CNN’s Fareed Zakaria breaks down why the bilateral meeting in Alaska between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was “cringeworthy” after Trump said “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

Anchorage

CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria described the recent summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as 'cringeworthy,' highlighting the warm reception given to Putin, which he said contrasted with the treatment of democratic allies. Zakaria pointed out that while the summit's atmosphere was uncomfortable, there were no significant policy concessions made by Trump to Putin.

Zakaria noted that concerns existed prior to the summit about the possibility of Trump making major concessions, particularly regarding Ukraine or European interests. However, he observed that Putin offered no substantive concessions and instead focused on flattering Trump. Ultimately, Zakaria expressed relief that the summit ended without any major agreements or concessions.

Hear why Zakaria calls Trump-Putin summit ‘cringeworthy’

Look, the atmospherics of the entire summit were somewhat cringeworthy. The fact that Putin was being welcomed on American soil, the fact that Trump gave him literally a red carpet treatment, the kind he has rarely given to any, you know, democratic ally of the United States. You can tell that Trump thinks Putin is, you know, is an equal, is this big shot on the world stage. And he's been treated by the rest of the West as a kind of pariah. I mean, he can't go to Europe because he'd be arrested. And so there was a lot of the atmospherics that were cringeworthy. But I will say, on the most important thing, at least for me, it was positive that there was no deal. I think everyone was worried that there was going to be a deal in which Trump was going to make major concessions. I don't think anyone thought Putin was going to make any concessions. The fear was that Donald Trump was going to cave in various ways, sell out Ukraine, sell out the Europeans. And he didn't do that. And so I think, you know, I'm at least relieved. Now, when you watch it, what you saw was Putin had clearly decided his strategy was he was going to make no substantive concessions of any kind. But he was going to really amp up the flattery of Trump. So he says, if Trump had been president, there would have been no war, which is easy for him to say. Now, Trump should get the Nobel Prize. He's amazing. All that, you know, is cheap and easy rhetoric for Putin. But he laid that on thick. But at the end of the day, he made no concessions. So Trump comes back empty handed. But you know, in a way, better to come back empty handed than to have given away, you know, a quarter of Ukraine.

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