So the world is abuzz over the meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage. Was anything accomplished?
Let’s first recognize a couple of things. One: At least Donald Trump is trying. This is far more than the great foreign-policy brain trust of Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Austin, et al, ever did. (And as for Kamala’s input on Russia, I believe it was limited to, “Hey, is that where vodka comes from?”).
Two: Of course no “final resolution” was reached. Does our chattering class actually believe that an issue of this historical complexity could be solved in a single half-day meeting? Anyone who expected that should really be disqualified from commenting (special attention to Chuck Todd).
So then… where do things stand?
From where we sit, the pre-summit assessment, which we tweeted yesterday, holds up (see below).
Delay Works For Putin: KGB negotiation tactics, which is the world Putin obviously comes from, is to “delay delay delay.” Putin will attempt every dilatory tactic he can here so as to pull Trump into the minutiae of any negotiation. The general rule in foreign policy circles: “China wants to own us, Russia wants to destroy us.” Part of Putin’s agenda here is to sow as much chaos on the U.S. homefront as possible, weaken Trump, and strengthen his own hand. He knows full-well that Russiagate remains a major issue on our homefront.
Putin’s Economy is Shaky: That said, the fact that Putin initiated the meeting – and on U.S. soil (formerly Russian soil) – is significant. He gave a bit. The sanctions are biting, and he fears India and maybe even China going the EU route and lessening their dependence on Russian oil. The new U.S. policy of “drill baby drill” also hurts him – we can depress world oil markets. The trade deal Trump just cut for energy with the EU – reportedly, $750bn over the next three years – undoubtedly got Putin’s attention (along with EU pledges of funding Ukraine and the strengthening of NATO).
Putin Needs War: Russia’s economy is now a wartime economy. This is something else that Putin cannot give up. Trump must consider that even if we get a ceasefire b/w Russia and Ukraine, Putin may stir trouble with another nation (likely, Georgia). His economy is not great, but without a war, it will be even worse. And he also needs that eastern Ukrainian wheat, as Russia always has.
Russia’s Influence is Waning: Then there is the Azerbaijan/Armenia issue. The Trump administration brokered an historic peace deal there, well within the Russian sphere of influence. It’s a humiliation, especially since Trump secured U.S. development rights along those nations’ disputed corridor. There is some feeling in foreign policy circles that Trump may offer Russia a role in that, as an olive branch. As of now, they are shut out. Putin must feel the sting of that. To Putin’s mind, this is like Russia negotiating a peace deal and development rights in Puerto Rico. In a general sense, it’s representative of waning Russian power.
Putin Remains a Wild Card: At the end of the day, my sources assess Putin as in a “messianic” stage. He is not in good health and does not want to go to his grave without righting the “wrong” of what he considers “the greatest tragedy of the 20th Century” (his words) – the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This makes him extremely dangerous. He sees himself as the inheritor of not just the traditions of the Soviet Union but also of Catherine the Great (whose “righteous” expansionism he invokes often). But he also has enemies on the domestic side that we don’t hear much about – he is far from universally worshipped in Russia. So far, Putin has kept them in check; it’s why Russian officials keep falling out of windows.
So In A Macro Sense: Putin’s leverage is his ability to continue to advance the war, which he is (incrementally, but at great cost) winning; Trump’s leverage is choking off Putin’s economy and using NATO to buttress Ukraine (which he would really prefer not to do, due to MAGA isolationism).
Recommendation: Trump mustn’t give an inch. Forget personal relations – Putin is nobody’s friend. Like Reagan did at Reykjavik, Trump must be ready to walk out of the meeting. It’s the only hope of Putin ever giving in on anything. If not now, then maybe later (as happened at Reykjavik).
Further, he must be wary of any “global” deal with Russia that subordinates Ukrainian interests to U.S. economic ones. We don’t need Russian markets, and who wants to do business in a gangster state anyway. Yes, we hate to go back to the Cold War — and we get that Trump wants to split off China from Russia — but a U.S./European security guarantee for Ukraine has to be the the foundation of any final deal. Putin simply must be contained, or we’re going to end up with WWIII when he starts poking at a NATO country. Which he will.
And we should all recall that, at the end of the day, this is far less America’s problem than it is Europe’s.
And finally, let’s also recall: No diplomatic solution is ever perfect. As divorce lawyers know well: both sides feel like losers. History teaches that international agreements always come down to choosing the least-bad option.
Will The Letitia James Case Expand?
So NY State Attorney General Tish James, who literally campaigned for office with the vow to “get” Donald Trump, now finds herself on the other side of things: a grand jury has been convened in the Northern District of New York to consider indicting her.
Now, if you don’t know what that means, trust us when we say that it’s likely bad news for AG James. How bad? Real bad.
But could it also be bad news for others involved in the lawfare against Donald Trump? Could the culprits in Lawfare 2.0 — Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, Nathan Wade, Matt Colangelo, Merrick Garland — also be implicated? Under the auspices of this same grand jury?
No one else is talking about this — but if the prosecutor isn’t thinking this way, he should be. So click below for a teaser from this week’s pod — and HERE for the full thing.
This could be — perhaps SHOULD be — the beginning of something very big for the Trump administration. And for full accountability from the Bidenistas.
The Clinton Files — Here Comes Another Big Reveal
Here we go again. Another week, another bombshell about how the FBI and DOJ bent over backwards for the Clintons during the Obama years.
This time it comes from Kash Patel, who says the FBI had an active investigation into the Clinton Global Initiative — and then higher-ups ordered agents to just… stop.
According to Patel, investigators had stumbled on evidence of the usual “pay-to-play” behavior that’s dogged the Clinton Foundation for years. But instead of letting the case play out, Patel says leadership — think Andrew McCabe and friends — told the team to shut it down. No indictments, no headlines, nothing. Just buried.
