If Trump was an honest broker, this summit would have been a disaster.

[Tommy Carcetti]

No ceasefire, no concrete plan of action, all formalities and no actual results.

But Trump’s not an honest broker.

He’s not really interested in resolving the war in Ukraine to the benefit of the people most often impacted—that being the Ukrainians, who had their country illegally invaded and their land seized, at a terrible human cost.

The only thing Trump cares about is looking strong, especially to impress other leaders he thinks are strong, and that here means Putin.

So he rolled out the red carpet, had a flyover, took a leisurely drive together in the limo, let Putin pontificate in front of the US Presidential Seal, and called it a day.

There was no peace agreement because he doesn’t actually care about peace.

So in his mind he probably thought this was some sort of a success for him.

Even though it was sickening to the rest of us.

[Ocelot II]

1. There was never going to be a deal, because Putin has not changed his position a bit

since invading Ukraine. Trump, as always, was delusional; he assumed his invitation to the US and the flattery and the red carpet and the diplomatic blowjob would finally get some kind of lame deal, or a concept of a deal (like Kissinger's Paris Peace Accords that fell apart because one of the parties, South Vietnam - like Ukraine - was never consulted) that he could wave at the Nobel committee and get the prize he wants so desperately.