Newsmax had long been firmly on the side of Ukraine after Russia’s invasion of the country, even leveraging it to snipe at the Fox News competition over its pro-Putin leanings (until it tried to woo Tucker Carlson after Fox News fired him anyway). With a new president, it’s less aggressively pro-Ukraine but, instead, is pro-Trump — as befits a Trump Regime Media outlet — going along with whatever flailing he does in trying to settle the conflict. In January, for instance, it hyped Trump’s tough talk blaming Russia for the war, but it also repeated Vladimir Putin’s claim that the war could have been avoided if Trump had been president. In February, as we noted, Newsmax took Trump’s side in his berating of Zelensky at the White House, though it eventually added some balance. Meanwhile, a June 16 article by Eric Mack promoted Trump’s evidence-free assertion that Russia getting kicked out of the G7 group of countries led to the war.
When there were more flailing peace efforts in August, Newsmax again took Trump’s side and became a little less pro-Ukraine. An Aug. 15 article by Solange Reyner uncritically repeated Putin’s claim that he would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump had been president. Newsmax then laid on the pro-Trump fluff:
- Fleitz to Newsmax: Trump, Putin ‘Made Substantial Progress’
- Sen. Mullin to Newsmax: Trump 100 Percent in Control
- Wilkie to Newsmax: Trump Flexes on Putin From the Jump
- Rep. Van Orden to Newsmax: Trump Says No Business Deals Without Ceasefire
- Craig Shirley to Newsmax: Trump’s Strategy ‘Peace Through Strength’
After Newsmax host Rob Finnerty served up details on what each side wants to settle the war, the coverage backed away from Trump-fluffing and became more realistic:
- Trump Now Open to US Security Guarantees for Ukraine
- Robert Wilkie to Newsmax: ‘Jaw Jaw Is Better Than War War’
- Senators Eye Terror Label for Russia Over Ukrainian Kids
- Fred Fleitz to Newsmax: Russia-Ukraine Peace Plan Needs Broad Compromises
- Body Language Expert Hartley to Newsmax: Trump Goes Excited to Disappointed
- Fmr. Amb. Taylor to Newsmax: Trump’s Approach to Ukraine Shifts
- Dan Rice to Newsmax: ‘Trump Chose Diplomacy’ in Talks With Putin
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy served up more Trump-fluffing over Russia in an Aug. 26 column:
In psychotherapy, one of the cardinal rules is simple: It’s better to talk than not to talk.
Dialogue opens channels for understanding, and more often than not, solutions follow.
President Donald J. Trump has applied this principle to global diplomacy with remarkable success.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
[…]When Trump entered the scene with his second term, Russia and Ukraine weren’t even at the same table.
Years of frozen hostility, punctuated by violence, had left the two nations with nothing but distrust and the bloodshed of over 1 million dead and wounded.
Under the Biden administration, diplomacy had ground to a halt.
Trump’s first achievement was simple but hugely significant: He got both sides talking.
Today, Russian and Ukrainian officials meet and communicate with a regularity that was unthinkable before.
While a comprehensive peace deal hasn’t materialized overnight — and no one should expect instant success in a conflict of this sort — the fact that dialogue exists at all is a monumental step forward.
[…]Trump’s foreign policy is built on a simple but profound insight: People, and nations, resolve issues by talking them through. Psychotherapists know it, ordinary people know it, and now, thanks to Trump, global leaders are learning it too.
Whether in Ukraine, the Middle East, or South Asia, Trump has shown that dialogue is not weakness but wisdom.
His “talk therapy” approach may not yield instant cures, but it is a path to healing a fractured world.
Time and again, Donald Trump has demonstrated his talk approach works, even more so because it is backed up with action.
More than a month later, nothing has changed, and Russia is now trying to widen the war by targeting NATO countries. It seems all that Trump-fluffing at Newsmax is falling flat.