>>513310629
Other than Russian state media getting some nice footage of Putin and Trump palling around to run for the next few news cycles, no. It was a complete waste of time and taxpayer money.
Trump literally rolled out the red carpet and Putin made him look like an idiot.
Now Trump's stuck in an impossible position. It's clear Russia is a dead end in negotiations, but he's also damaged relations with Zelensky and the EU.
He could have had the option to just wash his hands of it and say "Not our problem", but he made ending the war a fairly substantial pillar of his campaign.
So his options are:
1. Give in to Russia's demands, which will look extremely weak after this summit
2. Try to smooth things over with the European side, which will piss off a vocal section of his base
3. Throw his hands up and say "You know what, forget what I promised, this is too hard!" which will effectively be admitting defeat
