President Trump's Warning Sparks an International Meltdown

In today's breaking news, President Trump has issued an ultimatum to Russian President Vladimir Putin, demanding he end the war with Ukraine, and end it in 10 days.

As Trump explained when questioned by a reporter:

I'll give it to you now. Do you want a big scoop? Everybody else close your ears, OK? You ready? I'm 10 days from today . . . and then you know we're going to put on tariffs and stuff and I don't know if it's going to affect Russia because he wants to obviously, probably, keep the war going, but we're going to put on tariffs, and the various things that may or may not affect them, but it could. Saying, hey, you got 10 days before we start putting in tariffs, and again there could be some real economic impact.

Regardless of what happens, it's good to see an American President talking tough about a foreign leader rather than kowtowing to one. Now the question is, how will Russia respond to this ultimatum? Trump is making very valid points, but that doesn't mean Putin will feel any obligation to acquiesce. But for now, it appears the countdown has begun.

President Trump also announced a major trade deal with the European Union, much of which has to do with energy. If these potential sanctions do go into effect, it's possible we could see member nations of the European Union turning to the United States for their energy needs.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, long considered Putin's puppet, took to X with strong words for President Trump:

Trump's playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10… He should remember 2 things:

1. Russia isn't Israel or even Iran.
2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don't go down the Sleepy Joe road!

Strong statements from Russia’s Security Council deputy chair –  a man long considered Putin's puppet. And certainly, look, he's not necessarily wrong in this. You are dealing with Vladimir Putin. However, it seems President Trump believes Putin is not in a very good position to negotiate right now.

Former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell joined via phone to discuss the New York Times publishing heartbreaking photos, which we now know were – of course – contextually incorrect. So much so, the New York Times had to issue corrections. It seems maybe the tide is turning, and big institutions that have felt heretofore bulletproof are realizing they need to be more responsible for what they publish.

Last week Columbia University agreed to a $200 million settlement with the Trump Administration. Harvard is apparently looking at spending up to $500 million to resolve their dispute with the Administration over antisemitism on their campus. UCLA has now agreed to pay more than $6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by students who said that the university allowed so much antisemitic discrimination during the protests that a “Jewish Exclusion Zone” was implemented

I asked Ric if he believes this signifies real change, or if they are just trying to make bad headlines go away.

Well, I think it's a combination of both. I think they definitely want it to go away. They don't like the pressure, but I do think that having these large settlements and bad publicity is going to be able to shake the board and shake the leadership to say we've got to do something different.

And so I think universities have to do a better job, and donors here, I think the lesson is that donor intent is really one of these concepts that's coming back. If you're a donor and you want to give to a charity, you've got to speak up and say, I'm giving to this charity because I want common sense, and they don't just get to take your money and walk away. You need to be able to have some sort of control over that. 

Only time will tell if we're seeing a genuine shift or if it's just performative change, until everyone forgets about the antisemitism displayed at these universities.

Ric also gave us his analysis of the situation between Russia and Trump, and how these new sanctions could affect Europe and Russia itself.

Today's Sekulow broadcast included analysis of President Trump’s foreign policy with Russia, an update on a vital religious liberty case we're currently engaged in, and much more.  

Watch the full broadcast below: