Handshake of Shame: Trump’s Surrender in Anchorage

Putin walked away with prestige. America walked away with nothing.

Handshake of Shame: Trump’s Surrender in Anchorage

Putin walked away with prestige. America walked away with nothing.

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #490: Friday, August 15th.

Imagine this: two men met in Anchorage, Alaska…today. One man…the sitting president of the United States…invited the other…a man indicted for war crimes and increasingly isolated on the world stage…onto American soil.

You can call it a meeting. You can call it a press event. But make no mistake: it was not diplomacy. It was optics. And it was dangerous.

1. The Spectacle Without Substance

They shook hands on a red carpet…with fighter jets roaring overheard and a military fanfare worthy of a false summit.

Vladimir Putin…carrying the weight of war and crimes on his shoulders…was given a hero’s welcome in the United States. Meanwhile, Donald Trump…his longtime admirer…now his defense attorney…pulled out all the stops.

• The summit lasted roughly two to three hours. No ceasefire. No peace plan. Essential breakthroughs? None.
  The GuardianReuters+3The Wall Street Journal+3AP News+3

• Putin spoke first…on U.S. soil…a protocol reversal so glaring it screamed of submission. He overshadowed Trump’s remarks nearly two to one in speaking time.
  The Guardian

• Trump praised it as “very productive,” only to undercut himself with: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.” Empty words.
  New York Magazine+8The Guardian+8New York Post+8

In short: all choreography…zero covenant.

2. What Was Gained…and Who Walks Away Smiling

Putin walked off with more than photos. He left with maximum prestige and zero accountability.

Experts warned this was already a win for Putin before either man spoke.
The Moscow Times

He dominated the stage. He controlled the narrative. He’s press-minted as the co-equal of an American president. All without a single plan to back it up. Trump gave the illusion of power…while handing over leverage.

3. Dangerous Implications…Here's the Real Damage

You don’t need a crystal ball to see where this can lead because we're glimpsing it already.

A) Ukraine is sidelined.

Not invited. Not fought for. Merely a prop in Trump's photo-op. This isn’t peace—it’s betrayal.
Yahoo+2Wikipedia+2Reuters

B) Putin gains time and legitimacy.

This summit could delay or dilute U.S. sanctions as pressure builds.
The Washington Post

C) U.S. intelligence alarm bells are deafening.

Observers called Trump “subservient,” “a useful idiot,” even a “puppet in Putin’s pocket.” One former CIA chief said the conduct bordered on treason.
Wikipedia

D) U.S. credibility drains away.

Allies left scrambling. Europeans held an emergency summit. Ukrainians voiced their alarm. Democracy trembles when you elevate tyranny.
The Washington Post

4. Why This Reads as Kennedy-Level Drama

John F. Kennedy warned us that diplomacy without principle is disaster. This summit wasn't an outreach…it was a misreach. The bill for this theatrical misstep? Paid in flinching allies…weakened deterrence…and emboldened tyranny.

5. What Should Happen Next…Before It’s Too Late

• Pause the theatrics. No “next summit.” This isn’t a meet-and-greet; it was a negotiation…or nothing. Trump got nothing.
  The TimesThe Wall Street Journal

• Rebuild alliances. Rally NATO…confront Kremlin aggression firmly…and ensure Ukraine is preeminent at the table…not sidelined.
  Wikipedia

• Let accountability breathe. No more optics masked as strategy. If sanctions helped…enforce them. If Ukraine needs aid…deliver it. If peace requires a strong defense…bolster it.

• Demand transparency. Let journalists ask the questions. Let the American people see what’s said…how it was said…and what was…or wasn’t…really agreed.

A Warning Written in Snow

This Alaska summit had all the grandeur of a cold stage show…and none of the warmth of real engagement.

Imagine the message it sends:

If you want influence…you don’t need justice…you just need optics. If that’s what America stands for now…we’ve already lost.

But America can reclaim its standing…not with press flash…..and damn sure…not with Trump….but with principle. If not now…then when?

And so…Alaska will not be remembered as a summit of statesmen…it will be remembered as the day America rolled out the red carpet for a dictator and got nothing but disgrace in return.

No peace plan. No relief for Ukraine. No strategic gain. Only the hollow sound of applause as tyranny was elevated on U.S. soil.

What’s worse…this wasn’t mere incompetence. It was theater. Calculated. Staged. A performance designed to make the strongman look stronger and America look weaker. Our allies saw it. Our enemies saw it. And history will record it.

The danger isn’t just in what was said…it’s in what was signaled: that America’s resolve can be bent…its dignity pawned…and its credibility drained with a single handshake.

But here’s the truth you and I can’t afford to forget: the story doesn’t end in Anchorage. It never does.

A nation’s decline isn’t written in one meeting…it’s written in what its people allow afterward. If we let this pass as “just politics,” then the surrender today becomes the standard tomorrow.

But if we call it what it is..if we shine a light so bright it burns through the spin…then this day becomes not the moment we broke…but the moment we woke.

Let me spell it out, friend…because I was boiling mad (fucking pissed) watching this circus. The man sitting in the Oval Office…who more than a few sharp people have flat-out called a Russian asset…was cozying up to one of the most ruthless killers alive:

Vladimir Putin. And in that moment, you could almost hear the sound of America being pawned off like cheap junk at a yard sale.

If that doesn’t make your blood boil…check your pulse. Because this isn’t just “bad optics.” This is betrayal dressed up as diplomacy. And I don’t want you shrugging it off. I want you pissed. I want you disgusted. I want you ready to fight back harder than ever.

So here’s what you do:

Dig your heels in. Lock them so deep in the soil of this country that you can feel the roots of the trees wrapping around your ankles. That’s how hard we’ve got to hold the line. Because if we don’t? We’re done.

This is the most invigorating mission I’ve ever taken part in…and I’m damn glad I was born…when I was…and able to be here for it. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

A Powerful Thought Process

Any time I hear someone say, “Why me?!” about something, I think, “Why not me?!”

I’m not special. Hell, I’m just one of the 117 billion souls who’ve ever walked this dirt. No more. No less.

But here’s the catch: somebody’s got to carry the weight.

Somebody’s got to grab the hard jobs when history comes knocking. And like it or not…that “somebody” is us.

When there’s a job to do…I don’t want to be the guy who slips through history unnoticed. I want to be the one people whisper about later with a kind of awe: “Holy hell, that Jack Hopkins…he worked his ass off like nobody else.”

That idea alone flips the switch. It changes everything. It makes average men into warriors…and ordinary days into defining moments.

Now is our time. This is our burden. Our fight.

And the only way out…is through. So let’s do the damn thing…not half-hearted…not timid…but so fiercely…so relentlessly, that no matter how the story ends…we can walk tall…spit the dust off our boots…and know we gave it everything.

That’s the only way to live with your head high…and your life force at peace.

I’ll be back soon…with a hell of a lot…more!

Stay strong…

-Jack