Ending the Ukraine War and Securing Europe’s Borders

0:00 Speaker 1 Well, with us today is Matthew Whitaker, the ambassador to NATO. And, well, the ambassador to NATO, I’m sure, has his hands full right now because of all the things going on in Europe, all the things going on in the world because NATO is ultimately responsible for it. Well, Ambassador Whitaker, give us a hint. I mean, you’ve been around for a long

0:27 time and you know your stuff. And where do you want to begin this morning?

0:36 Speaker 2 Well, first of all, great to be with you and always enjoy joining the show. You know, we got a lot of good things going on here. And, you know, I think one of the reasons the president put me here is to drive his policies forward. But, you know, I mean, he doesn’t need my help. You saw where

0:55 he just negotiated this release of another American hostage that was being held by the Russians. I mean, he’s He is the negotiator in chief. And I really think that gives a lot of confidence to all Americans, knowing that if you’re detained against your will in a foreign country, that President Trump will do everything he possibly can to

1:14 get you out. I mean, it’s really he’s got a string of these over the last two terms where he has got a lot of Americans returned home. So this is this is a big victory for him. You know, over here at NATO. Obviously, the war in Ukraine with Russia continues to be a front burner for us. But,

1:35 you know, I mean, he’s got Steve Witkoff and Jared working very hard and he remains engaged. The president knows that the killing needs to stop. And if there’s any way to get this war resolved, he’s going to find it.

1:48 And I think we continue to move out knowing that he’s pressing hard and we’re pressing forward. along with him. So a lot of good news over here in Europe. Obviously, the Europeans can’t help themselves. So we’ve seen a bunch of recent protests across the continent, especially I’m sure you saw on the news what happened in France. You know,

2:11 it’s a bizarre situation because what started off as kind of a student protest, I guess, for for less school or more resources or something has now turned into a full-out socialist revolution trying to get more government services and more government money to the citizens. So it’s really... It’s been disruptive for a lot of Europeans. It’s spread beyond France,

2:40 including places like here in Belgium, where I live. But, you know, overall, it just points out that with their unchecked, unfettered immigration that they went through. And, you know, then we obviously were heading down that path until President Trump got reelected and was able to put an end to that.

2:58 Speaker 1 And let’s stay for a few seconds more on Russia and Russia. I spent some time with the president a couple weeks ago, and I could feel his pain on the amount of people dying in Russia, the amount of people dying in Ukraine. And, I mean, there seems to be progress once in a while. There seems to be

3:24 progress on the Russian end. Then there seems to be progress on the Ukrainian end. Then it goes backwards. You know, I ask my friends the question, Who do you trust more? Who do you trust less? I mean, I scratch my head about that sometimes. And the fact is, I mean, I think Putin has a mission of recreating the USSR,

3:49 and Zelensky has a mission of maintaining the Ukraine. And before we go on to the other items, Give us the pulse of what you think. You know, I mean.

4:07 Speaker 3 Russia, Putin is running out of people.

4:09 Speaker 1 He’s hiring North Koreans.

4:13 Speaker 2 Yeah, the casualties, especially on the Russian side, are unbelievable, really. I mean, they’re unfathomable. I think last month, September 2026, was probably the highest casualty rate, almost 40,000 Russian soldiers. And obviously that doesn’t count the Ukrainian soldiers that were also lost. And so the human toll, and I can see why, and I know, you know, I’ve seen the

4:41 same thing when I’m with President Trump, how difficult and almost just, you know, Constantly frustrated and pained by the willingness on both sides to continue to kill and the devastation and just, you know, then the civilians that are affected by it. But, you know, I mean, since he was elected. He has been engaged in trying to resolve

5:06 this war. And you’re right. I mean, it seems like we make a step forward and then there’s a step back. But, you know, the newest proposal you saw Zelensky this morning on Fox and Friends talking about, you know, kind of ending the shooting, going to a negotiation. So a full ceasefire at the line of contact. and resolving it. And

5:27 I think that’s what the current negotiation discussion is centered around with a lot of other factors that, you know, we’re not going to talk about. You know, I think there’s, I think there continues to be an attempt to see if there’s any set of circumstances that will resolve this fighting, but you’re right. I mean, you know, it’s, President Putin

5:47 certainly has a maximalist idea. He wants to return to a Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, kind of czarist, USS, Greater Soviet Union, influence. And so that is, you know, it’s hard to... put up against a Ukraine that wants to be independent. And, you know, I think President Trump says it’s the best, but, you know, they wouldn’t have

6:13 a sovereign, independent country right now if it wasn’t for the United States of America. We have supplied them. Yeah. So, I mean, this is, you know, President Trump, while being the negotiator-in-chief, has also made sure that Ukraine can defend itself.

6:29 Speaker 1 Now, in addition, let’s go to France now and talk about, it all started a couple weeks ago when Morocco started to invade Spain.

6:42 Speaker 3 I mean, I don’t understand.

