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Jane Coaston: It’s Wednesday, September 24th, I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show that will once again urge you to vote in the Fat Bear Week bracket. Because number one, it’s a good thing in the world. And number two, it is time that Chunk, the bear that has persevered despite a broken jaw, gets the recognition he deserves. [music break] On today’s show, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gets testy with President Donald Trump after the president cancels a meeting with him in a Truth Social post, and former Vice President Kamala Harris makes the rounds to promote her shockingly blunt new book. But let’s start with Russia’s war on Ukraine. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the brutal war has cost millions of lives, Russian and Ukrainian, and pushed Europe closer to the brink of calamity than it’s been since the end of the Second World War. But the real victim is as always, Trump. Here he is speaking at the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I’ve also been working relentlessly, stopping the killing in Ukraine. I thought that would be of the seven wars that I stopped, I thought that would the easiest because of my relationship with President Putin, which had always been a good one. I thought that was going to be the easiest one. But you know, in war, you never know what’s going to happen. There are always lots of surprises, both good and bad. 

Jane Coaston: Sure, see I totally believe that Trump believed that he could charm Russian President Vladimir Putin into making a deal to end the war that Putin started. Charm him by, say, having Vice President J.D. Vance yell at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Or by saying last month that Ukraine should cede the Donbass region of the country to Russia in exchange for peace. But weirdly enough, efforts to cozy up with Russia have not actually stopped Putin from doing anything. Not only has Russia continued to bomb Ukraine, Russia is now sending drones into Poland. On Friday, three Russian fighter jets even violated Estonian airspace. But maybe, just maybe, Vladimir Putin has reached the end of Trump’s patience too. On Tuesday, after meeting with Zelensky at the UN, Trump posted on Truth Social, quote, “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form.” So what the hell is going on here? To find out, I spoke to Tommy Vietor. He’s the co-host of Crooked Media’s Pod Save the World. Tommy Vietor, welcome back to What a Day. 

Tommy Vietor: It’s great to be here. 

Jane Coaston: Just minutes after Trump met with Zelensky, he jumped on Truth Social and seemed to pivot away from Russia. In the post, he suggested that Ukraine could win back all its territory, and then some, in the war. And then in classic Trump fashion, belittled Russia, calling it a paper tiger, before wishing both countries the best? What the hell? 

Tommy Vietor: What is happening? I don’t understand this at all. No one thinks that. Even like the biggest defenders of Ukraine don’t think they’re likely to win back all of their territory. Are we talking about Crimea? 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Tommy Vietor: Which has been occupied for many, many years now. 

Jane Coaston: And, you know, you have this moment during the Zelensky meeting where Trump also said during a reporter Q&A that NATO countries should shoot down Russian planes that enter their airspace. And this did come after, on Friday, three Russian fighter jets violated Estonian airspace, NATO put out a statement today saying that they will respond with both military and non-military means. But did his reaction surprise you? Because this seems to be like, what? 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, so that was really interesting [?]. So there’s also a report today that three drones flew over the Copenhagen airport. 

Jane Coaston: Oh. 

Tommy Vietor: And there’s a question of whether those are Russian as well. As you mentioned, Russian jets recently entered Estonian airspace, Russian drones have been in Polish airspace so Putin is clearly testing NATO over and over and over again. So Trump is asked, hey, should NATO country shoot them down? He goes, yes. And then another reporter a minute ago later like follows up. He’s like, does that mean you’ll get their back if they do? And he’s like well, well, we’ll see about that. So. 

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Tommy Vietor: You know he’s recommending that NATO start a war, but at the same time he’s sort of like dancing around whether we still support the Article V responsibility to come to the defense of a NATO country that is attacked. 

Jane Coaston: So is this a pivot? And if it is, what should we make, if anything, of it? 

Tommy Vietor: I think it’s flailing bullshit. 

Jane Coaston: Okay. 

Tommy Vietor: I just think he is all over the place on this. Remember, I mean, going into the Alaska summit, Trump was gonna take a hard line. He was gonna demand a ceasefire be put in place by Putin, and then he gets to Alaska, he meets with Putin. They drop the demand for a cease-fire. There’s been no proposal put forward for a Ukrainian security guarantee. He’s switched from suggesting that the U.S. would put sanctions on Russia to demanding that Europe do it first and that they put sanctions on the Chinese. Um. And other countries that are buying Russian oil. 

