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This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a stunning and unprecedented statement to the world: he called the Ukraine war a proxy war.

Rubio’s statement makes him the highest ranking official to admit what has been happening in Ukraine since the start of this war. Adam Schiff said it: “The United States aids Ukraine and her people so that we can fight Russia over there and we don’t have to fight Russia over here.” Lindsey Graham said it: “As long as we help Ukraine with the weapons they need and the economic support, they will fight to the last person.”

Now Rubio: “I’ve been very clear from the beginning that President Trump views this as a protracted stalemated conflict, and frankly it’s a proxy war between…the United States and Russia.”

The Duran's Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris join the show this week to explain the history of the proxy war, the magnitude of this unprecedented statement, and why it could represent a major shift away from the last 30 years of US foreign policy.

“Since 2014,” Alexander explains, “[the CIA] has basically been controlling Ukraine's intelligence services and has even trained people who have taken part in the assassinations of rebel leaders in the Donbas. Admissions are slowly coming out about what has preceded all of this and what helped provoke Russia to invade.”

But Rubio’s statement could be more than an admission; it could be a policy shift. “It's just so unprecedented to get at this level. The secretary of state saying, ‘This is indeed a proxy war. It has to come to an end.’ I think Rubio knew exactly what he was doing. He made this extraordinary statement a few weeks ago that the unipolar moment is over, that the United States is one great power amongst several, that it must pursue its own interests, that the entire history period of American foreign policy has essentially come to an end. Which is a massive reversal of everything that the US has been saying it's been doing for the last thirty years.”

Subscribe to hear the full interview with Alex and Alexander on whether a proposed peace deal would actually be accepted by Russia, why there hasn’t been a single US lawmaker to oppose any military spending for Ukraine, and if the Trump administration’s peace messaging will extend to their policies in the Middle East.

Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown: Trump Attacks Trans Mice; MSNBC Attacks a Child

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Two big blunders. Let’s start with Trump – you may remember last month when the bombshell story coming from the president’s mouth was that the US was funding $50 million of condoms for Hamas in Gaza. It turned out, after the slightest amount of research, that the Congressional budget was actually sending sexual health equipment to the Gaza province of Mozambique.

There was no correction.

Flash forward to Trump’s tumultuous joint address to Congress this week: to thunderous laughter from Republicans, he listed more “fraudulent” items that the US is funding: “$8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. $8 million for making mice transgender.”

Again, we did the tiniest amount of research, and saw that it isn’t transgender but transgenic. Transgenic mice are genetically altered to study diseases and have revolutionized pre-clinical research since the 1980s. The correction for this one likely won’t get the same laugh from Republicans.

Next blunder: Nicole Wallace at MSNBC. During a calmer moment of Trump’s joint address, he made DJ Daniel, a 13-year-old boy who is recovering from brain cancer, an honorary member of the Secret Service. Wallace struggled to find a way to attack this, but have no fear, she got her shot in:

“I hope [DJ] has a long life as a law enforcement officer… but I hope he never has to defend the US Capitol against Donald Trump’s supporters, and if he does, I hope he’s not one of the six who loses his life to suicide.”

Woah!

First of all, probably not a good idea to talk about children (especially those who have brain cancer) committing suicide. And second, that could be the most aggressive politicization of an innocent topic we’ve ever heard.

And this is just the start of a wild Thursday Throwdown: Rep. Eric Swalwell erases the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, CNN shows some interesting polling about the Ukraine War, and the Chuckster is hot now.

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