MSM Gaslights America for a Week about Trump Accepting Compliment from Putin, Major Media Malpractice

The mainstream media has once again misquoted and mischaracterized President Donald Trump to fit a far-left political agenda.

NBC’s Kristen Welker of “Meet the Press” conducted an interview with Donald Trump and asked him this loaded question, quoting Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“We surely hear that Mr. Trump says he will resolve all burning issues within several days, including the Ukrainian crisis. We cannot help but feel happy about it.”

Trump responded by saying “I like that he said that” and the mainstream media has been breathlessly reporting that Trump is welcoming, accepting, “jumping for joy” and otherwise ecstatic about receiving praise from the Russian President.

You can watch the video excerpt of the interview here.

By reading the transcript of the interview segment, you can see how the mainstream media has dishonestly selectively edited Trump’s statements to fit a false agenda.

When the media dishonestly quotes a small snippet of a Trump quote here, they do so to present Trump as supporting Putin, as overly friendly with Putin. The full transcript shows that Trump used the praise from Putin as a way to discuss how Trump as President would end the war in Ukraine by pressuring Putin economically.

The transcript is presented below so you can see yet another example of how the mainstream media lies to Americans and lies about Donald Trump.

Brett Samuels wrote TheHill.com’s false lead sentence about the clip: “Former President Trump in a new interview welcomed recent comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin Loading embracing Trump’s pledge to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if he’s reelected.” This was not true because Trump never “welcomed” the support, Trump merely did not disavow praise from Putin and used the quote as an opportunity to talk about how to bring about peace in the region by being tough with Russia.

That’s hardly “welcoming” praise from Putin.

Phillip Nieto at Mediaite.com’s false lead sentence was filled with lies about the clip: “Donald Trump reacted with joy to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s praise of how the former president would handle the war in Ukraine if he was in the White House, reaffirming his commitment to force Ukraine to make a peace deal.” Not only did Trump not “react with joy” but Trump also did not say he would “force Ukraine” to make peace. If anything, Trump implied that he would use economic pressure by reducing oil prices to force Putin to end the war.

Instead of “reacting with joy” Trump was stressing his role as a peacemaker and giving his strategy to bring Putin to peace talks.

Mediaite then repeated the Russiagate hoax narrative in its story as well, when they said, “At the center of Trump’s first term in office was concern over how Russia may have influenced the outcome of the 2016 election to benefit the GOP leader.”

The Russiagate hoax, after years investigating and millions spent looking into supposed collusion and interference by Russia in the 2016 election, could only show $100,000 spent by Russia on Facebook advertisements promoting an eclectic range of political causes in America.

Ramon Vargas at The Guardian from Britain also falsely covered the clip, saying that Trump “enjoyed hearing” Putin’s praise, and that Putin was “fawning over [Trump’s] stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Trump never said he enjoyed Putin’s praise, he simply wouldn’t disavow it.

And Putin’s quote is not “fawning” over Trump, it’s recognizing that Russia appreciates a leader that would bring about a rational peace in the Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile Zelensky’s stated peace plan is for Russia to give up everything even though Ukraine has been losing the war with spring and summer ‘offensives’ failing completely. Biden has been denying the war could go on for years but implying that there will be no hesitation from the West to continue a brutal war of attrition if needed.

On Twitter, a fake group called “Republicans against Trump” claimed that this clip showed that “A vote for Trump is a vote against America” because apparently the only acceptable position about the Ukraine War is to hope that it continues forever.

Here’s the transcript of the Trump interview segment:

WELKER/MEET THE PRESS: I want to ask you about something President Putin said about you this week. I don’t know if you’ve seen it. This was very recent President Putin said, quote, We surely hear that Mr. Trump says he will resolve all burning issues within several days, including the Ukrainian crisis. We cannot help but feel happy about it. What do you make of that?

TRUMP: Well, I like that he said that, because that means what I’m saying is right. I would get him into a room I get Zelensky into a room then I bring them together and I’d have a deal worked out. I would get a deal worked out. It would have been a lot easier before it started. Essentially, for four years I kept them from doing anything because you know what, I will tell you this: I’ve never said this… Ukraine was the apple of his eye. I said don’t ever do it. Don’t ever do it. He would have never done it. But again, oil prices. He wouldn’t have done it because of me, but… oil prices. The prices were so high that he had so much money. So he had all this money to prosecute the war. The one who drove up the prices was Biden.

WELKER/MEET THE PRESS: Given that President Putin has bombed maternity wards…

TRUMP: Terrible. All terrible. It’s all terrible.

WELKER/MEET THE PRESS: …20,000 kids kidnapped from Ukraine by Russia, mass graves. Do you welcome his support, his all but endorsement?

TRUMP: Look, I had a very good relationship with him. And yet nobody was tougher on Russia than me. I stopped Nord Stream two you never heard of Nord Stream two. That was the pipeline until I got involved. I said Nord Stream two– people that were sophisticated. Military people and political people never heard of Nord Stream two. I had it ended. The pipeline was dead. Biden came in and he approved it. There was nobody tougher than me with Russia. And yet I got along with Putin. Let me tell you, I got along with him really well. And that’s a good thing. Not a bad thing. He’s got 1700 nuclear missiles and so do we. But look, that’s a good thing. Getting along is okay. But I got along through strength and the war would have never happened. The war would have never happened. Now what’s happened? It’s so bad. The oil price is so high. It’s hard to get it stopped. The oil price is so high. When he goes above $50 and $60 a barrel, he makes a lot of money on the war. Now it’s a humanitarian thing. It’s a lot of different reasons, but I will get that war stopped.