Donald Trump tried to shrug off Putin’s peace talks no-show and was owned into next week

Donald Trump, as no-one anywhere needs reminding, said he’d bring an end to Russian’s invasion of Ukraine within 24 hours of returning to the White House.

Turns out, more than 100 days later, it’s a little bit more complicated than that, and the jury is still out on exactly what Trump has achieved (excluding what he’s achieved for himself, obviously).

After three days of anticipation and speculation, it turned out Vladimir Putin did not turn up in person for peace talks in Turkey with Volodymyr Zelenskyy after all.

Trump was asked about this latest blow to his 24-hour promise on the latest leg of his tour of the Middle East, and he put the bravest of faces on the whole thing. A brave face, and a stupid face, obviously.

Reporter: No Putin in Turkey. Disappointed?

Trump: No.. I actually said, why would he go if I’m not going? Because I wasn’t going to go. I wasn’t planning to go. I would go, but I wasn’t planning to go. And I said, I don’t think he’s going to go if I don’t go. And that’s turned… pic.twitter.com/zQeVGrFXyb

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 15, 2025

And here’s precisely what these people made of that.

1.

This idiocy is getting beyond sufferable .

“Why would Putin go if I’m not going?” pic.twitter.com/Ri02IrZbxC

— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) May 15, 2025

2.

He’ll tell himself anything to avoid admitting the truth – putin keeps playing him for a fool.

— Akash Maniam (@ManiamAkash) May 15, 2025

3.

So he didn’t go because Putin might not go, but also says Putin didn’t go because he wasn’t going. This is not short of the diplomatic version of “You hang up first”

— Ilyas Ibrahim Mohamed (@iiliyaa) May 15, 2025

4.

He threatened Putin with sanctions if he didn’t sign the ceasefire. He didn’t, Trump did nothing.

Then he threatened sanctions again and Putin blew off peace talks in Turkey.

And all this weak loser has to say about it is this complete load of bullshit. Trump is Putin’s bitch. https://t.co/NqTkT9aYgO

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 15, 2025

5.

This is a terrible look from Trump.

Pretending to be in the lead but a mile behind Putin.

Republicans must act, this is Russia’s final delay.

Merz must realise he will not get support from Trump, but perhaps the Republicans can apply some pressure.@LindseyGrahamSC

— paul tyrrell (@PBTyrrell) May 15, 2025

6.

Can someone please remove this illiterate, uneducated twat from the oval office before something really bad happens?

— Gilles Bourdin ✊ (@Gilles_Bourdin) May 15, 2025