What’s at stake for Trump
This sitdown with Putin is Trump’s chance to prove to the world he is the master dealmaker and global peacemaker he claims to be.
While there has been some eye-rolling here in Washington about Trump pressuring the Nobel Committee to give him the peace prize, the U.S. president has had some success in bringing conflicts to a close.
In his first term, the Trump administration brokered the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and some Arab countries.
And, in the first eight months of this presidency, Trump has helped stop several disputes, including between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Cambodia and Thailand, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and India and Pakistan.
But a solution to Putin’s war has proven elusive. Trump appeared to have acknowledged what’s on the line today, simply posting on his social media, “HIGH STAKES!!!”
If he walks away from this meeting with nothing, it would be a major blow to his peace-making persona.