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Trump baked in Alaska: He grovels -- worse yet, it's bad TV
Trump baked in Alaska: He grovels — worse yet, it’s bad TV
Trump gave Putin everything and got nothing back — but that's not why the media felt so betrayed
By Andrew O'Hehir
Executive Editor
Published August 17, 2025 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) Donald Trump’s supposed strength lies in showmanship and stagecraft, or at least in shamelessly whoring for attention, which is not exactly the same thing. The fact that “we” — meaning the entire ecosystem of media and public opinion, including you and me — keep giving him attention, like a bunch of aging addicts chasing an unachievable high, says more about us than about him.
....(snip)....
It seems almost beside the point to report that Trump and Putin failed to achieve a breakthrough in resolving the Ukraine conflict, and that Trump appears to have pivoted back to Putin’s view of the war, at least for the moment, after a brief personal flirtation with the orthodox pro-Ukraine position of other Western leaders. Did anyone genuinely expect a different outcome? It’s not entirely a rhetorical question; a lot of people at least pretended to.
....(snip)....
It wasn’t real this time either, and the consensus view that Trump was thoroughly pantsed by the Russian leader is correct, or close enough. Putin was welcomed back to the Western world with a literal red carpet, while giving nothing away and making no concessions. Amid the baffled and disgruntled commentary coming in from all directions, I was especially struck by New York Times fashion reporter Vanessa Friedman, who goes straight to the heart of the matter in far more economical fashion than most of her peers. The point of the whole show, she writes, was the photo op depicting Putin and Trump
in complementary dark suits — single-breasted, two-button — matching white shirts and coordinating ties … giving the impression of kindred spirits: just two statesmen meeting on the semi-neutral ground of an airport tarmac to go talk cease-fire, their respective planes looming in the background.
....(snip)....
That helps explain the scathing reviews from the Trump-orbiting press corps: Not only was there no peace deal in Ukraine — which, not to be tiresome, was something Trump promised he would accomplish in one day — but, worse yet, our guy put on a bad show. Armies of commentators, reporters and photographers were hauled off to the 49th state expecting a vintage Trump performance, of the sort that has lubricated their industry for an entire decade. ..................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2025/08/17/trump-baked-in-alaska-he-grovels-worse-yet-its-bad-tv/
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