Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been traveling with Donald Trump to the Middle East this week. He's currently in Turkey, working to build a stronger NATO by pushing for increased defense spending and fairer burden sharing, among other things. On Friday, he met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Ukrainian Presidential Administration Head Andriy Yermak.
There have been some rumors that Vladimir Putin himself would show up in Turkey to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky this week, but in the end, Putin declined. Both Rubio and Trump now believe there is only one way to get the two leaders together and end the war once and for all.
On Thursday night, Rubio explained the situation to Sean Hannity on Fox News who asked about the situation: "And you also went into detail – there had been some hope, maybe, in the background – was never any full commitment – that Vladimir Putin might show up at this and have a meeting with Zelensky. And then you were pretty clear today that you believe if that’s going to happen, it would take Donald Trump sitting down with Vladimir Putin. What exactly did you mean by that?"
Rubio went on to explain that he believes the only way the Russia-Ukraine War will finally come to an end is if Trump and Putin sit down at a table together, face-to-face, and talk.
Yeah, it’s my assessment and I think it’s the President’s assessment. By the way, I think he said publicly today that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here – nothing is going to happen at this point – given everything we know, after months of working on this, nothing is going to happen until President Trump sits across the table from Vladimir Putin and puts it on the line and puts it on the table. I think that’s the only chance we have at peace at this point given everything we’ve seen over the last few weeks. There’s been talks, there’s been negotiations, there’s been trips and meetings. But in the end, I think we’ve reached the conclusion, and rightfully so, as the President has, that the only way this is going to happen – if it has a chance to happen, the only way it happens is – is the President directly engages with Vladimir Putin. So I don’t know what the date or the place of that is yet, but that’s really the only chance at this point. And I think there are a lot of countries here that would privately share that assessment as well.
On Friday, Trump echoed the sentiment, telling reporters in Abu Dhabi that he's ready for the meeting "as soon as we can set it up," adding, "I think it's time for us to just do it." Trump also asserted on Thursday that the reason Putin refused to meet in Turkey this week is that Trump himself wasn't there. "Nothing is going to happen until Putin and I get together," he said.
Rubio has made it clear in recent weeks that this war will require a diplomatic solution, and as we've seen over the last week in the Middle East (with apologies to Rubio), there may be no better diplomat in the world than Donald Trump right now. Rubio, who called the president a "lover of peace," seems to agree. He told Hannity:
I think the President the other night or the other day in Saudi Arabia gave perhaps one of the most impressive speeches of his presidency and one of the most meaningful speeches by an American president overseas in decades. And in it, one of the things he talks about is how he wants to see more building and less bombing. In essence, he wants to see us building things up, not destroying things.
The President, frankly, is a lover of peace. He... wants to stop wars and prevent wars and end wars. That’s what the President endeavors to do. In fact, he openly has said – and he said it in the speech – that he wishes we didn’t have to spend all this money on the military; we could spend it instead on creating wealth and prosperity and human development. Obviously, that’s not the way the world works, but that’s what he hopes we can achieve. And that’s what he’s trying to achieve here. That’s it.
I was just asked a question by the media here about this a few minutes ago, and I said I still don’t understand why some would be critical of the President – they should be happy that the President of the most powerful nation on earth is a peacemaker who seeks to prevent wars, seeks to end wars, and seeks to stop existing wars. I think this is something we should be very proud of, that we have a President that seeks peace, seeks the end of death and destruction – in this case, in the Russia-Ukraine war which has gone on far too long, destroyed thousands and thousands of lives, and really is going to cost billions of dollars to rebuild from.
Meanwhile, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin also stated on Friday that Pope Leo XIV plans to offer up the Vatican as a place where Putin and Zelensky can sit down and talk. Parolin also said the fact that Putin failed to show up in Turkey this week is "tragic because we hoped that a process could be started, perhaps slow but with a peaceful solution to the conflict, and instead we are back at the beginning."
I'm not sure if that invitation would extend to Trump as well, but I hope it does. The more I hear Trump and Rubio talk, the more it sounds like a resolution to the war could be imminent.
Could Donald Trump help bring peace to Eastern Europe? After watching him over the last week, it almost feels like he could bring peace to the entire world. But even if he ended every single war and conflict, the fake news would probably find some negative way to report it.
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