The MeidasTouch Podcast
Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Trump's First 100 Chaotic Days
Mon, 21 Apr 2025
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas interviews former President Biden’s former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan about the failures of the Trump administration’s national security policy during the first 100 days. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: How would Jake Sullivan rate Trump's first 100 days?
I'm joined by Jake Sullivan, former national security advisor to former President Biden. I'm sure you have a lot to say, Jake, about the past 100 days in the Trump administration. The first question I want to just ask you is, how would you rate the first 100 days of the Trump administration from a national security perspective, given, of course, your background?
Well, normally when you look at a first 100 days, you look at policy decisions and you stack them up, some good, some bad, it's a mixed bag. This is an unadulterated disaster and it's because it's not just about the policy. It's that President Trump and his team have gone at the core American advantages in the world and systematically tried to dismantle them. Our allies, they've trashed them.
Our basic confidence in investing in the United States is the strongest economy in the world. They've cast that into question. Our soft power, the United States is a beacon of light in the world. They've taken that away. The idea that the United States is the place that attracts the best talent from all over the world for science and innovation.
They've cast doubt on whether if you're an immigrant who wants to come to the United States to study or research, you won't just get thrown in jail. So across all of the major dimensions of the things that have been America's major advantages in less than 100 days, President Trump has put them all at risk.
And that's not even speaking about Ukraine or China or Gaza or the other issues that we could get into. This is about the core foundations of American power and purpose in the world and President Trump's effort essentially to knock them out.
Let's talk about just the breaking news. Pete Hegsiff allegedly having additional communications on private text message apps that are not supposed to be used, you know, in that format. You know, he's out there today saying fake news, apparently sending it to his wife and brother and personal lawyer. His brother and lawyer apparently work at the Department of Defense also. You know, as...
I think we've also learned that, you know, three of the top ranking people quit there. It just seems like a total mess. I think the former press secretary who worked for Hegseth says it's a total meltdown. That's their own words. I mean, these are the people who work for them. What do you make of that all?
Well, it's really amazing when someone who describes themselves as your friend, as your supporter, as someone who actually came in to work for you, leaves and writes within 100 days of you taking office, an op-ed in which he describes, as you said, a total meltdown, utter chaos, and frankly, basically says President Trump should fire you.
Now, I'm one who believed, as I think you are, that Secretary Hegseth should never have been nominated and should never have been confirmed in the first place. So all of this in a way wasn't just predictable. It was predicted by a lot of people who said that putting a person like this into this role would result in disastrous leadership at the Pentagon.
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Chapter 2: What were the key failures in Trump's national security policy?
And the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Yes. How would you do that? I know Zelensky very well. I'll end that war between those two countries in 24 hours. It won't even take that long.
No one's saying it's going to be done in 12 hours, but we want to see how far apart it is and whether those differences are can even be narrow. So we came here yesterday to sort of begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war to try to figure out very soon.
And I'm talking about a matter of days, not a matter of weeks, whether or not this is the war that can be ended.
If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say you're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people, and we're going to just take a pass.
When you watch that, Jake, what goes through your mind and how do you feel generally about the way this administration's handled Ukraine?
Well, what goes through my mind is that President Trump thought when he made those ridiculous statements about ending the war in 24 hours, that this entire war is Ukraine's fault and it's Ukraine's to end. And that is such a catastrophic misread of the situation. I don't even know where to start. This war is Russia's fault and it's ultimately President Putin's to end.
But instead of putting pressure on Putin, Trump is putting pressure on Zelensky. And I do not believe that that is going to lead to a just and durable peace. The only way we will get a just and durable peace is if President Trump does something he has not done yet in this term or at any point, I think, in his adult life.
And that is get serious about holding Putin and Russia to account, putting pressure on them, building on the leverage that we handed off to them when we left office. And that's what I'd like to see. Unfortunately, we haven't seen real signs of that from this administration. They find a way to constantly excuse Russia and constantly pressure and squeeze Ukraine. And I think that that has it.
I think the technical term is ass backwards.
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