Hello and welcome to Battleground with me, Patrick Bishop and Saul David. It's hardly surprising that

the world has turned its eyes away from Ukraine this week.

Instead, they're focused on another conflict, the decision by Donald Trump,

to claim that what most people saw as a series of low-level clashes between law enforcement

officers and protesters complaining about his hardline immigration policies was in fact an insurrection.

And he went on, of course, to portray Los Angeles where the trouble began as a city in flames.

It's extraordinary, isn't it, Patrick? And if a fire does break out there, it'll be Donald Trump, who raised it.

Our show is about Ukraine, but in recent months, much of what we talk

about has, by necessity, focused on the behavior and thought processes of the US president,

and this one seems no different. The reason, of course, is that whatever he does has an impact

great or small on the future of the Russia-Ukraine war.

But what do you think about this latest turn of events tells us, Patrick?

Well, I don't know about you, but it seems to me that this is kind of definitive proof that he's turned away from Ukraine.

He's absolutely lost interest in his peace mission, much vaunted, and he's changing the narrative

completely to focus on what he sees as the enemy within. So, you know, this is beneficial

from his point of view from a number of aspects. It carries on the kind of culture wars,

the designation of Democrats as being somehow un-American,

etc. But it also, from the Ukrainian perspective, has the effect of diverting attention away from

what is actually a massive failure for him. And it also provides an opportunity for him to posture as a kind of great war leader,

etc. Except this time, the enemy is actually his fellow Americans. But looking at it from the point

of view of what it means for Ukraine and the feature of the war.

I think this means that Putin is now completely off the hook as far as the Americans are concerned.

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