Aug. 19, 2025

Trump Hosts Zelensky and the European All-Stars: Peace Talks, Nobel Calls, and MS NOW

Show Notes
Transcript

President Trump welcomes Ukrainian President Zelensky and top European leaders to the White House in a flashy attempt at diplomacy—no yelling this time! Trump pitches a Putin-Zelensky-Trump summit while Europe floats “Article Five-like” promises no one can define. Plus: Trump’s awkward Nobel Prize cold-call to Norway, and MSNBC’s wild corporate rebrand to “MS NOW.” Is peace on the table or just another TV special? And did someone say… Epstein files? All that and more, on Ballot.

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Kalaruga Shark Media from Washington, d C. Where you could

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have at least said, thank you, this is ballot. That's right,

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and we might even rename the show to MS Ballot,

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because that's not stupid at all. Let's hit this. I'm

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Patrick Gutfield and President Trump hosted Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski

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at the White House yesterday, and this time nobody got

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yelled at in the Oval office progress the whole European

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gang showed up to basically everyone except the Pope, and honestly,

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he was probably busy. Now you'll remember back in February,

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Trump and Vice President Vance had what diplomats call a

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frank exchange of views with Zelenski, which is diplomatic speak

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for they yelled at him for a really long time.

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This time, Trump was all smiles and charm, telling everyone

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that peace is within reach. He even floated the idea

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of a trilateral meeting with himself and putin. Zelenski called

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his conversation with Trump really good, which, considering their February meeting,

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probably felt like being invited to a birthday party after

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getting detention. But here's the thing, nobody actually said, how

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they're going to achieve peace. The Europeans want to give

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Ukraine Article five like security guarantees, which sounds impressive until

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you realize nobody knows what that means. What's an Article

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five like guarantee. That's like saying your marriage, like committed

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to someone. Either you're in or you're not. The European

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leaders basically showed up as Zelenski's backup dancers, determined not

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to let Trump throw Ukraine under the bus again. Before

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the Alaska meeting with Putin, Trump wanted a quick ceasefire,

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but to set up bigger piece talks After Alaska, he

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seemed to shift toward Putin's preference for jumping straight to

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a full settlement. Putin loves this idea because Russia's winning

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on the battlefield right now, and he doesn't want Ukraine

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getting a timeout to regroup. While the Europeans view Putin

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with the trust level usually reserved for a used car

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salesman who is asking you to look out this seventh

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story window. Trump vouched for the Russian leader's peaceful intentions.

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He told Zelenski, I think you'll see that President Putin

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really would like to do something else. Then later he

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doubled down I think President Putin wants to find an

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answer too. Now, Putin wanting to find an answer could

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mean a lot of things. Maybe he wants to find peace,

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Maybe he wants to find Ukraine's surrender document. The interpretation

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really depends on your level of optimism or may he's

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going to release the Epstein files. Because whatever you think

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of Putin, he's not a coward. Trump cold called Norway's

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finance minister last month while the guy was just walking

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down the street in Oslo to ask about getting nominated

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for a Nobel Peace Prize. According to Norwegian press, Trump

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called out of the blue and told Jen Stoltenberg he

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wanted the Nobel Prize and to discuss tariffs. So Trump

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is now making unsolicited international phone calls about Nobel Prize.

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Picture this, You're the Norwegian finance minister. You're walking down

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the street, minding your own business, and suddenly your phone rings. Hello,

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this is Donald Trump. I'd like the Nobel Peace Prize. Please. Also,

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let's talk tariffs. The report says this wasn't even the

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first time Trump has brought up the Nobel Prize with Stoltenberg,

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so this is apparently a recurring conversation. Topic. Hey, Yen's

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it's Donald again. Still no word on that Nobel thing. Also,

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how are those Fjords looking? Stoltenberg, who's the former NATO

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Secretary General, diplomatically said the call focused on tariffs and

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economic cooperation ahead of Trump's official call with Norway's Prime minister. Translation, Yes,

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he asked about the Nobel Prize again, but we also

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talked about real business. The Norwegian Nobel Committee reviews hundreds

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of candidates each year before choosing winners. They probably weren't

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expecting direct lobbying calls from former presidents who are now presidents. Again, Hello,

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Nobel Committee, this is Donald Trump. I'm calling about your

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Nobel Prize situation. Here's my solution. You can have a

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peace price if and only if you release the Epstein files.

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Would you like some multiple sclerosis with your news? MSNBC

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is getting a name change, and honestly, it's about as

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dramatic as a corporate breakup gets. The network will now

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be called My Source for News, Opinion and the World,

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or ms NOW for short. Yes, that's a real name

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that real adults came up within real meetings. This whole

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thing is happening because NBC Universal is spinning off most

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of its cable networks into a new company called Versant,

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which sounds like either a pharmaceutical company or the kind

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of consulting firm that charges two hundred dollars an hour

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to tell you things you already know. Here's the deal.

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MSNBC wanted to keep its name, but NBC said, actually,

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we're keeping our peacock logo and you can't use it anymore,

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which is the corporate equivalent of your ex saying you

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can't keep the Netflix password. Mark Lazarus, who's going to

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run Versant, sent a memo explaining that the peacock is

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staying with NBC Universal. He spun it as an opportunity

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to chart our own path forward. You know how when

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you get dumped and you tell everyone it's actually better

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this way. That's what this is. USA Network and Golf

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Channel are also getting makeovers under something called USA Sports,

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which I guess is better than the COVID Channel or

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Measles Plus. And there's potential confusion with NBC News Now,

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which is NBC's streaming service. So now we'll have MS

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now and NBC news Now, which sounds like a pharmaceutical

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commercial where they have to list all the side effects

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really fast. Rachel Maddow pointed out that ms now has

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fewer syllables than MSNBC from five to three. That's what

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we call fine the bright side. Look, our corporate divorce

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may be messy, but at least our new name is

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more efficient. Portions of today's program were made with the

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help of ai MSAI and MSAI now release the Epstein files,

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You coward,