Donald Trump Says Vladimir Putin Has 'Gone Absolutely CRAZY'

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

As Russia continues its air bombardment of Ukraine, he takes a tougher rhetorical line, saying that Putin is "playing with fire." But if his peace negotiations go nowhere, is Trump prepared to resupply the Ukrainians with U.S. weapons and air defenses? Plus, Sen. Lindsey Graham argues for a bill, which has 82 co-sponsors, to ratchet up sanctions on Russian energy exports.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.
0:08.4	After days of Russian aerial strikes on Ukraine, President Trump toughens his rhetoric toward
0:14.8	Vladimir Putin, including saying he's gone crazy and is playing with fire.
0:20.3	Meantime Senator Lindsey Graham lines up 82 Senate co-sponsors for a sanctions bill
0:26.1	that would put tough penalties on buyers of Russian oil, natural gas, and other products.
0:32.1	Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal.
0:35.7	We are joined today by my colleagues, columnist Joe Sternberg,
0:39.4	and editorial board member Jillian Melcher, both calling in today from London.
0:44.0	Dozens of civilians have reportedly been killed over the past week by Russian bombardment.
0:49.7	What the Ukrainian armed forces estimate is about 1,400 drones and nearly 100 missiles aimed at targets all across the country.
0:58.8	That prompted the president on Sunday night to stiffen his approach toward this, saying on truth social, I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him.
1:10.5	He has gone absolutely
1:11.7	crazy. He is needlessly killing lots of people, and I'm not just talking about soldiers.
1:16.9	Missiles and drones are being shot into cities in Ukraine for no reason whatsoever. Let's listen
1:22.8	to a bit of the president speaking with reporters on Sunday in front of Marine One.
1:32.2	I'm not happy with what Putin's doing. He's killing a lot of people, and I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time. Always gotten along with him, but he's sending
1:37.5	rockets into cities and killing people, and I don't like it at all, okay? We're in the middle of
1:44.0	talking, and he's shooting rockets into Kiev and other cities. I don't like it at all, okay? We're in the middle of talking and he's shooting rockets into Kiev and other cities.
1:47.3	I don't like it at all.
1:48.8	On Tuesday, Trump followed up with this on Truth Social,
1:51.5	saying what Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me,
1:54.8	lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia,
	...

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