'Can we stop pretending?' Ex-RNC official snaps at report on Trump negotiations

Following a report that Donald Trump is claiming he is making headway in negotiations with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after they met in Rome where they are both attending the burial of Pope Francis, former RNC chair Michael Steele wasn't having it.

On MSNBC's "The Weekend," Steele, as co-host, noted the report that Trump "expressed optimism about ending the war in Ukraine. Posting online that negotiations are, quote, 'going smoothly and that success seems to be in the future,'" before adding, "Color me skeptical."

"You know, Trump doesn't engage in diplomacy, alright?" he exclaimed, "So can we stop pretending he does? He doesn't. This, you know, the social media posts on all of that is just because –– the bottom line is his design has been drawn up by Russia. The plan he's pushing is a Russian plan."

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"The reality of it is, and I appreciate President Zelenskyy's optimism of a good meeting, what what else is he going to say? It sucked?" he added. "But the reality of it is that you're dealing with someone who's not a good faith partner and someone who does not want to see you survive this."

"So why are we sitting down and pretending that this is all now going to shift in a direction in which a fair deal, in which the sovereignty of Ukraine remains intact and Russia backs the hell up and gets out," he asked.

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