00:04:13.720They hate President Trump so much that actually seeing him succeed in ending this war would be intolerable to the left that hates him so much.
00:04:26.500But, and listen, I don't know if he will succeed.
00:06:38.380You and I, if we were president of Ukraine, we'd probably want the same thing.
00:06:42.820But President Trump has been clear the United States is out of the business of funding the war,
00:06:48.980that we have sent billions and billions of dollars to Ukraine, and the cash spigot has stopped.
00:06:56.400And I think that is a powerful incentive to President Zelensky to reach an agreement.
00:07:02.100You are right that the war has been incredibly costly on Russia.
00:07:06.160They have poured in enormous money and materiel and manpower and soldiers who have been lost.
00:07:14.100And what I've urged the president is, number one, end the war, but number two, end it in a way that is a clear and discernible loss for Putin.
00:07:50.860And then the objective is to get Zelensky and Putin together with President Trump and see if we can make real progress to a resolution.
00:07:59.940That is not going to be easy because Zelensky has not wanted to give anything up.
00:08:05.680And Putin generally doesn't want to give anything up either.
00:08:09.500And so you've got two people that are pretty dug in in their positions.
00:08:13.540But I think President Trump is trying to move heaven and earth to stop the war, to stop the shooting, and stop the bloodshed.
00:08:22.680You talk about the next steps, and let's just go to that meeting with Zelensky.
00:08:27.760I think it's pretty clear, and a lot of people criticize in the media, also Democrats, that Zelensky, quote, wasn't invited to this meeting, and they wanted to hit the president on that.
00:08:36.600Look, Donald Trump clearly need to get in the room with Vladimir Putin, talk to Putin, and probably be able to say some things to Vladimir Putin without Zelensky in the room.
00:08:46.260There was no indication, by the way, that Vladimir Putin wanted to meet with Zelensky.
00:08:50.480And if you look historically at these deals, usually the person, the country that brokers the deal has a meeting with one side first, has a meeting with the other side.
00:09:00.020Then they have that follow-up meeting that the president talked about.
00:09:03.600That has been standard practice for decades and decades and decades, maybe even centuries, around the world.
00:09:10.920And yet people wanted to criticize the president for using this strategy, which has been proven to work well.
00:10:16.560And Reagan was not willing to give it up.
00:10:19.340And Reagan got up from the table and left and walked out.
00:10:23.220And I'll tell you, his leaving that negotiation was a critical element of winning the Cold War.
00:10:30.740Because the Soviet Union, they did not have the economy to support the military buildup they needed to keep up with SDI, to keep up with our military.
00:10:38.900And we ultimately won the Cold War without firing a shot.
00:10:42.760I think President Trump did a good job of setting expectations.
00:10:46.400And I wasn't in the room with Trump and Putin, but I assume he looked at him flat out and said, listen, are you willing to reach a deal or not?
00:10:55.000And the answer was satisfactory enough that Trump stayed and continued the meeting.
00:11:15.060In fact, did you see that Hillary Clinton yesterday said that if you got this deal done and not capitulate to Putin, that she would nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize?
00:11:27.920If President Trump were the architect of that, I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
00:12:42.920This war in Ukraine was caused by two things.
00:12:45.620It was caused by, number one, Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan, the incompetence, the debacle that unfolded.
00:12:53.660Every enemy of America took a measure of President Biden and determined that the commander-in-chief was weak and ineffective.
00:13:00.240That was a major reason Putin invaded Ukraine.
00:13:03.320And it was caused, secondly, by Joe Biden waiving sanctions on Nord Stream 2.
00:13:09.260Nord Stream 2 is the undersea pipeline that Putin built from Russia to Germany.
00:13:14.080And the reason he built that pipeline to carry natural gas was to circumvent Ukraine.
00:13:19.560Because right now, Russia's natural gas goes through Ukraine on pipelines.
00:13:23.840And the purpose of Nord Stream 2 was so that he didn't need to go through Ukraine and he could invade Ukraine.
00:13:30.420In the first term, I authored sanctions legislation, crushing sanctions legislation, to shut down Nord Stream 2.
00:13:38.300It passed the Senate with bipartisan support.
00:13:40.860It passed the House with bipartisan support.
00:13:43.260President Trump signed my sanctions legislation into law.
00:13:47.420And, Ben, Putin stopped construction of Nord Stream 2 literally the day President Trump signed my sanctions legislation into law.
00:13:57.420That legislation stopped the invasion, prevented the invasion.
00:14:02.040And had the sanctions remained in place, we would not have a war in Ukraine.
00:14:08.120But Joe Biden came in and waived the sanctions.
00:14:11.420He gave a multi-billion dollar gift to Putin.
00:14:14.380Putin finished Nord Stream 2 and almost immediately thereafter invaded.
00:14:18.580And, by the way, it's not just me saying this.
00:14:21.040Give a listen to Putin saying this same point, which is that the war in Ukraine would never have happened if Trump had been president in 2021.
00:14:31.940I'd like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration,
00:14:38.380I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities.
00:14:53.640And I said it quite directly back then that it's a big mistake.
00:14:56.700Today, when President Trump said that if he was the president back then, there would be no war, and I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so.
00:15:08.420I think that overall, me and President Trump have built a very good, business-like, and trustworthy contact.
00:15:19.140And I have every reason to believe that moving down this path, we can come, and the sooner the better, to the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
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00:22:40.560I agree with President Trump, as he has said today, that naturally the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well.
00:22:49.540Naturally, we are prepared to work on that.
