George Stephanopoulos tried to corner Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Ukraine but ended up getting schooled in a masterclass of diplomatic reality instead.
In a revealing exchange on ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos attempted to outmaneuver Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the subject of Ukraine and President Zelensky, but quickly found himself outmatched. The interview highlighted the stark contrast between media narratives and diplomatic reality concerning the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Rubio effectively dismantled Stephanopoulos’s loaded questions by emphasizing the urgent need for negotiations after three years of stalemate and thousands of casualties. The exchange exposes how left-wing media continues pushing a simplistic “heroes and villains” narrative while dismissing practical paths toward peace.
Left-Wing Media’s Predictable Game Plan Falls Flat
It’s become a familiar playbook: left-wing media personalities invite Republican officials onto their shows, not for genuine dialogue, but for carefully choreographed “gotcha” moments. Their questions aren’t designed to illuminate complex issues but to trap conservatives into sound bites that can be weaponized. When Stephanopoulos invited Secretary of State Rubio onto “This Week,” he clearly arrived with a pre-written narrative about Trump “siding with Putin over Zelensky” that he was determined to push regardless of what Rubio actually said. What Stephanopoulos didn’t count on was Rubio’s ability to flip the script with calm, reasoned arguments that exposed the emptiness of the media’s black-and-white framing.
Marco Rubio just schooled George Stephanopoulos. 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/E6IjAAeY12
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) March 2, 2025
Rubio refused to play along with Stephanopoulos’s attempt to frame the Ukraine situation as a simplistic morality tale with Putin as the comic book villain and Zelensky as the flawless hero. Instead, he offered something radical in today’s media landscape – nuance. He pointed out that after three years of conflict with no end in sight, thousands dead, and billions of American dollars spent, perhaps it’s time to try something different. The Biden administration has had three years to facilitate peace talks and has failed spectacularly, seemingly content to keep funding an endless war with American taxpayer dollars indefinitely.
https://t.co/OLCE3CDKVy
In a recent interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized media attempts to frame the U.S. stance on Ukraine and Russia, particularly during a discussion with George Stephanopoulos. Rubio emphasized the need for negotiations with Russia to end the…— The America One News (@am1_news) March 2, 2025
The Hypocrisy of Biden’s Foreign Policy Exposed
Perhaps the most devastating counter-punch Rubio landed was highlighting the glaring hypocrisy in how the Biden administration treats different conflicts. When Stephanopoulos tried to suggest Trump was somehow betraying Ukraine by wanting peace talks, Rubio pointed out that the Biden administration has been relentlessly pressuring Israel for a ceasefire with Hamas – terrorists who butchered Israeli civilians in the most horrific ways imaginable. Yet when it comes to Ukraine, suggesting negotiations is treated as heresy. “We’ve been nice [to Ukraine] by comparison,” Rubio noted, highlighting the double standard that has characterized Biden’s foreign policy.
“No one here is claiming Vladimir Putin is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize this year, or whether he should be The Man of the Year of the Humanitarian Association. What we’re arguing here is, he has a very large country on full war footing — they’re cranking out weapons now at a war-footing pace — and we need to figure out — is there a way to get them to stop the war? And the only way you’re going to do that is to get Russians engaged in negotiations— something the Europeans haven’t been able to do; the Biden administration wasn’t able to do or didn’t even try.” – Marco Rubio –
This logical inconsistency is something the mainstream media refuses to acknowledge. They cheer when Biden pressures our closest ally, Israel, to negotiate with terrorists, but clutch their pearls when Trump suggests Ukraine should talk peace with Russia. It’s not about principles – it’s about politics. And the unfortunate reality is that Zelensky has been getting terrible advice from Democrats whose hatred of Trump outweighs their concern for Ukrainian lives. The meeting between Trump and Zelensky that devolved into a shouting match didn’t happen in a vacuum – it happened because Zelensky has been coached to view Trump as an adversary rather than a potential partner in achieving peace.
The Path Forward Requires Realism, Not Fantasy
What the media establishment seems incapable of understanding is that neither extreme position serves America’s interests or Ukraine’s. Zelensky is not Churchill, and Putin is not Hitler – these lazy historical analogies substitute for actual strategic thinking. The reality is messier: Ukraine cannot militarily defeat a nuclear-armed Russia with limitless reserves of manpower, and Russia cannot completely subjugate a nation of 44 million people determined to maintain their independence. Something has to give, and that something is the fantasy that this war ends with a total victory for either side.
“Ultimately, like any truce — like any peace agreement, anywhere in the world — those things will have to be enforced; they’ll have to be enduring; there’ll have to be safeguards put in place, everybody understands that. But it begins with a first step, and that is engaging them to see if that is even possible. Because if it’s not possible, then what we’re looking at is a protracted stalemate, with thousands of people dying, billions of dollars pouring in, and more death and destruction, and that’s not something the president wants to do.” – Marco Rubio –
Rubio’s position, which appears to mirror Trump’s, is straightforward: negotiations must happen eventually, so why not now, before more lives are lost and more treasure is spent? This isn’t about abandoning Ukraine – it’s about acknowledging reality. The left’s fantasy that America can fund this war indefinitely while our own southern border remains wide open and our economy struggles under crushing inflation is as dangerous as it is delusional. Stephanopoulos tried to trap Rubio into defending an imaginary pro-Putin position, but instead revealed just how bankrupt the establishment’s approach to this conflict has become.
​