Jane Coaston: Like, but here’s what’s been getting me because this is obviously, this is a conflict that began before Trump even went down the escalator that worked back in 2015 and it wasn’t, it was a month ago that Trump was talking about how, you know, Ukraine is going to need to make territorial concessions and he’s been flip-flopping on this conflict for now more than a year, I would say. While a large segment of the GOP has been vocally opposed to supporting Ukraine since the invasion in 2022, a invasion which a bunch of so-called realists said would never happen, is he just getting impatient with this process? 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, it like part of that statement, he did this long Truth Social post that included this line about how Zelensky and the Ukrainians could take back all of their territory. But also part of it made it sound like he was just like, well, best of luck by kind of washing his hands a bit. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Tommy Vietor: Right? But he’s been in like he’s been all over the place on a bunch of stuff. Um. In recent days, he’s been talking about the United States retaking Bagram. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Tommy Vietor: Air Base in Afghanistan. 

Jane Coaston: Yup. Which I seem to recall that there was this whole thing about how we needed to not be in Afghanistan. 

Tommy Vietor: Right. 

Jane Coaston: And now, I think my favorite part of that was he was like, you know, we built that air base. I’m like, no we did not. 

Tommy Vietor: No we did not. 

Jane Coaston: The Soviets did. 

Tommy Vietor: The Soviets built Bagram Air Base in the ’50s, and we took it over. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Tommy Vietor: After 9-11, and it sounds like he wants to reoccupy it. And like the the the Taliban, I don’t, you know, I don’t trust them to believe in a lot of stuff, but one thing they do believe is that foreign occupiers should not be on their soil. And–

Jane Coaston: This has been something they’ve been pretty strong on. 

Tommy Vietor: Pretty consistent on this one. 

Jane Coaston: If there’s a there’s a you know, there’s a Rocky movie where this even gets into this a little bit. 

Tommy Vietor: Yes and so does that mean we’re going to reinvade Afghanistan because that will take tens of thousands of troops and billions of dollars and will get us back into the forever wars I thought we all agreed that we did not want to wage. 

Jane Coaston: But getting back to Ukraine. 

Tommy Vietor: Yes. 

Jane Coaston: For his part, Zelensky told reporters that Trump’s Truth Social post was quote, “a big shift” and that Trump was a quote, “game changer.” Now, from my view, Zelensky clearly gets that flattery works on Trump. 

Tommy Vietor: Yes. 

Jane Coaston: If you just are as nice as possible to him and tell him everything he wants to hear, he will be nice to you. But can he actually count on any of this? Because you’re seeing you know the Ukrainian military has been making some progress in the northeastern regions of Ukraine with regard to this war. But Russia’s not going to stop. 

Tommy Vietor: Right. 

Jane Coaston: They will never stop this will, they will not stop there. I don’t believe there will be a treaty or an agreement. So can he count on this as meaning anything at all? 

Tommy Vietor: I don’t think so. I mean, my guess is Trump has seen all these incursions into NATO airspace by Putin and he wants to send a message back in the form of whatever this Truth Social post was and seem like he’s pressuring Putin, you know, back to the to the negotiating table, seat, board, whatever the fuck. It’s been a long day. Um. I but like, you can’t just flail around on a war strategy like this. You need to be planning for six months, a year, two years, like we need to be shipping them lots of weapons. Those weapons shipments need to be authorized by Congress and paid for and put in planes and flown over to Europe and delivered to the Ukrainians like–  

Jane Coaston: And we can’t do what we did in July which was pause weapons shipments and then–

Tommy Vietor: Right. 

Jane Coaston: –unpause them a week later 

Tommy Vietor: Right, like I, we’re he’s just flailing away and flip-flopping, and like, his people will try to sell you on this being the madman theory of diplomacy and Trump being unpredictable, but unpredictability in the form of a tweet doesn’t do much for you when you run out of ammunition on the battlefield in Eastern Ukraine, and that’s what I fear is gonna happen here. 

Jane Coaston: Also, Vladimir Putin is extremely predictable. 

Tommy Vietor: Yes. 

Jane Coaston: He has been talking about wanting to essentially reestablish a greater Russia for 20 years now. 

Tommy Vietor: Right, decades. 

Jane Coaston: That’s like extremely predictable, but to the point about flattery, European leaders were also praising Trump’s remarks about Russia, and in fact, French President Emmanuel Macron implied to reporters that maybe a united front with Europe and the US could bring about a positive outcome for Ukraine, a quote, “good future.” Now, to your point. I don’t think that this post actually means that anything, but what do you think this says about how the world has learned to deal with Trump? 

