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When is Putin going to throw a bone to his poodle? How about never?
How much further will shameless Donald Trump debase himself? He literally rolled out the red carpet for the convicted war criminal in Anchorage, and then gave the former KGB operative a childish wave as he approached. What did he get in return?
Trump had the audacity to exit the White House meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelinsky and other European leaders to make a phone call to his master to apparently receive his marching orders.
He dropped his demand for a ceasefire in Ukraine, jettisoned promised sanctions against Russia and now supports Putin’s land swap deal, including territory under Ukrainian control.
While calling for European peacekeepers in Ukraine, Trump has vowed there will be no American boots on the ground there, as long as he is president.
The US president gets downright starry-eyed and weak in the knees at the mere mention of Putin’s name.
Prior to the beginning of the DC summit, he whispered to French president Emmanuel Macron about Putin: ”I think he wants to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds.”
Thinking Putin is itching to make a deal with Trump is totally bonkers. The only deal that Putin wants to make with Trump is the US sell-out of Ukraine, and the possibility of Alaska returning to Russian control.
Trump’s fawning fixation on Putin is sick and a far cry from another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, who demanded that Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall.
Reagan understood that Russian leaders only respond to firmness and strength. Trump is wishy-washy and weak.
If The Gipper was around today, he would seize Russia’s foreign assets and earmark them for economic development and rebuilding of Ukraine, ratchet up sanctions on Russia and its trading partners, and expedite the flow of US weapons into the war zone.
And he would have put Trump’s conversation with Putin on speaker phone to be heard by all the European leaders who attended the DC summit.
That’s what allies do.
Sinking fast… Donald Trump’s net approval rate—share who approve minus those who disapprove— has plunged to -15 points, according to The Economist’s presidential approval tracker. He had a +3 points positive rating in January.
Only fourteen states gave Trump a positive net approval rating. They ranged from Idaho (+46.6 points) to South Carolina (+0.1 points).
Trump has negative ratings in places that voted for him and are considered “ruby red.” Those states include Texas (-11.9 points), Indiana (-5 points), Florida (-4.4 points), Missouri (-4.2 percent), Mississippi (-3.5 points), and Louisiana (-0.8 points).
The District of Columbia, which is currently occupied by National Guard troops, scored highest in the net Trump disapproval category at -74.8 points.
Maryland (-38.5 points), Massachusetts (-38.2 points), Hawaii (-37.9 points), California (-33.1 points), and Washington (-32.4 points) followed.
My hunch: Trump’s disapproval numbers will skyrocket once the cutbacks from his One Big Bonkers Bill kick in.
Good luck, Mark… Exiting WPP CEO Mark Read finally got some good news as Mastercard shifts its $180M global media business to WPP Media from Carat.
That’s a ray of sunshine following WPP’s loss of Coca-Cola’s $700M North American media buying account in May, and the $1.7B Mars global business in June.
Both went to former arch-rival France’s Publicis Group, which is now well ahead of its UK counterpart. Former Publicis CEO Maurice Levy and ex-WPP boss Martin Sorrell relished trashing each other.
Those days are long gone. Publicis revenues grew 10 percent during Q2, while WPP numbers slid 12.6 percent.
Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun expects his firm to grow five percent organically for the full-year. Read predicted a three to five percent decline in 2025.
Mastercard is the first big win for WPP Media, which changed its name from GroupM in May.
At that time, Read said “GroupM was built for a time when media scale mattered most, WPP Media reflects the power of AI, data and technology and simpler, more integrated solutions.”
Let’s hope WPP Media can help WPP regain its mojo. Microsoft veteran and WPP board member Cindy Rose takes over for Read on Sept. 1.
She will have her hands full.
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