Page A216From§Eachthe evening edition — 19 October 2026
THE WAIVER
As it ran on the front
My neighbor and I have been arguing about the fence between our yards for something like six years, and I want to say up front that I don't think either one of us is lying about it.
He says the line hasn't moved since his father set the posts, back before either of us owned the houses. I say the post nearest my tomatoes sits a good eight inches into what the survey calls mine. We've each had somebody out to check it — a surveyor for him, a man from the title company for me — and it took me longer than I'd like to admit to see the actual problem. We were both right, depending on where you stood to measure. He measures from his porch. I measure from the hose bib. The fence didn't move. What moved was whose yard you were standing in when you looked at it.…
…(cont) I think about that fence because of what the Secretary of State said on Monday: there has been no pause in intelligence sharing with Ukraine. I wrote it down so I'd have it exact — no pause. That same Monday, Ukraine's president said he still can't get a straight answer on whether the sharing ever resumed, and that Russia hit the power grid overnight with no warning reaching Kyiv — the kind of warning the sharing is supposed to produce. Who's that warning supposed to reach, if not Kyiv?
The denial isn't the only place the record runs ahead of the statement. On October 13th, after a report that the administration had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, the President told reporters the sharing had not stopped. On Monday, it was the Secretary of State's turn to say the same thing, about the same sharing. That's two dates, six days apart, for one sentence. How many times has the sharing been declared unpaused since the 13th?
A month earlier, in September, the President had signed a new Russia sanctions law — Congress named it for the late Senator Graham — authorizing tariffs up to 100 percent on Russian energy. Friday night, hours before that law would have taken full effect, he waived it. The next night, Russia sent more than 320 drones at Ukraine's power grid. Senator Cassidy, a Republican I wouldn't call hostile to this President, said Monday that Graham and Ronald Reagan would be ashamed of the waiver. Congressman Max Miller said he opposes it outright. How many members of the President's own party went on record against that waiver in one week?
On a call hosted by Senator Tillis, Senator Blumenthal says Ukraine's president told a bipartisan group of senators his country still doesn't have full access to the Starshield satellite network — the one that's supposed to carry exactly the kind of warning that didn't reach Kyiv overnight. I don't have a fence analogy for a satellite. I tried. Does Ukraine have full access to Starshield yet?
Monday, on his way to a campaign rally in Kansas, the President said it's time for "somebody else" to negotiate on Ukraine's behalf. The same day, he said he'd be open to a three-way summit with President Putin and President Xi. "I would do it," he told reporters.
One more thing, and then I'll get out of your way. That summit — three men arranging terms for a war happening in a fourth man's country. I went back through what's actually on the guest list the Russian president proposed. Trump. Xi. Putin. I checked it twice. Whose name isn't on it?
“They waive a month-old sanctions law on a Friday night, and the receipt comes back Saturday as 320 drones on somebody else's power grid. Call one denial a mistake; the second one, six days later, same claim, different guy saying it, that's not a mistake, that's a script. Ukraine's buying time it doesn't have while three of the President's own party go on record against him in the same week — that's not a crisis of messaging, that's a receipt with everybody's signature on it.”
“Look, the waiver's strictly an energy-market tool, keeps diesel flowing, nothing to do with the war — I mean, the timing's just a coincidence of the legislative calendar. And the "no pause" thing, that's Rubio using "pause" in a technical sense, there's degrees of sharing, it's nuanced — did I say nuanced? That's not a word I use. Scratch all that.”
Earlier in this story
The receipts
Trump promised to settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours - on 53 separate occasions, per CNN's count CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Max Miller comes out against Trump waiving Russia sanctionsRep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) on Monday said he opposes President Trump's waiver on Russian sanctions after striking a deal with the Kremlin to permit diesel into the U.S. and global marketplace amid the energy shortage brought on by the Iran war.
President facing criticism for his move to waive sanctions for Russia as a new poll by Reuters shows only 31% of Americans approve of his performance in office Sign up for US Breaking News email A new Washington Post-ABC poll shows that Donald Trump’s approval rating has reached a new low – 33% . This comes, just over two weeks away from…
Trump promised in 2023 he would meet Putin and Zelensky and settle the war "within 24 hours" - CNN counted 53 such promises CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
GOP senator: Reagan, Graham would be 'ashamed' of Trump waiving Russia sanctionsSen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) says former President Reagan and the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) would be “ashamed”
President Trump said Monday he has not yet agreed to a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but he said he is open to it. "I would do it," Trump told reporters on the White House's South Lawn before heading to a midterm rally in Kansas. "Not so much...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday again called into question whether the U.S. has continued to share intelligence with the war-torn country a day after he said Washington resumed providing Kyiv with such information to help defend against Russian missile strikes. Zelensky said Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones…
Trump promised Putin and Zelensky would settle the war in 24 hours - 53 times, CNN counted CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump rips Zelensky, refers to infamous Oval Office blowup in call to end Ukraine war: ‘Time for someone else to negotiate’"I think it's time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” Trump said in a blistering takedown of Zelensky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims that he received no early warning of a Russian attack from partner countries that previously shared intelligence, including the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded, saying there's been no pause in intelligence-sharing.
Trump promised 53 separate times he'd end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of meeting Putin and Zelensky CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Speaker Johnson warns WH of ‘unintended consequences’ of sanctions relief on Russia: ‘Putin cannot be trusted’House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed that he privately pushed the White House to contemplate the consequences of giving Russia sanctions relief as its bloody war in Ukraine unfolds.
Trump promised 'within 24 hours, that war will be settled' - CNN counted 53 separate occasions he made that promise CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump calls on ‘somebody else’ to negotiate for Ukraine with RussiaPresident Donald Trump recommended that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky nominate someone else to negotiate a peace deal with Russia. Trump made the recommendation Monday as he departed the White House for a campaign rally in Kansas. The comments came in response to a question about Zelensky saying Trump is on the “wrong side of…
President Trump is defending his decision to waive sanctions, which will refill Russia's pocketbooks as it attacks Ukraine.
UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelensky shrugged calls from his US counterpart, President Donald Trump, to quit today. Mr Trump called for Mr Zelensky’s departure on Saturday, saying that he has not done enough to end the war and blaming him for high diesel prices in the US. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he…
Trump said in May 2023 he'd settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours of meeting Putin and Zelensky - CNN counted 53 such promises CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump denies stopping intelligence sharing with UkraineThe United States has not stopped sharing its intelligence with Ukraine, President Donald Trump said Tuesday after a news report claimed that the administration threatened to withhold intelligence from its European ally if Ukrainian strikes continued hitting Russian oil refineries. “We help them, but we’re really helping them get to a…
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told senators Ukraine still does not have full access to the critical satellite-based Starshield network or U.S. intelligence sharing amid growing tensions with President Trump.
President Donald Trump on Sunday announced an immediate “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, a day after ripping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for targeting Russian energy infrastructure during the war and calling for a new Ukrainian leader. “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia…
· What’s behind the Ukrainian intelligence gunfight from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump signs Russia sanctions bill named after Lindsey Graham from the morgue, 19 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.