Tommy Vietor: I mean, I do think you’re right. They all think that flattery is what it takes. I mean there’s a part of it that is true, right? If you say that he should get the Nobel Peace Prize, he will like you and he will say nice things about you. I don’t think it means he has your back at the end of the day. Like Zelensky said thank you 7,000 times in the–

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Tommy Vietor: Six minute press avail that I watched because JD Vance famously screamed at him in the Oval Office. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Tommy Vietor: Have you ever said thank-you? But I still don’t that that’s gonna end up delivering the weapon systems that Ukraine needs. And again, like you said, Putin is playing the long game. He’s got a bigger country. They’ve ramped up arms production. They’re launching hundreds and hundreds of drones every night. He’s got more men. He’s got a bigger army. The long game version of this is not going great for Ukraine. 

Jane Coaston: Right. And I think that Trump interpreted this interaction as a business deal. That if he just charmed Putin and said all the right things. 

Tommy Vietor: Right. 

Jane Coaston: Not just to him, but against Ukraine, Putin would eventually come to the table. So now from Putin’s perspective, there’s no reason to change anything. 

Tommy Vietor: No. 

Jane Coaston: This is basically another indication that Ukraine actually can’t count on the United States, even when the United State says nice things, because this is a massive reversal from just a couple of weeks ago. 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, I mean, I think this thing was at best a stalemate when Trump took office, and now I feel like Russia’s had momentum in a lot of different parts of a very long front line in this war, and that will just continue. 

Jane Coaston: So um, do you remember that there was going to be in, you know like how we’re gonna get a healthcare plan in two weeks? Well, there was also going to a trilateral meeting. 

Tommy Vietor: Right. 

Jane Coaston: Between Zelensky, Putin and Trump. 

Tommy Vietor: Mm hmm. 

Jane Coaston: Will that ever actually happen ever? 

Tommy Vietor: No, is the Zeno’s arrow paradox the one where it’s like you shoot the arrow but you’re always halfway to the final points, you never actually get there? 

Jane Coaston: I I went to Big Ten school. Um.

Tommy Vietor: You went to Football games?

Jane Coaston: I went to football school. 

Tommy Vietor: So I’m probably wrong. But yeah, no, there was the trilateral meeting that was gonna happen, but then Trump inserted before that a bilateral meeting that had to happen first between Zelensky and Putin or some sort of you know representative. I don’t know if that has ever happened. I don’t believe any of this is gonna happen. I think he is just getting headlines and buying time and punting the problem down the field just as he’s doing in Gaza. And you know he’s saying to everybody that he’s solved seven conflicts. It’s all bullshit, by the way, that none like–

Jane Coaston: Right. 

Tommy Vietor: None of what he says is true. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, I believe he counts uh solving India-Pakistan as ending conflicts. 

Tommy Vietor: He’s counting an economic agreement signed by Kosovo and Serbia in 2020. [?] so that tells you what you need to know. 

Jane Coaston: Tommy Vietor, always a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining me. 

Tommy Vietor: Thank you for having me. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Tommy Vietor, co-host of Crooked Media’s Pod Save the World. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines.

[clip of President Donald Trump] When your prisons are filled with so-called asylum seekers who repaid kindness, and that’s what they did, they repaid kindness with crime, it’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders. You have to end it now. Oh see, I can tell you. I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell. 

Jane Coaston: Trump also addressed his fellow world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. He proceeded to rail against, quote, “uncontrolled migration,” called climate change, quote, “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” and periodically took shots at former President Joe Biden. Sure. He also claimed to have ended seven wars in seven months, chastising the UN for not even calling to offer its help. He did not end seven wars in seven months. Then he turned his complaints to a faulty escalator inside the UN headquarters that made Trump have to hoof it and a broken teleprompter for his speech. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the First Lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape. We both stood. And then a teleprompter that didn’t work. This is these are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad telepromptor. Thank you very much. 

Jane Coaston: The escalator from 2015, it remembers. It has not forgotten. Trump’s speech was almost an hour, nearly four times the voluntary 15 minute time limit for speakers. The overall message was pretty simple though. America is hot and the rest of the world sucks. 

[clip of David Fischer] As the jurors were being escorted out of the courtroom, Mr. Ruth picked up a pen and started stabbing at his neck. The marshals that were in the courtroom swarmed him immediately, you know, grabbed his arms and basically dragged him out of the courtroom. 

