Ukraine has been thrown to the dogs and that is not hyperbole. It’s also not all that happened today. The last time America was so wrong about something we were burning witches in Salem and at least that had the virtue of being a domestic issue and not affecting the rest of the world and likely to get many people killed and keep many more people in a rough political situation. Here’s Trump making the abandonment of Ukraine official.
I have said for a month that Ukraine must look to Europe and elsewhere for support. This proves it. It is time for Ukraine to do this without the US. We are no longer a country that stands by our stated values and ideals – we are now morally small, vicious, and petty. pic.twitter.com/5Puu5jLKg4
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 28, 2025
That pretty much takes care of that. Karl Rove is saying that this spat should not have been public. But you want to know why it was? It’s because TASS, the Russian news agency, was present when and where it wasn’t supposed to be.
A reporter for Russian state media was allowed to attend a joint briefing between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, although the Trump White House claimed this was done in error.
I don’t believe it was done in error. This is a major deal that this happened but watch this vanish under the rest of the news cycle — and that makes a certain amount of sense because it isn’t every news cycle you have Trump and Vance publicly attacking the president of another country. But this is a fact that makes the context of what happened today more comprehensible. This was the Putin show.
The correspondent, who was working for the TASS Russian news agency, was first spotted by The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg, who broke news of his presence on X.
Shortly afterward, a White House official gave Feinberg a statement saying that the TASS reporter had been admitted in error.
“Error” my butt. They wouldn’t have done a damn thing if they weren’t caught. And THIS is PRECISELY why the White House wants to choose the people present in the White House press room, because the pros know who’s who and what’s what and the right-wing dummies not only don’t know, they don’t care. They’re happy to sell out democracy for a pay check.
“TASS was not on the approved list of media for today’s pool,” they said. “As soon as it came to the attention of press office staff that he was in the Oval, he was escorted out by the White House press secretary. He is not on the approved list for the press conference.”
The presence of a Russian state news reporter is notable given President Donald Trump’s long affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Even Fox is having trouble getting behind that Oval Office meltdown
— Nikki McCann Ramírez (@nikkimcr.bsky.social) 2025-02-28T18:25:13.745Z
Vladimir Putin was the only winner BY DESIGN! I can’t believe that Rove thinks this is an insight, when it’s so obvious. Meanwhile, listen to Democrat and Congressman Seth Moulton say how his Republican colleagues all agree with him as to what a travesty this is. So far it’s crickets, except for a peep from Don Bacon.
This brawl was staged for Putin. After the brawl Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation left. Trump did his job. Net effect: Zelensky has not signed over mineral rights, Putin has propaganda to go out to dinner with, and Europe needs to fund the Ukrainian war or let Russia expand, to their peril. Which, unfortunately, we could have told them was the case before today.
Zelensky can’t be blamed for trying. I only wonder if now he understands what an utter lunatic Trump is. And I wonder if America realizes how totally unsuited Trump is for office, or still only the half of us that he has completely alienated?
*********
Friends, thank you if you have already donated. Traffic will come back at some point but you see from today’s White House debacle why people are tuned out. This is embarrassing and degrading. But if you’re here, you’re a hard core political junkie. Help if you can help with a donation, otherwise, just keep coming back to read. Thank you. Ursula






















only half. gangsterism is still trending high👍
Mr. “Art of the Deal”. I wonder if this is how he negotiated deals in his real estate business.
Of course it is. And by doing the same thing as president he’s dragging the reputation of the whole country down to his level. Just ask how the Canadians, Mexicans and US big business feel about the ‘longstanding’ trade agreement they signed in Trump’s last term that replaced NAFTA. Thrown away on a whim and sheer ignorance of how tariffs work.
It’s EXACTLY the same dis-honest brinkmanship Trump used right throughout his ‘business career’, the ‘career’ that led to US banks – and his entire home city, New York, refusing to have any further dealings with him.
Tass Da! AP Nyet!
Rove is mistaken. Badly. This was a staged event for the cameras to assure the goobers got their red meat for the day. Read the comments over a FUX website: it’s like last week when we were supporting Ukraine didn’t happen!
Goobers still think we’re sending them money. They don’t understand that we’ve been sending them older armaments while replenishing our stock of newer weapons and that all of that is Made in the USA, paid for with tax dollars to American industries.
Good for President Zelensky.
He’s not Trump.
He’s Krasnov.
There was only one president in the Oval Office and his name’s Zelensky. With him were two wannabe-mob-capos putting on a show for their big boss back in the Kremlin. President Zelensky knew back in September 2019 that he had a gangster on the phone, rather than an American leader. But he kept the diplomacy going, as a responsible head of state does, trying to assure the survival of his people. No more. The Trump-Vance Unreality Show went down a treat in Moscow but amongst decent, intelligent free people all over the world, it signaled the end of America as an ally and as a democratic role model.
Exactly. Staged to give Trump an excuse.
My night terrors are back. I wonder why…