Fox News Analyst Says Trump Afraid of Putin, Calls Meeting ‘Huge Propaganda Victory’ for Vladimir
Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a Fox News strategic analyst, bashed President Donald Trump for capitulating to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting in Germany last week.
Appearing on Fox Business Network for an interview with Stuart Varney, Peters was asked about whether Trump “gave in” to Putin.
“Yes,” Peters said. “Putin pitched a no-hitter, and then he hit Trump with a bean ball.”
Peters then praised Trump’s speech in Warsaw, noting he “felt like standing up and cheering” the president’s defense of Western civilization and “justified digs at Russia.” But then, “Trump goes to Hamburg and he folded.”
“Just look at the takeaways from the meeting,” Peters continued. “Our president says…he wants to put the past behind him. In other words, Russia gets a free pass for interfering in our election.”
“Stuart, it’s not about the legitimacy of the Trump administration — Trump won the election. But it’s about Russians, Putin, interfering in the fundamental mechanism of our democracy, our election system. They need to be punished,” he said.
Peters also panned the Syrian ceasefire deal struck between Putin and Trump, which “primarily benefits Iranians,” and the idea that the U.S. would team up with Russia to form a cybersecurity unit to protect elections.
“That’s like teaming up with the mafia to fight crime,” Peters said.
Varney pointed out that Trump walked back the announcement of a cybersecurity unit with the country that U.S. intelligence agencies believe conducted extensive cyber attacks during the 2016 election.
Peters continued by pointing out that Trump made a serious mistake not having his national security adviser in the room for the meeting, as it allowed Russian officials to control the narrative, calling it “a huge propaganda victory for Putin.”
The Fox News analyst asked Varney of one positive that Trump got from the meeting, and the anchor replied that the two-hour-plus sit-down probably included “a lot of give and take,” stating he was not sure if any positives emerged from it.
“If there were they’d tell us, they’d be proud of it,” Peters said.
“Putin has been doing this a long time,” he continued. “He fooled Clinton, he beat up on George Bush, he humiliated Obama. And then you put two people in the room with him who have no background in foreign affairs negotiations and its complexities. And Rex Tillerson’s experience negotiating oil contracts — that’s nice but it is not as complicated as foreign policy.”
Peters concluded by pointing out that he wants “our president to do well,” but that Trump “acts as though he’s afraid of Vladimir Putin.”
“He still hasn’t once criticized Vladimir Putin by name,” he said, before Varney moved on to news from North Korea.
[image via screengrab]
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