'Whatever deal Putin wants': MSNBC panel slams Trump for being played like a cheap fiddle
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters, as he departs for travel to Pennsylvania from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C. U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS Jonathan Ernst
CNN's “First of All” host Victor Blackwell and his panel discussed President Donald Trump’s helplessness against toadyism, even during delicate international peace talks.
Blackwell played an interview Trump had with Fox News host Sean Hannity after his Friday summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“Vladimir Putin said something. One of the most interesting things he said: Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,” Trump recounted to Hannity. “And he said that to me it was very interesting because we talked about [the] 2020 [election]. He said, you won that election by so much … and if you would have won, we wouldn't have had a war. You won.”
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“No 1: Why is that part of the conversation?” asked Blackwell of his panel. “And, No. 2: Why hold up [Russian authoritarian] Vladimir Putin as the endorser of free and fair elections in the United States?
Panel participant Brigadier Gen. Shawn Harris (retired) pointed out that Putin is a trained KGB agent, and that adulation and flattery is part of the training.”
“He's using that training to make President Trump feel good about himself, and that's why Trump's bringing those things up, because at the end of the day, he wants President Trump to say: ‘whatever you want, I'm gonna give it to you’.”
“But you know that and probably a lot of the people watching know that,” said Blackwell, gesturing to the camera, “but why doesn't the president know that when he comes on ‘Hannity’ and says, ‘well, [Putin] told me I actually won in 2020’? Doesn't he sound like he's falling for the Putin play here?”
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Conservative political Commentator Janelle King, another panelist, claimed what Trump was really saying on “Hannity” was that President Putin does not “see America as strong” under Biden.
“When Biden came in, they saw it as weak. They saw the weakness on display, and that is why they invaded Ukraine. That is the message that was being sent there,” said King. “He sees Trump as strength and he sees Biden as weakness.”
“Or he was telling President Trump what he said … to endear himself to get whatever deal Putin wants,” Blackwell said.
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