Conor Finnegan

Too clever by half. He correctly notes that Ukraine cannot give up its fortress belt because that'd give the Russians a "straight shot into Kyiv." Yet he insists the war is just about 11% of territory. No, the lie is in his explanation: Putin wants the 11% at the negotiating table because he cannot take it on the battlefield; and he wants it because it gives him another opportunity to make a play for Kyiv at a later date. The Russians don't want to end the war, they want the U.S. to create the more amenable conditions for the continuation of the war in future. The tragedy of Rubio is that he's in better command of the facts than anyone else in this administration but he nonetheless ends up acting a mouthpiece for policies he knows are wrong.