CBS News host Margaret Brennan slammed a top Republican congressman after he suggested President Donald Trump could get Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine by “flattering” him.
In an interview on Face the Nation on Sunday, Rep. Dan Crenshaw was first put on the spot after he suggested it would be “more appropriate” for the president to negotiate with Putin than engage in a war.
Brennan, however, pointed out that she had asked him specifically about Trump’s apparent invitation for Putin to visit the United States.
“Talking is different than inviting him to the United States,” Brennan told Crenshaw.
“You can parse it out however you like,” Crenshaw said. “But the reality is, you’re going to have to get him to the table somehow.”
“He’s good at flattering people in order to get them to the table. That is what we need, whether we like it or not.”
It was after this comment, which appeared to surprise the CBS News host, that Brennan exposed the flaw in the Republican congressman’s argument.
“But flattering a very brutal dictator who’s pretty cunning,” she began. “frankly, you really think that’s a winning strategy?”
The Texas Republican snapped back at Brennan, denigrating Putin for failing to invade the whole of Ukraine after it launched a full-scale invasion.
“He’s not that cunning,” he said. “He’s made a massive mistake and miscalculation. He’s not as clever as maybe we’ve given him credit for.”
“I think let Trump do his campaign promise and play this out.”
Trump’s ultimate campaign promise was to end the war in a day, which Ukraine and Russia both dismissed.
“We are not happy, of course, with the proposals made by members of the Trump team,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in January.
The war has continued, nearly a month after Trump’s second term in office began.
But Crenshaw made another bold promise as he backed the president to win on his own terms.
“Nobody’s going to take advantage of Donald Trump,” Crenshaw also promised. “There is absolutely no way that Donald Trump will be seen, and he will not let himself go down in history as having sold out to Putin.”
“He will not let that happen.”
Critics quipped online that Crenshaw’s comments won’t stand the test of time.
“Bookmark this one,” media analyst Aaron Rupar wrote on X.
