[White House Video] Scroll down with the trackbar on the far right to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s right-column commentary on President Trump’s ceasefire/peace talks; “Monty Hall Would Shake His Head in Disbelief.”
Peace Talks? What Peace Talks? – Russia hit Ukraine with some 600 missiles and drones early Thursday, killing one and injuring 22, The Kyiv Independent and NPR’s Morning Edition report. One missile sparked a fire at a large US factory in Mukachevo, in western Ukraine near Poland, that produces civilian electronics.
Russia launched the attack “as if there were no efforts to end the war,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as reported by the BBC.
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Pressure on Fed Governor – Biden-appointed Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook says she will not be bullied by President Trump, who is considering firing her “for cause,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
“Cook must resign now!!!” Trump posted on social media, after his chief of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, homebuilder Bill Pulte, alleged also on social media Wednesday that Cook submitted what he called fraudulent information on a pair of mortgage applications.
Pulte alleged that Cook listed properties in both Michigan and Georgia as primary residences, a designation that typically results in lower mortgage rates.
Pressure on Fed … This comes ahead of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech Friday at the Kansas City Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If Powell indicates the Fed is about to lower interest rates, Trump’s pressure on Cook could subside -- a bit.
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California v. Texas Voting Maps – The Texas House of Representatives approved new voting maps, 88-52, that are meant to gain five Republican members of the US House in the 2026 midterm elections, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The unusual mid-decade gerrymander/redistricting was requested – demanded – by President Trump who wants to build up the thin GOP majority of the current, 119th Congress with those presumed five additional Republican congressmembers.
The Texas vote comes after Democratic lawmakers fled the state to prevent a quorum.
Along comes Newsom … Presumed 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been gearing up to counter the redrawn Texas maps. But because of California’s stricter redistricting laws meant to reduce gerrymandering, the state must first place the measure on a ballot initiative.
California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D) and state Senate President Mike McGuire (D) on Monday introduced Prop 50 as Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, for this November 4th’s ballot in order to redraw maps to gain five US House seats in time for the 2026 midterms, according to BallotPedia.
“They’re not screwing around,” Newsom said. “We cannot afford to screw around either. We have got to fight fire with fire.” --TL
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WEDNESDAY 8/20/25
Pre-Trilat – President Trump told Fox & Friends Tuesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian (dictator)/President Vladmir Putin, “not the best of friends,” will meet first to discuss a peace agreement in Ukraine, before a potential “trilat” between the three presidents. All these meetings give Russia more time to attack Ukraine and grab more territory Moscow will claim anyway, skeptics of this process would note, raising the question of whether Trump’s grand peace-making plan will ever make its way to the trilat.
“And I called President Putin (Monday) and we … I do have a good relationship, but it only matters if we get things done,” Trump told the Fox morning show’s fawning co-hosts by phone. “Otherwise, I don’t care about the relationship, but I want to get things done.
“You know, I’ve gotten … I’ve solved seven wars,” the hopeful future Nobel Peace Prize winner continued. “We ended seven wars. I thought this would be one of the easiest wars and this has turned out to be the toughest one.”
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Reservists for Israel’s Gaza Takeover – Israel is calling up about 60,000 reservists before its planned offensive to capture Gaza City, a number that roughly coincides with the number of Palestinians that the Hamas-run government there says have been killed by Israel since the war began in October 2023. Most forces to operate in Gaza City, the strip’s largest urban center, will be active-duty soldiers, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, the newspaper further reports, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Wednesday that Israel’s assault on Gaza has caused “massacres and starvation” and that Israel’s wider actions are “killing all prospects for peace in the Middle East.”
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Texas GOP Up – Democratic state legislators have been forced back into Texas to give the state legislature the quorum it needs to fulfill President Trump’s demand for five additional GOP-secured seats in the US House of Representatives. The Texas House was set Wednesday to pass its unusual mid-decade gerrymander, according to The Texas Tribune. –TL
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TUESDAY 8/19/25
More Meetings To Come – Washington press are almost universally describing Monday’s meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, backed by seven European leaders, and President Trump, as short on progress. Trump did advance the cause by announcing a meeting between himself, Zelenskyy and Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin, followed by a “trilat” of the three, all while Russia continues to bombard Ukraine because Putin convinced Trump to drop ceasefire demands and go straight to peace talks.
