AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

President Trump is pushing a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. Initially, the president wanted a response from Kyiv by this Thursday but now says the deadline could be extended if things are working well. And when asked by a reporter yesterday if this was his final offer to Ukraine, the president replied...

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No. Not my final offer.

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TRUMP: And I would like to get to peace. It should have been - it should have happened a long time ago.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTERS: [inaudible].

TRUMP: The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened. We're trying to get it ended. One way or the other, we have to get it ended.

RASCOE: To discuss all this, we're joined now by NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben. Good morning, Danielle.

DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.

RASCOE: So as the president himself admitted last week, ending this conflict has not been easy and is not easy. So what do we know about this peace proposal? And what are the chances it could work?

KURTZLEBEN: Well, it's a 28-point plan, and it was crafted by the U.S. and the Kremlin without Ukraine's involvement. And so it is widely seen as very friendly to Russia. It - under it, Ukraine would give up territory to Russia, it would cut the size of its military, and this plan says that Ukraine can never enter NATO. That's a big deal.

Now, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded in stark terms. He said, the choice here is a loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner, seeming to mean the U.S. So Ukraine doesn't like this plan, but Trump badly wants to be able to say he ended this conflict. And there was that clip you played. Trump said that this plan isn't his final offer, so maybe he'll be inclined to help reach a compromise.

RASCOE: We had a really dramatic announcement late on Friday night from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. She was, until recently, one of the president's biggest supporters, but now she says she'll leave Congress in January. Are we seeing cracks in the MAGA coalition?

KURTZLEBEN: Yes, and this break is just stunning. I remember seeing her on the campaign trail open for Trump at a rally in Georgia. The Trump crowd went wild for her. This was a tight relationship. But we've seen this MAGA rift growing this year over U.S. ties to Israel, military involvement in Iran. There's just this feeling among some that Trump has softened on his isolationism.

So there's ideology at work here, but then there's politics. Trump is 79, and also, running again would be unconstitutional, no matter what he says. So Marjorie Taylor Greene may be looking ahead to the post-Trump GOP and staking out her territory. She's been saying lately that she's more America First than Trump. So if she pursued office again, that might appeal to MAGA people.

RASCOE: President Trump labeled Marjorie Taylor Greene a traitor after their public fallout. But she wasn't the only politician that he lashed out at, right?

KURTZLEBEN: No, not at all. Trump last week responded to a video made by Democratic lawmakers who are also veterans, and in that video, they told members of the military and intelligence communities, you can refuse illegal orders. Now, Trump went on social media and said that this is seditious behavior punishable by death, which is shocking and dark and upsetting.

And it led to this surreal-feeling moment in the press briefing last week where a reporter asked if the president really wants to execute members of Congress, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said no. But both this episode and Trump's feud with Marjorie Taylor Greene resulted in real fear. Taylor Greene has talked about having increased threats, and Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin received a bomb threat.

RASCOE: And New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani had what I think many would call, like, a surprisingly cordial visit to the White House. Here's what the president had to say.

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TRUMP: We agree on a lot more than I would have thought. I think he's - I want him to do a great job, and we'll help him do a great job.

RASCOE: What do you make of that?

KURTZLEBEN: Yeah. Surprising, no doubt. You said it. Trump had attacked Mamdani a lot. He had even threatened at one point to arrest him. And, of course, Mamdani had attacked Trump as well. But Mamdani did have a reason to make nice. Trump had threatened cutting federal funds to New York and also sending federal troops to the city.

Now, Trump - you know, it's possible Mamdani just charmed him, but it's also possible Trump didn't want to lash out at a guy who's popular, has a winning populist message. And also, we all know Trump just likes a winner.

RASCOE: That's NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben. Thanks so much.

KURTZLEBEN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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