Sound familiar? It should. Remember the Clinton email scandal? The DOJ’s own Inspector General blasted James Comey for being “extraordinary and insubordinate” — basically freelancing his way through an investigation that conveniently left Hillary untouched.
Or how about Uranium One, where foreign interests got access to American uranium while donors poured money into the Clinton Foundation? The FBI was looking into that too… until, quietly, it wasn’t. By 2017, the case fizzled without charges. Nothing to see here, folks.
None of this is new information. In fact, investigative journalist Peter Schweizer wrote a whole book about it called Clinton Cash in 2015, which provided a roadmap for where the Clinton Global Initiative was collecting its money. Of course at the time, it was dismissed by the left.
Patel’s point is simple: when Democrats were in charge, the FBI and DOJ looked the other way whenever the Clintons were involved. If it had been Trump or anyone with an R next to their name, you’d still be hearing about it every night on CNN. If Trump had an un-returned library book they would have indicted him. But with the Clintons…zero interest.
This isn’t just about old scandals — it’s about trust. When Americans see law enforcement play favorites, it poisons confidence in the system. When lawfare is used to kneecap a political opponent it is the opposite of democracy.
If Kash Patel’s right, Obama’s DOJ wasn’t just asleep at the wheel — they were the ones pulling the plug.
Why do we get the feeling a lot of Democrat defense lawyers are going to be making bank in the coming months?
So Who Is This Roy Singham?
When the right thinks of dark-money funding from a marxist billionaire, the name George Soros inevitably leaps to mind. But he’s got fellow travelers.
Roy Singham isn’t your everyday billionaire. After selling his software firm ThoughtWorks for nearly $800 million, this American citizen, born in New York City, skipped the golf club and moved to Shanghai, where he’s embraced Marxist and Maoist beliefs. In his youth, he was a member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a Maoist group in Detroit, and he has since described himself as an admirer of Maoism.
Singham has lauded China as “teaching the West that the world is better off with a dual system of both free-market adjustments and long-term planning.” He’s also launched a consulting venture with partners tied to the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda apparatus, and shares office space in Shanghai with the Maku Group—a known CCP-affiliated media collective.
His influence stretches well into U.S. politics and activism. Through complex “dark money” networks, Singham funds groups like The People’s Forum, ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink, and others that mesh leftist activism with narratives favorable to Beijing. The George Washington University Program on Extremism specifically flagged how his network also intertwines with pro-Palestinian protests and destabilizing messaging aligned with the CCP.
Adding a local twist for The Ops Desk, Singham’s niece, Alicia Singham Goodwin, heads a campaign called “Jews for Zohran” supporting Zohran Mamdani’s run for NYC mayor. The campaign aims to portray Mamdani as Jewish-friendly despite his pro-Palestinian stances — and critics have questioned the possible foreign-influence implications.
The fact that Mamdani’s campaign was run from the Chinese-based TikTok is, we’re sure, just a coincidence….
Now, as law enforcement, we’ve got to ask: Shouldn’t Singham, and his cohorts, be looked at by DOJ for charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)?
Singham’s Shanghai base doesn’t exempt him—recent past cases involve U.S. citizens indicted for similar activities while outside the country.
Lawmakers such as Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham have pressed DOJ to take a deeper look at Singham’s setup, as has Marco Rubio.
Is this being done? Because we have to add this question: Is any Chinese money flowing into the U.S. through Singham’s network?
If Singham were found to be in violation of FARA, the penalties would be steep: up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines per violation.
A grand jury on this — and on Soros, as well — is long overdue. This needs to be examined.
We Feel Compelled To Ask….
In light of the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show, which was losing upwards of $40-50 million-per-year, we have to ask a serious legal question (yes, legal): Why are Jimmy Kimmel and John Oliver still on the air?
Kimmel’s show rates significantly lower than Colbert’s. Further, while Colbert reportedly makes $15 million annually, Kimmel reportedly out-earns him at $24 million yearly.
Oliver, whose ratings don’t even break 350,000, makes $1 million per episode — with his seasons averaging between 20 and 30 episodes per year.
What? John Oliver makes 20 to 30 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR for a show that doesn’t break 350,000 viewers? (For context, Colbert averages roughly 2.5 - 3 million viewers each night. And Oliver’s show is only a weekly).
Is there ANY way these shows make that money back for the parent company?
Now the legal part. Kimmel airs on ABC, whose parent company is Disney. Oliver’s network, HBO, is owned by Warner Brothers. Both parent companies are publicly traded.
Which means: The boards of both those firms have a well-settled fiduciary duty to their shareholders.
So: Why has no shareholder brought suit against either of these companies for continuing to air shows that likely lose millions?
For background, here’s the Disney five-year stock chart:
And here’s the Warner Bros. five-year stock chart:
Not pretty.
Meanwhile, Greg Gutfeld continues to eat their collective lunch — especially when you factor in the 57% ratings-bump he just provided the far-less political Jimmy Fallon….
What on earth?
Why is it that only the left manages to fail upwards?
(And btw: This writer was there for the night Greg described meeting Fallon. Catch me on Gutfeld! this Friday, when I will remind Greg of how bad his memory is…).
And finally…
Your days of throwing sandwiches at cops are over, son!
There’s a lot to unpack here. Judge Jeanine Pirro is a street fighter. Swampers will become an endangered species.
Gutfeld continues to rule night time entertainment. I’m a big fan of his show. Paul, you are a Star 🤩
3 Cheers for Ed Martin 🤩🤩🤩🇺🇸❤️🤍💙🙏