Former President Obama aide David Axelrod claimed Friday that President Trump’s red-carpet embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the summit in Alaska will “maybe enrage a lot of Americans.”
Axelrod, who has often criticized Trump and the administration’s actions, argued that nowadays Americans do not agree on “very much,” but “one thing they agree on is they don’t like” Putin.
“They believe Russia is an enemy. They side with Ukraine in this conflict, and they don’t think it should be settled on Russia’s terms. So I think these photos that you’re showing here, this film that you’re showing here, of the warm red carpet greeting is going to confuse a lot of Americans, maybe enrage a lot of Americans,” Axelrod, who is a CNN senior political commentator, said during an appearance on the network.
Going forward, Axelrod predicted what matters is whether people think Trump has “advanced the ball toward peace in terms that are acceptable to Ukraine” or has tilted in some way toward Putin.
Trump and Putin met on the tarmac in Alaska on Friday, shaking hands before heading into the U.S. presidential limo known as “the Beast.”
As the Russian leader was approaching the president, Trump applauded him. The two smiled and held a brief conversation before departing in the highly fortified vehicle.
The summit began shortly after 3:30 p.m. EDT. The huddle will be a three-on-three meeting with the U.S. being represented by Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has met with Putin five times this year. Apart from Putin, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and top Putin aide Yury Ushakov will participate in the closed-door meeting.
David Urban, a former adviser to Trump, said Friday on CNN that Trump having Rubio and Witkoff by his side during the summit is “useful.”
“I think it’s an effective foil. Enables them to, you know, Trump doesn’t have to be the bad guy. He can point to Rubio and Witkoff and say these gentlemen are telling me something completely different, and so enables him to kind of be the negotiator in chief and allow other people to be the foil,” Urban said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is not at the meeting, also weighed in, saying that Moscow is not ready to end the more than three-year Russia-Ukraine war.
“The war continues, and it is precisely because there is neither an order nor even a signal that Moscow is preparing to end this war. On the day of negotiations, they are killing as well. That speaks volumes,” Ukraine’s leader said, referring to strikes in his country Friday.
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