name, city, and state, and you might hear your question asked at the next briefing. >> democracy is always an unfinished creation. >> democracy is worth dying for. >> democracy belongs for us all. >> we are here in the sanctuary of democracy. >> great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. >> american democracy is bigger than any one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected. >> we are still, at our core, a democracy. >> this is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom. host: joining us now tos president trump's second term and news of the day is syndicated columnist and the author of "watchman in the

night," thank you so much for being with us. guest: thank you, tammy. tell me i do not look that old. host: you do not look anywhere near that old. let's get started with the news on friday that was the oval office meeting with presidents trump and zelenskyy. give me your thoughts on that. guest: there has been a lot of speculation about it. some people think it was a set up to embarrass zelenskyy, to weaken his position, and to strengthen president trump's position in his negotiations and dealings with president putin of russia. i thought vice president vance, when he said zelenskyy had not offered a proper thanks to the united states, meaning trump, was way off base. zelenskyy has done that numerous times before congress, in numerous interviews in the united states and ukraine, and

has expressed gratitude during the biden administration and the current administration. so, i do not know what he was talking about unless he was trying to foment an argument. this whole thing about making a deal, you cannot deal with evil people on the same plane. i met with the group of ukrainian christian ministers this week in town at the same time of the dustup in the oval office. they were telling me about the russian troops and what they were doing even to children. they were kidnapping children, taking them to so-called orphanages, indoctrinating. they closed down over 700 churches in the occupied territories of ukraine except for the russian orthodox church. one of the pasto told me he knewr of a group of 140 who trieds to escape, only 12 survived. many were shot, others disappeared. it is fine to get a deal but in war you have two options, victory or defeat. stalemate is not a good one.

host: president trump is only a little over a month into his second term. what are the difference between his first term and now? guest: he has a republican congress now and a cabinet that he likes. i think the best thing for any person in power of any kind whether political or any other sort of power is to have people around you who love and support you but tell you when you are doing something wrong. i like what maureen dowd is writing this morning in the new york times, imagine me quoting the new york times. she said even though we should be used to it by now, it was still shocking to see trump parent the view of vladimir putin, a murderous tyrant who wants to swallow ukraine in a fit of nostalgia for the soviet union. trump insisted they were fellow victims. this is a kind of immoral equivalency that is not defensible. putin has said openly he wants to recover what he regards as

the golden days of the soviet union. he wants to recapture estonia, latvia, these former soviet republics. why should we not believe him? if he is allowed to claim victory in ukraine, who or what will stop him from achieving his goals? these are the big questions yet to be answered. host: you mentioned president trump's cabinet. this past week, he had his first cabinet meeting with them. what are your thoughts on his, the people he has in those positions? every one has made it through the confirmation process so far. your thoughts on who is leading the major departments? guest: i think are some very good ones. i think marco rubio is a very good pick for secretary of state. there are others where we have to see how it turns out. the proof is in the pudding, to resurrect a cliché. some of them are experienced. some of