Throughout the weekend, former President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Russia was whining about President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
On Monday, after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House, he’d changed his tune: This display of solidarity after the Putin meeting was a “brilliant, brilliant idea” on the part of whoever put it together.
Considering that the guy hosting it was Donald Trump, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that 1) the “brilliant, brilliant idea” of bringing these people together after the Putin summit was likely Trump’s, or was at least approved by him, and 2) perhaps the guy who was Obama’s ambassador to Russia right up until just before Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine isn’t the fellow to be talking to about immediate takes regarding how this war gets resolved.
But let’s start Monday, when Zelenskyy and an array of European leaders met at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. European leaders said they were prepared to continue the fight, and the Trump administration signaled it was prepared to provide assistance in what The Wall Street Journal described as “a NATO-like arrangement led by Europe.”
Most importantly, as the Journal characterized the tone: The leaders “sounded upbeat … about the prospects of finding a way to end the war in Ukraine.”
But don’t just ask the Journal. Ask Michael McFaul, the guy who spent the weekend braying about Trump, Russia, and Ukraine — who turned around and said “it was a positive meeting” on Monday.
“Whoever had the idea to bring all these European leaders together in addition to President Zelenskyy, that was a brilliant, brilliant idea,” McFaul said in an interview with NBC News.
“And having it come so quickly after Alaska was also very important, because now they’ve changed the talking points here. Just in this meeting alone, they’ve walked back some of the positions that the president was echoing when he met with President Putin.”
Is McFaul right – was Trump’s technique “brilliant”?
“So, this is very positive progress, the fact that they’re talking about a ceasefire again,” he continued.
“There’s no logic — I want to underscore this — this idea that a ceasefire gets in the way of negotiations. That is not historically true,” McFaul said.
“And why should people continue to die while they’re negotiating? So, I’m glad that’s back on the table.
“And second, the most important thing is that they’re talking about security guarantees with European soldiers being a part of that. That is major progress, with American assistance. I, myself, would like NATO guarantees rather than NATO-like guarantees,” he added. “But if you have to compromise, I think this is an important compromise and a step forward.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia under Barack Obama, Michael McFaul: “I think it was a positive meeting And whoever had the idea to bring all these European leaders together in addition to President Zelenskyy, that was a brilliant, brilliant idea, and having it come so quickly… pic.twitter.com/sPgTmh4S84
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 18, 2025
And keep in mind, this is what McFaul was saying on MSNBC before Monday’s White House meeting, which was effectively an extension of Friday’s summit with Putin:
McFaul: Trump didn’t talk tough. He admired Putin, he was acquiescent. I’ve dealt with Putin, he sees weakness. No cost for invasion makes Trump look weak.
For decades the U.S. was leader of the free world. Now maybe we don’t have that mantle. 1/ pic.twitter.com/JbzeHQqNkx
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) August 17, 2025
McFaul: Ceasefire and trilateral meeting didn’t happen. No progress, so they canceled the press conference, held a Soviet-style one instead.
I’ve organized such meetings. It’s unusual to skip the plan. I wish Zelenskyy well on Monday. 3/ pic.twitter.com/uEN3CnxDFj
— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) August 17, 2025
It’s almost like the president seems to know what he’s doing here.
The same, mind you, can’t be said for McFaul, who resigned immediately following the Sochi, Russia, Winter Olympics in 2014 to return to academia, from which he came. Those Games ended on Feb. 23; on Feb. 27, the first Russian troops entered Crimea to annex it from Ukraine.
While it didn’t technically happen under McFaul’s watch, the events that directly preceded it — the Ukrainian “Euromaidan Revolution,” the ousting of then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych — did, and neither McFaul nor anyone in the Obama orbit seems to have anticipated how this would slow-burn into an 11-year chipping away at Ukraine’s sovereignty due to the designs of Vladimir Putin.
Maybe, the guy with the “brilliant, brilliant idea” that brings about peace (to use McFaul’s own words on NBC) is Donald Trump, the man McFaul spent the weekend on MSNBC inveighing against.
McFaul brings to mind Dan Aykroyd’s character from “Ghostbusters.” As he, Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray are losing their jobs in higher ed in the movie, a horrified Aykroyd says, “You don’t know what it’s like out in the real world. I’ve been there: They expect results.”
It’s almost as if the same thing happened here — and McFaul is suddenly acknowledging reality. Guess we know one guy who isn’t getting invited to the Obama family Christmas/Kwanzaa/Eid party this year.
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