Zelenskyy meets Vance in Rome, hours after Russia's largest drone attack on Ukraine

[Safe as Milk]

3. Wow! Putin feels generous! He only wants PART of Ukraine!

Oh... that's a "maybe."

And Donny Dictator framed Putin's position as entirely wrong. Putin isn't "relenting" by negotiating down to part of Ukraine as Russia. Putin couldn't conquer all of UKR anyway. UKR has too much support from allies to fold and give up territory. Putin can't save face, either. All he can do is throw more soldiers into the meat grinder and build more hatred for him in his own country. Too many deaths. For nothing. Retreating will get him killed by people inside the Kremlin. Carrying on with the war will get him killed by people outside the Kremlin. But he started the war, his soldiers are getting slaughtered, and he's wasting billions. By now, Putin knows all of this. He's hoping for some bolt from the blue that will turn the tide for him, but it won't come.

Trump may not want to offend Putin, but Vlad has been giving Trump the cold shoulder, and that means a lot to Trump. Way more than it should. If Trump is going to flip sides against Putin, it should be a rational and pragmatic decision. But that's the best of any world. Trump can't meet the moment in that context, but he can choose vengeance and retaliation instead. That might happen. If Trump goes back to NATO, Putin had better be looking for a 5th story window and a skydiving suit. At least the suit would add color.