Zelenskyy defended Ukraine’s interests in a “genial” meeting with Trump, The New York Times reports, as the two “huddled” for several hours along with Zelenskyy’s European wingmen and -women.
While decidedly short on progress, US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s comments that the US could participate in an “Article 5-like protection” for Ukraine has emerged as potentially the biggest gain by Kyiv. Article 5 is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization provision that all its members step up to defend a single country attacked by a non-member.
Moscow already has indicated Article 5-like protection would be a non-starter, while it would be essential to Kyiv.
“It is important that the United States of America send a clear signal that they will be among the countries that would help coordinate and will also be participants in the security guarantee for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told a press conference across from the White House, in Lafayette Park (per Punchbowl News).
But the key issue will be Putin’s demands for all of the Donbas region, which is a hard-stop non-starter for Zelenskyy, who maintains Ukraine’s constitution would not allow it without a vote by its citizens. What’s likely to come from further negotiations as dealt by Trump?
For Monday’s quickly arranged super-summit, Zelenskyy learned from February’s Oval Office disaster to a.) wear a suit and necktie, even if his was Elon Muskesque black-on-black, and to b.) effusively thank the president and his White House minions for … everything. The White House staff did not miss the opportunity to document praise from Zelenskyy and his fellow European leaders on the official site under the heading: “American Leadership is Back Under President Trump.”
“World leaders,” the Monday post reads, “credit President Trump’s decisive actions for reigniting the dialogue. Yes, the European leaders have learned the best way to counter Putin’s ability to direct Trump with compliments is with effusive praise. To wit:
•“I think that we had a very good conversation with President Trump. … it was really good. We spoke about very sensitive points.” –Zelenskyy
•“I really want to thank you, President of the United States, dear Donald, for the fact that you, as I said before, broke the deadlock basically with President Putin by starting the dialogue … From there, here we are today.” –NATO Secretary Gen. Mark Rutte
•“I think in the past two weeks, we’ve probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past three-and-a-half years.” –Finnish President Alexander Stubb
•“It is an important day – a new phase – after three years that we didn’t see any kind of sign from the Russian side that they were willing for dialogue, so something is changing – something has changed – thanks to you.” – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
•“I think today will be seen as a very important day in recent years in relation to a conflict which has gone for three-and-a-bit years, and so far, nobody has been able to bring it to this point – so I thank you for that.” –UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer
•“This is extremely helpful that we are meeting and hearing that the two of you are having such a good meeting today … The path is open. You opened it last Friday – but now the way is open for complicated negotiations.” –German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
•“Thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this meeting for your commitment … everybody around this table is in favor of peace … this is why the idea of a trilateral meeting is very important because this is the only way to fix it.” –French President Emmanuel Macron
• “We had a fantastic NATO Summit … We had the largest trade deal ever – agreed. And now, we are here to work together with you on a … lasting peace for Ukraine. Stop the killing. This is really our common interest. –European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
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State Capitalism? – Trump administration officials are discussing the possibility of taking a 10% stake in embattled chipmaker Intel in order to revive its fortunes and rebuild semiconductor manufacturing in the US, people familiar with the talks told The Wall Street Journal. This comes as SoftBank announced plans to invest $2 billion in Intel Monday, for the slightly discounted price of $23 per share.
That would give Japanese-based SoftBank about 2% of Intel, the WSJ estimates. Last December, Softbank announced it would invest $100 billion in US projects over the next four years under an effort designed to curry favor with the Trump administration. So … just $98 billion to go.
NOTE: A previous version of this story de-capitalized "SoftBank," a sort of reverse-Trump Truth Social mistake. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa