Putin and Trump in Anchorage: The Expected Nothing

August 16, 2025October 22, 2025

We didn’t comment at all on the substantive part of preparing the meeting between Putin and Trump in Anchorage. We only touched on some strange details and associations. We took this position deliberately.

As for the caricatures and memes mocking American soldiers that flooded the internet — we should make our position clear. We have every right to speak about this, because we deal with war and soldiers every single day. People far from the front might find it funny, but those who actually wear the uniform know the truth: soldiers rarely act by choice. They follow orders.

A soldier does not decide whom to salute, whom to arrest, or whom to ignore. If someone higher up commands him to roll out a red carpet for an internationally wanted war criminal, he will have to do exactly that. That’s our official position.

Therefore, we didn’t expect any substance from the negotiations — neither from the general situation nor from Trump’s personal qualities. He’s long shown himself to be a failure in negotiations with opponents. He’s botched almost all the negotiations he himself initiated. His “toughness” extends only to friends and allies. He easily turns them into situational opponents. But before real opponents, he always looks spineless and inconsistent.

Positions regarding Allies

Compare his positions and tone regarding Iran and Canada. If you didn’t know Canada is a long-standing US ally, you could conclude Canada is an existential enemy — unlike Iran, which became a situational problem. The same comparison works for russia and the EU. Just remember that Trump’s tariffs hit almost all US allies. Russia didn’t get them. You can draw more analogies, but they all point to one thing: Trump can’t take a punch and lacks inner toughness for negotiating with real opponents.

Moreover, Trump can’t draw conclusions from his own mistakes. He refuses to acknowledge them. The gold standard example is his communication with Kim Jong Un during his first term. Few remember that episode now. The negotiations arose just as spontaneously as these. Trump suddenly felt like chatting with Kim. His team didn’t understand until the last moment what exactly Trump was trying to do. Even then, people said Donny was a master of improvisation and a tough negotiator. Therefore, negotiations were based on his intuition and experience.

Trump Breaks His Allies’ Strategy

Donny broke the game for his allies — South Korea and Japan. They were carefully building their own negotiation process with North Korea. Barging into it, Donny behaved like a bull in a china shop. Predictably, he got zero profit from the negotiations.

We must remind you that on July 18, 2018, negotiations between Donny and Pootin already took place in Helsinki. This was something similar to the talks with Kim. Trump decided to play the role of Alexander the Great and cut the Gordian knot. The initiative to hold negotiations and the preparation method were the same. Trump decided he would crush Pootin with his experience and intellect. In the end, they signed no bilateral treaties or declarations.

A disgraceful event occurred there — a face-to-face conversation without an American translator. This episode became a fat stain on Donny’s reputation. Judging by how pathetic he looked after this part of the negotiations, many people (including us) drew one likely conclusion. Probably, Pootin explained to Donny that his fun adventures with underage girls during a visit to Moscow back in the Sovok¹ days were well filmed. They could easily end up online.

Putin and Trump in Anchorage: A Carbon Copy

This performance is almost a carbon copy of what happened before. Trump completely dismissed advisors who are experts on russia and Putin. The latter has been ruling for a quarter century. The White House again said they don’t have a specific strategy for the upcoming negotiations. They’re relying on Trump’s intuition and charisma. True, in this case, Donny isn’t burdened by circumstances related to Khuilo’s² kompromat. But Trump’s rhetoric is very predictable. He again talked about having an excellent relationship with Putin. He almost word-for-word repeats everything he once said about Kim.

The question wasn’t whether he could force Pootin to at least cease fire. Trump himself constantly talks about this. The question was how much time he’d give Pootin before imposing tough sanctions. Another two weeks? 50 days? Or would he come up with something new? As we now know, he chose “two to three weeks.” Once again confirming his reputation as a random word generator. He couldn’t do anything that his own Congressional faction urged him to do. European allies pushed him. Even the Democratic opposition urged action. He did nothing.

When the Show Falls Apart

But in this entire show, several moments reveal what Trump himself expected and what actually happened. The American side canceled the planned part of negotiations in “face-to-face” format. In addition, they planned a joint press appearance. Obviously, Trump planned to talk about what an outstanding president he is. He managed to… but he didn’t manage. They also canceled this event. As it became known, they canceled the final celebratory dinner too. This despite the fact they’d already cooked borscht, varenyky, and other delicacies. There’s nothing to celebrate.

The old man once again demonstrated his helplessness. He’s unable to manage global processes. This hasn’t even reached serious confrontation with China yet. So whatever the press writes now, the general conclusion is obvious. They’re trying to avoid the fact that Donny again humiliated himself and the United States. This was an improvisation by an aging narcissist. It was bound to end exactly this way.

The Pattern Repeats in Anchorage

The meeting of Putin and Trump in Anchorage proved what many predicted. Trump remains incapable of standing firm against real adversaries and canceled face-to-face talks. He scrapped the joint press conference. He gave Putin yet another “two to three weeks” deadline — his signature move of promising action without delivering results. The pattern from Helsinki repeated itself. This demonstrates that Trump’s “tough negotiator” persona crumbles when facing actual opponents rather than allies. Putin and Trump in Anchorage became another embarrassment for American diplomacy. Another chapter in Trump’s long history of failed negotiations with authoritarian leaders.

¹Sovok – sarcastic abbreviation for “Soviet Union,” derived from “Sovetskiy Soyuz”. The word also means “dustpan,” carrying a double connotation of trashiness and backwardness.

²Khuilo – the most popular nickname for Russian dictator V. Putin. First used during the 2014 invasion, and since 2022 most Ukrainians call him only that. See more on Wikipedia.