BEN SHAPIRO (HOST): Here's the thing. Reality exists. I've said this a thousand times. I'll say it a thousand more. President Trump does not have thorough-going philosophies when it comes to foreign policy or domestic policy. President Trump has impulses. And when those impulses are right, they're great. And when they're wrong, they run up against reality, and he shifts his impulses. That is why President Trump is such a pragmatist.
And so right now, America's enemies, our opponents, are showing that they believe that there is play in the joints and weakness at the seams with regard to America's foreign policy. There's no question that's what's happening. Look at Russia's behavior over the course of the last several months since President Trump took office. They've been upping the ante. They're simultaneously negotiating with President Trump — and by negotiating, I mean stringing President Trump along. They've been doing this with the special envoy Steve Witkoff, who again has yet to negotiate a really good deal anywhere that he has been deployed.
In any case, according to The Wall Street Journal, Russia has now launched its largest ever drone and missile assault on Ukraine on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials, defying President Trump's calls for an end to the bombardment. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched more than 350 explosive drones and at least nine cruise missiles, keep scrambled aircraft and deployed electronic warfare systems and mobile air defense teams throughout the country in response. Latest attacks came just hours after President Trump issued a strong rebuke of Russian president Vladimir Putin, denouncing air strikes on the Ukrainian capital and other cities that killed at least 12 people on Sunday. Trump went on social media, on Truth Social, and he posted he has gone absolutely crazy. He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I'm not just talking about soldiers.
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So he [President Trump] starts off right there, and then it sort of goes wrong. Again, I'm not sure what he wants from Zelensky that Zelensky hasn't already given him. Zelensky has given him the immediate cease fire. Zelensky has said he will go anywhere for direct talks. Zelensky gave him the rare earth minerals deal.
This sort of both sides-ism from the Trump administration and from President Trump is the reason why Putin is pushing. Putin believes he can get away with it.
Now President Trump, when he says that President Putin has gone crazy and he's, you know, kind of not sure what happened to him, nothing happened to Vladimir Putin. He's one of the most consistent leaders in modern world history. He's been absolutely consistent in his territorial ambitions, in his desire to restore, quote, unquote, Russian greatness, in his desire for Russia to be perceived as a global hegemon in its own right, as a global power, not a regional power, a global power. Again, Putin has been absolutely consistent. Every single president seems to make this mistake with Putin.