00:22:51.740I would like to hope that the agreement that we've reached together will help us bring closer to that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine.
00:23:01.640We expect that Kiev and European capitals will perceive that constructively and that they won't throw a wrench in the works.
00:23:28.420It does seem to be that he is talking in a way you would talk if you're winding things down.
00:23:35.420I think you have to read into that a little bit and say, OK, this is not a bad thing either.
00:23:39.520Yeah, look, if he was hell-bent on continuing the war and trying to conquer all of Ukraine, he wouldn't say we need to ensure that the security of Ukraine is protected.
00:23:52.700Now, he also said that the Europeans shouldn't throw a wrench into it.
00:23:57.080And one of the real questions is there have been some in Europe and there have been a number of Democrats who have advocated that Ukraine be a member of NATO.
00:24:14.380And the reason is NATO, under Article 5 of NATO, when a country becomes a member of NATO, the other members take an obligation to defend it in the case of war.
00:24:25.640And I have zero interest in putting American troops in harm's way defending Ukraine.
00:24:31.600And so I think inviting Ukraine to NATO would be a bad mistake.
00:25:39.080It's an epic fight over creating a new country in Africa.
00:25:42.740This reminds me of that story we were talking about not that long ago about China creating an island in the middle of the ocean based in the middle of nowhere that would help give them air superiority.
00:25:54.380If there was a massive world event that took place, another world war, it would give them the ability to reach places they currently cannot reach.
00:26:03.280And now we're hearing that they're looking at creating a new country in Africa.
00:26:07.760You're trying to bring that to light and also stop it.
00:26:43.620Dear President Trump, I write to urge your administration to formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state with sovereignty within its 1960 borders.
00:26:55.420Somaliland first gained independence and international recognition in 1960, before voluntarily uniting with Somalia later that year.
00:27:05.800Since moving to reclaim its independence in 1991, it has functioned as a stable, self-governing, democratic nation.
00:27:15.040It has held several peaceful elections since 2003, marked by strong voter turnout and peaceful transitions of power.
00:27:24.780Somaliland has emerged as a critical security and diplomatic partner for the United States, helping America advance our national security interest in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
00:27:37.020It is strategically located on the Gulf of Aden, putting it near one of the world's busiest maritime corridors.
00:27:45.760It possesses capable armed forces and contributes to regional counterterrorism and piracy operations.
00:27:53.280It has enabled the opening of a Taiwanese representative office in the capital of Hargisa,
00:28:00.060sought to strengthen ties with Israel and voice support for the Abraham Accords.
00:28:07.520It has proposed hosting a U.S. military presence near the Red Sea along the Gulf of Aden and is open to critical minerals agreements that would support our supply chain resilience.
00:28:24.220The U.S.-Somaliland partnership is robust and it is deepening.
00:28:30.060Somaliland faces mounting pressure from adversaries, due in no small part to its role as a partner for the United States and our allies.
00:28:40.280The Chinese Communist Party is using economic and diplomatic coercion to punish Somaliland for its support for Taiwan, as well as to undermine that support.
00:28:52.380The government of Somalia has played an unfortunate role in these efforts.
00:28:57.600In April 2025, the CCP arranged for Somalia to bar Taiwanese passport holders from transiting into Somaliland.
00:29:08.200And Chinese support Somalia is benefiting anti-Somaliland groups working to erode its sovereignty.
00:29:16.180Despite these threats, Somaliland remains committed to forging closer ties with the U.S.
00:29:22.320and is actively engaged in enhancing military cooperation, counterterrorism efforts, and economy and trade partnerships.
00:29:30.840To do so to the greatest effect and the greatest benefit to American national security interests,
00:30:02.480They've shown real courage standing with the United States.
00:30:04.780They've shown real courage standing up to China.
00:30:07.440They've shown real courage siding with Taiwan, which infuriates communist China.
00:30:13.580They've shown real courage embracing Israel and the Abraham Accords.
00:30:19.620I think Somaliland would eagerly join the Abraham Accords.
00:30:24.360And so it is in America's national security interest, I believe, to recognize Somaliland.
00:30:31.580And probably the best confirmation of that is this week, China put out a public release blasting me absolutely furious that I made this public call to recognize Somaliland.
00:30:51.140And here's what China put out as their statement.
00:30:55.780A U.S. senator, in a letter boasting of so-called U.S. recognition of Somaliland region, launched baseless attacks against China and China-Somalia relations.
00:31:08.280The Chinese embassy in Somalia firmly opposes this misconduct.
00:31:12.420This coercive letter constitutes serious interference in the internal affairs of Somalia and further exposes the hegemonic and bullying attitude of certain U.S. politicians to the Somali people.
00:31:26.740Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in each other's internal affairs are enshrined in the U.N. charter as basic norms governing international relations for safeguarding world peace and stability.
00:31:41.880China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs and absolutely does not accept meddling in its own internal affairs by any countries.
00:31:52.340Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory.
00:32:02.480China firmly opposes Taiwan independent separatism and external interference and possesses the legitimate right to take measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
00:32:15.800The fact that China is freaking out, the fact that they are this pissed off, from my perspective, confirms that I was exactly right and is yet another argument why President Trump should recognize Somaliland as an ally to America and as a country in Africa willing to stand up to communist China.
00:32:38.840Yeah, great point. We're going to keep you updated on this story because it's an important one and we will have movement on it, I have no doubt.
00:32:46.060So make sure you download this show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
00:32:48.680Hit that subscribe or auto-download button wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss a single episode.
00:32:55.020And the center and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.