wow, das ist einfach zu viel. Ich bin nicht unten.
Ich verstehe nicht, warum wir uns zurückgeben. Es macht keinen Sinn. It is not good for the world. Even the far right is having trouble. I mean, okay, Tucker Carlson goes and gives Putin a lap dance and can't get over those amazing shopping carts at their grocery store. Folks, I have been to Russia. I mean, we are not going to have an outflow of American citizens going to Russia.
You can be sure of that. It is not a great place. They have nothing on us, folks. Nothing. This is not a society, an economy... or a leadership to look up to. And I wonder if the silver lining here is that Europe becomes a union again. NATO actually hopefully comes back stronger, because I think it'll take some time, even if the Americans try and unwind it.
I don't think they're going to be able to. And Europe puts forward a more unified front against... And they've been doing it. They've been spending more than us. But I hope this is the wake-up call. And I was thinking about... You know, this blitzkrieg of information to try and confuse everybody. DI, Doge. I read this morning they're trying to like partner, bring back Andrew Tate.
It's all a fucking sideshow to get you to look away from the fact that they are trying to recalibrate the world order. And this is unacceptable. And I think it's unacceptable to most Americans. And I hope this Well, let me put something out there, which is...
All of that is true. As someone who lived in London for a long time and was over there when Brexit was happening, I hope they backs it. I had not heard that term. They had buyer's remorse about 20 minutes after the decision came down. And they were fed a lot of propaganda to make them make that choice. Thank you, Nigel Farage. But
A stronger Europe and a less dependent Europe is to some degree Donald Trump fulfilling one of his promises, which is to get us out of the global order in the way that we have been. And his voters overwhelmingly don't think that we have a responsibility to help Ukraine. He is actually being responsive to his own voters in saying that. And this has been going on for the last year or two.
I think people were really jazzed about the conflict in the beginning where Ukraine was pulling off these incredible defeats and they seemed like they were going to win. And something changed. Russia was not falling apart in the way that they expected. Donald Trump and co. were obviously amplifying that.
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Chapter 5: What are the economic and geopolitical consequences of the US's Ukraine policy?
aggressive topics issues inbound missiles that you're overwhelmed and become flat footed i suffer from this i don't even know where to start and the way you respond is the following is okay you don't need to respond to everything online you don't need to take up everything with emotion and anger uh you should cite experts you should bring in other bring in data and then pare down what you're going to focus on in terms of your pushback so
For example, I think Doge is a giant fucking weapon of mass distraction. Fifty billion dollars, fine. They want to try and right-size government. People are understandably concerned that there's a lot of waste. Government needs to be right-sized. I think the wrong messaging is all this quote-unquote injustice.
I get these national forestry people are wonderful and that there's going to be diapers on the side of your favorite trail and that they got an email and they've been fired after 18 years of service. But I think a lot of Americans say, welcome to the fucking work week. This happened to me or it happened to my cousin.
Private Equity came in and bought out our chiropractic clinic and we got our phones shut off. I think what is happening to a lot of these workers has happened to a lot of people in the private sector. And to be blunt, there isn't a groundswell of sympathy or empathy they were hoping for.
And people think the government needs to be reined back in as it has been on a regular basis, including under Clinton and Gore. Now, having said that, what I would focus on is the incompetence. Ich fokussiere mich auf den Fakt, dass sie nicht 8 Billionen Dollar gespart haben. Sie haben 8 Millionen gespart.
Oh, sie haben die Menschen, die den nuklearen Stockpil überstehen, gefeuert, um sie wieder zu verheiraten, was es mehr teuer macht. Oh, man kann klar sein, dass die Menschen, die die Regulierung Tesla's self-autonomous driving unit, they've all been fired, right? That this is essentially corruption and incompetence at very little money.
And the thing they should link this to is, okay, while they're off here playing Keystone Cops and playing incompetence, you know, incompetence girls gone wild here, they want you to look over here at 50 billion in savings. Okay. They're planning with with the tax cuts that will benefit me. I ran, I looked at the new tax proposal and I ran my W-2 through it.
I'm going to save a million dollars a year with Trump's tax cuts, right? Fine, government's too big, save us that 50 billion. But be clear, you're not fooling anybody. You're planning to increase taxes on future generations by the biggest tax increase in history. It's 900 billion here. Let's just come together and agree on
Somewhere between 12 and 18 times the amount of the 50 billion we're arguing over in terms of Doge. That while everyone is obsessed with Doge, because it makes for good TikTok and people know people in the government, the real story here is somewhere between 6 and 900 billion dollar a year increase in taxes on future generations. I think that's what we should be focused on.
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Chapter 6: How does the US's foreign policy affect domestic politics and public perception?
And when they go after something like that, when you live in rural Iowa, you say... Excuse me? How is it possible that that's on the chopping block? And Jon Stewart has always been such an effective messenger on this subject, because he'll show up in Congress to say, you're going after absolutely the wrong things.
You have something that has, what, a 90% approval rating, let's say, the folks that went down there and cleaned up after that terrorist attack, or who have worked in the support system, the family members of the heroes that died that day, and that's who you want to be coming out?
We heard all of these fantasies about 50 million dollars for condoms for people in Gaza or supporting the arts for transgender people in Liberia or whatever lies they were telling us. And they're just not being borne out by the data. And people are getting that message. And Democrats really have to stick to the script on this. There is a budget that will be being brought to the floor.
It's going through the Rules Committee today. So Wenn das morgen, am Dienstag, veröffentlicht wird, wird es da kommen, und die Republikaner werden darauf votieren. Und es hat einen 880-Billionen-Dollar-Kreis zu Medicaid in es. Und es gibt konservative Gesetzgeber, die für die Führung bitten. Ja, genau. So there is plenty in here to be going after.
But I think it is important to say time and time again that what Elon Musk is telling you they are doing, they are not. He is saying 55 billion. It is at most 2.6 billion.
Ja, wie Medicaid, 80 Millionen Menschen, 1 in 6 Haushalte oder 1 in 6 Kinder, 40% der Erwachsenen, die Älteren, die verletzt sind. Ich meine, das ist, und auch, es ist tatsächlich ein wirklich gut gelungenes, kosteneffizientes Programm. Es bietet Gesundheitsversorgung für Low-Income-Amerikaner bei einem niedrigeren Kosten pro Person als Privatinsurance.
So Medicaid actually helps the economy because unless you're going to decide you're going to let people die of their cystic fibrosis or you're going to let old people, the disabled, wither away.
What is the most cost-effective way to give people some dignity, to make sure that kids can actually, you know, we can provide their medication, we can provide their in-home physical therapy for the disabled? Well, this is a lower-cost way to do it. And it is very popular.
And the fact that they're, you know, hey, look over here at 50 billion in Doge savings and we'll give you a $5,000 check, but we're going to cut, what, $600 to $800 billion from Medicaid? I mean, this really is, it is, in my opinion, showing their true colors. And that is, at the end of the day, the most remarkable thing about the Republican Party is that it serves not the 1%, it serves the 0.1%.
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