Jane Coaston: That’s Associated Press journalist David Fischer, who was in the Fort Pierce, Florida courtroom for the trial of Ryan Routh, the man who was charged with attempting to assassinate then-candidate Trump at a Florida golf course last year. Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle at him as he played golf at his West Palm Beach Country Club. That was just nine weeks after Trump survived another attempt on his life while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. The jury deliberated for about two hours on Tuesday before finding Ruth guilty on all five of the counts he was facing. Including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh, who represented himself in the trial, don’t do that, told jurors in his closing argument that he didn’t intend to kill anyone that day. He now faces life in prison and will be sentenced in December. The pen Routh used, by the way, was a flexible one designed to prevent people in custody from using it as a weapon, so he was not able to hurt himself. Speaking from the UN headquarters Tuesday, Trump said he was happy with the verdict. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Well, I’m very appreciative of the justice that was given and the way it was handled by Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche and everybody that it’s been, and their team of people. It was really well handled, and it’s very important. You can’t let things like that happen. Nothing to do with me, but a president or even a person, you can’t allow that to happen. 

[clip of Chuck Schumer] We know Donald Trump watches a lot of television. Mr. President, if you’re watching television, shut it off and come sit down and negotiate with us. 

Jane Coaston: That’s Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Tuesday daring Trump to do his part to avoid a government shutdown. Schumer and House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries had just confirmed the president would meet with them this week when Trump canceled via Truth Social. I’m pretty sure that’s worse than getting dumped by text. Democrats are taking a page from past Republican strategies and hope the impending shutdown will force some concessions on health care policy like extending the Affordable Care Act’s insurance premium subsidies. And reversing the Medicaid cuts in the one big beautiful bill. But in his Truth Social post, Trump said that he had reviewed the quote, “unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the minority radical left Democrats” and determined that a meeting wouldn’t be productive. He also said he looks forward to meeting with them when they’ve become quote, “realistic about the things our country stands for,” whatever that means. Schumer and Jeffries have responded in interviews, making clear that President Trump and the Republican Party will be the only ones to blame if a deal isn’t reached in the next week. The government is set to shut down on October 1st, a week from today. 

[clip of Kamala Harris] You gotta fight fire with fire. 

[clip of unnamed person] Mm-hmm. 

[clip of Kamala Harris] And and–

Jane Coaston: Former Vice President Kamala Harris is making the rounds to promote her new book, 107 Days, which came out this week. On Monday, she appeared on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, and on Tuesday, she went on ABC’s Good Morning America and The View. Here she is speaking with View host, Ana Navarro. 

[clip of Ana Navarro] Ultimately, if you have to pin it down to one thing, what was the primary reason, do you think, that you lost? 

[clip of Kamala Harris] There are many factors, I think, that that played into the outcome of that election. But I think probably one of the biggest in my mind is we just didn’t have enough time. 

[clip of unnamed View host] You didn’t have enough what? 

[clip of Ana Navarro] Time. 

[clip of Kamala Harris] We didn’t have enough time. 

[clip of unnamed View host] Oh yeah. 

Jane Coaston: Harris also said that Trump’s presidency has been destroying everything America stands for and vehemently condemned his attacks on free speech. When asked if she could think of anything Trump has done right, she said, quote, “nothing.” But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Harris offered some hope and a few words of advice for the Democratic Party moving forward. 

[clip of Kamala Harris] I’m a bit done with the punditry around everybody looking for a messiah, the savior of the Democratic Party. There are so many superstars in the party. 

[clip of Whoopi Goldberg] Yes there are. 

[clip of Ana Navarro] It’s true.

[clip of Kamala Harris] And who are doing very, very good work. And it is important, I think, that we see that instead of having these endless conversations about who is the one. 

[clip of Whoopi Goldberg] Yes. 

[clip of Kamala Harris] Understand there are many. And similarly with the issues. What is the one message that Democrats need to have? There are many.

Jane Coaston: Harris even told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that she is endorsing Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, with the caveat that we should look at other stars in the party. Stars like her? She wouldn’t say. When asked if she’ll run again, she usually answers with some variation of I’m not thinking about that right now. But she has yet to say never. And that’s the news. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, sigh in the knowledge that Donald Trump’s love affair with escalators appears to be at an end, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that if anyone at the United Nations, quote, “intentionally stopped the escalator” before President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stepped on it, quote, “they need to be fired and investigated immediately,” like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston and these are the softest people alive. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Fohr. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Megan Larsen, Gina Pollack, and Jonah Eatman. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. We had help today from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]