What did Donald Trump do today?
He repeated Russian propaganda and then shrugged when told it was a lie.
Trump told reporters today he was "very angry" about a Ukrainian drone attack on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump, who has become increasingly desperate to conclude the war between Russia and Ukraine on terms favorable to his political patron, had this exchange with a reporter today:
Trump on a report that Ukraine tried to strike Putin's residence: "I don't like it. It's not good. I heard about it this morning. You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it ... I was very angry about it."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) December 29, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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Q: Are you worried that the alleged strike on Putin's residence could scuttle the peace—
TRUMP: Yeah, I don't, I don't like it, it's not good, uhh, I heard about it this morning. You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it Early in the morning, he said he was — attacked. It's no good, it's no good. …You know, it's a delicate period of time. It's not the right time. It's one thing to be offensive, because they [?] were offensive. It's another thing to attack his house. It's not the right time to do any of that — and — can't do it. And I learned about it from Putin today, I was very angry about it.
Notice that Trump says twice that he learned of the attack from Putin, and not from any American military or intelligence source. That is most likely because there was no such attack, and Putin's claim is an apparently successful attempt to bamboozle Trump.
Even Trump loyalists were appalled by Trump's repetition of the Putin line, something that has become a recurring theme where Trump and Putin are concerned.
Notably, the "attack" gives the Putin regime an excuse to yet again pull back from Trump's "negotiations," a pattern that has been repeating all year. Neither Ukraine nor Russia really wants a settlement now. For Ukraine, any deal that Putin would agree to would be tantamount to surrender. Every plan Trump has been willing to support involves Russia taking even more land at the bargaining table than it has been able to win by force.
And Russia is counting on Trump keeping the United States and Ukraine's European allies out of the fight long enough to finally defeat a much smaller and militarily weaker opponent that has nevertheless kept it at bay for three years.
Later in the same meeting, a reporter gently asked if there was any actual evidence that the attack had taken place. Trump literally shrugged and said, "You're saying maybe the attack didn't take place? That's possible too," before once again insisting that Putin had told him that it had.
Regarding Putin's nonsense that Ukraine attacked his house, a journalist asks "maybe there was no attack?". Trump dismisses it because Putin would never lie. Moron.
— Jay in Kyiv (@jayinkyiv.bsky.social) December 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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It's worth noting that even if Putin's claim of an attack had been true, he is a legitimate military target under the laws of war. Putin himself has repeatedly tried to assassinate Zelenskyy.
Why does this matter?
- A president who is too dim or senile to understand that a hostile foreign leader may be lying to him is not fit for office.
- It is a disgrace for the United States to betray an ally like this.