6:48 Speaker 1 Spain is a Christian and Morocco is Muslim.

6:53 Speaker 3 And what the heck is going on? Who’s calling the shots there?

6:59 Speaker 2 Yeah, well, I mean, obviously we’re seeing countries and movements that are trying to use kind of what’s described as irregular migration, but ultimately it’s trying to move people into other countries to destabilize them. And we’ve seen that happening from African and Middle Eastern countries together with all the conflicts and then the very generous social systems in Europe

7:24 that provide recent arrivals with pretty generous social benefits and programs. And so, I mean, I think it’s a combination of really bad policies together with sort of, you know, instable states to the south of Europe. And you see just a lot of people coming to Europe being allowed to stay.

7:45 And I think that’s, you know, that’s where President Trump made a very different decision for the United States, and I think it served us well. When Biden tried to do this and when we saw the chaos on the southern border, President Trump got elected to fix that. He did a lot to move people out of our country

8:02 that were here, that were in the United States illegally. And you just don’t see that happening right now in Europe. And it’s causing all sorts of chaos. What started off as Kind of a small student protest that turned into just complete chaos, fires.

8:20 Speaker 1 Well, then you know what happens, in my opinion, the people that are bad guys send in their troops and stir the pot. Yep.

8:30 Speaker 3 Yeah, they do.

8:33 Speaker 1 And what I talk to people about, and France is about to lose their country unless they take control of things. Germany is about to lose their country unless they take hold of things. The U.K. Went from 67% British down to 47% British until they had an oh, crap moment. And, you know, they have to— NATO and European community, how many nations in NATO,

9:02 how many nations in the European community?

9:06 Speaker 2 So we have here on the continent, there’s 32 total nations, including the United States and Canada. So in Europe, there’s 30 NATO countries. In the EU, there are 27 countries. Are they the same ones? Yeah. Yeah, there’s a overlap, but there’s not so many countries here in the greater Europe area. But each one of them has made huge

9:30 mistakes on immigration. Now, I think you can look at countries like Hungary and Poland, where you’re not seeing, they took a different stance on this immigration issue, and you’re not seeing the protest.

9:43 Speaker 1 The Polish president put his foot down. He says, we’re not going to get invaded, and we won’t allow it.

9:51 Speaker 2 Correct. Correct. And then, I mean, again, it’s a very different approach to it. I think it’s turned out long term in their best interest. You know, this is the thing, John, that these are our allies. And so these are the people that if we get into a global conflict, we’re going to lean into and expect to show up. But

10:11 if they have. broken political systems, if they have citizens that don’t even support their own country, I think that could be a real problem for our own security law firm and certainly the security here in Europe. Understood.

10:24 Speaker 1 Now, we talked about NATO. We talked about European community. By the way, that’s what they tried to do to us in between the Trump 45 and Trump 47. And a lot of us put our foot down in the United States saying... Immigration, yes. Invasion, no. And I think those are the buzzwords that the Europeans have to take up.

10:52 Speaker 2 I mean, let’s remember the United States is the most generous country in the world when it comes to legal immigration. We have about a million people a year to lawful permanent status. And, you know, it’s just we have to have an immigration system that serves our national interests. It can’t just be a free trial that’s uncontrolled and unvetted

11:12 that creates all sorts of security risks. And Trump understands that better than anybody else. And he understands the strength of the law. letting immigrants contribute to our economy. But you can’t have lawlessness and chaos on our border and in our communities and on our streets. And you’re seeing it play out in real time here in Europe.

11:33 Speaker 1 Ambassador Whitaker, we’re almost out of time. What would you like to tell, you know, this broadcast is worldwide, but mostly in America.

11:42 Speaker 3 We’re in all 50 states. What would you like to tell the American people?

11:48 Speaker 2 From my perspective, President Trump has changed the game here at NATO. He is making our allies finally step up and provide for their own conventional defense. Nobody could do it until President Trump took office. And we’re moving on on that project. A lot of good things that are happening.

12:07 But the reason the United States is so successful is because We have a strong military and a strong economy, and we now need to lean into our allies to get them to have strong militaries and strong economies. That’s the only way that the Western way of life and what Marco Rubio was talking about in Athens a couple

12:25 weeks ago, that’s the way our civilization continues to thrive and our people are prosperous.

12:31 Speaker 3 Well, Marco Rubio did a phenomenal. I hear from the Greeks.

12:34 Speaker 1 I’m a Greek background, and boy, they fell in love with Marco Rubio in Athens.

12:41 Speaker 3 Yeah, he’s fantastic.

12:43 Speaker 1 Well, Ambassador Whitaker, thank you so much for bringing all Americans up to date. And let’s catch up again real soon. And God bless America. And let’s hope everything goes right for the free world. Okay.

13:00 Speaker 3 I appreciate it, John.

13:00 Speaker 2 It’s always great to talk to you. Thank you.