'We're 73 Days In': Dick Durbin Hammers Trump After Promising To End Russia-Ukraine War 'In One Day'

2 days ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about President Trump promising to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine in one day after taking office.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. President, anyone here remember how Donald Trump promised to end Russia's war on Ukraine

00:05in one day if he was elected? That's right, one day. Well, we're 73 days into his term with Russia

00:13still raining death and destruction upon the people of Ukraine. And instead of ending the war,

00:19Donald Trump has alienated and bullied our allies around the world. Our allies.

00:24He insulted and blackmailed Ukrainian President Zelensky,

00:28who has led Ukrainians fighting bravely for more than three years. 46,000 Ukrainians have died in

00:36defense of their country. He's decimated low-cost soft power by gutting U.S. aid and Voice of

00:42America, giving away our influence and leadership to China and Russia. I moved the head of Russian

00:49state TV and get this quote, an awesome decision by Trump. We couldn't shut them down,

00:56unfortunately, but America did so itself. By turning our backs on the rest of the world,

01:02Donald Trump has undermined the promise of America as a beacon of democracy, freedom,

01:07and human rights. And all the while, Russian President Putin is laughing at us,

01:12watching with glee as America destroys its own leadership and credibility,

01:17something he could only have dreamed of in his former KGB days. If you don't believe me,

01:22read the New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. His recent column title tells a story. Quote,

01:29I don't believe a single word Trump and Putin say about Ukraine, end of quote. Or Washington

01:34Post column Max Boot wrote, quote, Putin is playing Trump and Whitkoff like a Stradivarius,

01:43asking dismayingly what the rest of us are pondering as well. Does Trump seriously believe

01:48Putin is negotiating in good faith to end the war in Ukraine? Or listen to the senior Republican

01:54senator from Kentucky. Here's what he said. Unless we change course, the outcome we're

01:59heading for today is one we can least afford, a headline that reads Russia wins, America loses.

02:06An illusory piece that shreds America's credibility, leading Ukraine under threat,

02:11threatens, weakens our alliance, and emboldens our enemies. I agree. Consider the last few months of

02:17negotiations between Trump and Putin have led almost nowhere and emboldened Russia. A supposed

02:24ceasefire was supposed to narrowly limit Russian attacks, and here we have the bombing hospitals.

02:31A supposedly deal to stop fighting in the Black Sea was a giveaway to the Russians and undermined

02:36Ukrainians. Or consider President Trump's special peace envoy, Steve Whitkoff, a real estate tycoon

02:44from New York who's in competition with Neville Chamberlain for the world's most naive appeaser.

02:52Whitkoff recently told another Putin apologist, Tucker Carlson, that he liked Putin and didn't

02:58regard him as a bad guy. That same Whitkoff groveled over Putin's obviously manipulative

03:05portrait gift to Trump, and he said those forced at gunpoint in occupied eastern Ukraine to vote

03:11in a sham referendum actually really wanted to be part of Russia.

03:15He's buying the Kremlin talking points and the long list in total. But as President

03:22negotiates away Ukraine's freedom and America's credibility, Congress has an obligation and a

03:28constitutional responsibility to act. So I'm glad this week that dozens of my colleagues from both

03:34sides of the aisle introduced legislation to make it clear to Russia that broad sanctions will be

03:39imposed if Russia does not negotiate in good faith and end this war soon. We owe Ukraine,

03:44and we certainly owe our own country nothing less. Mr. President, another topic of global

03:49importance, President Trump once again announced an escalation of trade wars with many of our

03:54closest allies and trade partners. He proclaimed it, quote, liberation day yesterday. Liberation

04:01day is what he called it. But don't expect any ticker tape parades or flag displays in the

04:05windows of American homes to celebrate this liberation day. The American public has been

04:11clear. They want to see prices come down, not go up. Americans are sick of paying too much for eggs

04:18and gas, for the everyday necessities they need to provide to their families, to commute to work,

04:24to pay the mortgage. Trump's tariffs are what I call Trump's national sales tax. Trump's national

04:31sales tax will do exactly the opposite. The 10% tariffs the President announced will result in an

04:37increase of thousands of dollars in costs for households of everyday Americans. Experts estimate

04:44that the Trump's national sales tax, these tariffs will cost the average family $100 a week. That's

04:51$5,000 annually. That's a lot of eggs. Trump is pushing our economy in the wrong direction.

04:57During a time when many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, this trade war is senseless,

05:03frivolous and dangerous to Americans' family budgets. Who in the world ever dreamed that

05:08the last election was about whether we want to trade war with Canada? These tariffs are a tax

05:14hike on Americans and will cost businesses, consumers, farmers and workers. If Trump were

05:20less focused on annexing Canada and Greenland and Panama and God knows who else and raising revenue

05:27to pay for billionaire tax cuts, he'd clearly see that the American people ardently disagree

05:32with his so-called liberation day. In fact, a recent poll found that 60% of Americans opposed

05:39the tariffs, and that's before they actually kicked in. Look at the stock market today. How

05:44you doing with that retirement account? Most Americans are not doing very well. While the

05:49President claims that foreign countries will pay the tariffs, Americans know better. That burden

05:55of tariffs is carried by our companies and paid for by our consumers. Rest assured, the uncertainty

06:02and fear these tariffs will create will impact our nation's workers and our economy. America knows

06:08the economy is going the wrong way under Donald Trump. They won't be fooled. Witness what happened

06:13in Wisconsin just a few days ago. Even Trump's Rasputin, Elon Musk, cannot buy his way out of

06:19this mess. In fact, the only thing these tariffs are liberating is money from the wallets of

06:24hard-working Americans into the bank accounts of billionaires. I yield the floor.

'We're 73 Days In': Dick Durbin Hammers Trump After Promising To End Russia-Ukraine War 'In One Day'

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