What just happened in the Oval Office? Donald Trump and his gang are perpetrating outrages at a brain-numbing pace, but the worst (so far) may be his abandonment of Ukraine and the Western Alliance in favor of Russia, the world’s foremost aggressor.
Trump’s and Vice President JD Vance’s televised dressing down of Ukraine’s valiant president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Thursday was the unforgettable crescendo of a process
underway for weeks and maybe (in Trump’s mind) for years. Prior to the Oval Office blowup, Trump had already falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the brutal three-year
war plainly launched by Russia—which has committed war crimes including torture and murder of civilians, massive destruction of cities, kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children for transfer to Russia and creating millions of refugees.
Trump has already acceded to Russia’s terms for ending the war — no NATO
membership for Ukraine, Russia’s retention of the fifth of Ukraine’s territory already conquered, and lifting of sanctions imposed when Russia attacked.
He’d already accused Zelensky of being a “dictator,” but had no criticisms of Putin, an actual absolute dictator who sidelines, imprisons, or murders political opponents and critics.
And the US had already voted with Russia (and North Korea) against a UN resolution backed by European allies (among 93 nations) condemning Russia’s invasion and calling for its immediate withdrawal. (China and Iran actually abstained.)
In the Oval Office, Zelensky tried to tell Trump that Putin could not be trusted to keep an agreement — as he hadn’t in 2019 after agreeing to a ceasefire — and that Ukraine therefore needed US security guarantees. But Vance and Trump accused Zelensky of being “ungrateful” for past US aid and “disrespectful” for trying to state his case with TV cameras
rolling.
Before kicking Zelensky out of the White House, lunch uneaten and an agreement on sharing Ukraine’s strategic minerals unsigned, Trump told Zelensky, “you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out and if we’re out you’re going to fight it out. I don’t think it will be
pretty… you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting all that thankful. And that’s not a nice thing.”
Trump and Vance’s performance was cheered by Moscow and among Republicans, some of whom (like Secretary of State Marco Rubio) recently viewed Russia as an adversary bent on restoring the old Soviet empire. Trump’s lickspittle, Georgia Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former defense hawk and backer of Ukraine, said, “I’ve never been prouder of President Trump.”
The White House dustup caused alarm among European allies, who pledged to stand by Ukraine but plainly fear that Trump means to break up the Western alliance and can’t be depended upon to uphold the NATO obligation to defend any fellow member attacked by
Russia.
The Trump-Vance performance may have been choreographed to throw Zelensky back on his heels, so he’d come back begging for the Russian peace deal agreed to by Trump without Ukraine or Europeans present. Trump said on his way to Mar-a-Lago that Zelensky “wants to come back, but I don’t want him unless he agrees to stop fighting.”
Since the conflict, Zelensky has been effusive in his thanks and praise for Trump and the US, adding that his country can’t survive without US support. But he still insists on security guarantees.
What remains a mystery is why Trump is so wedded to Putin. One reason could be that Putin is a strong man destined to be one of the world’s main leaders, along with Trump himself and China’s Xi Ji Ping — to whom weaker nations must yield.
Another — much speculated upon but never proven — is that Putin has “something on” Trump that he could reveal and precipitate his downfall.
Either explanation is a shameful reason for the United States, historically the world‘s guarantor of democracy and liberty, to join the despots of the world.
Perhaps there is no mystery. The adage from the Watergate era, “Follow the money”, should always be applied in trying to understand Chump’s decisions. I believe he will do whatever is asked of him by whoever will line his pockets. Perhaps a potential Chump Tower in Moscow is his sole motivation for bailing on Zelenskyy….
Who wrote the headline for this story? It’s not an accurate description of either the following essay or the facts of what happened. Zelenskyy did make understandable tactical errors but that is not addressed here and the headline is plain stupid. Do better.
Aaron,
What “understandable tactical errors” did Z make?
What could Putin possibly have on Trump that Trump would care about, given that Trump thinks he could kill Mother Theresa in public and get away with it? And as far as his MAGA lemmings go, he is correct.
The significance of the Russian economy that is mentioned is arguable. The EU has all but eliminated it’s dependence on Russian Gas and oil for it’s needs. The overal Russian economy is 11th in the world; but ther bulk of the 2+ trillion gdp is wrapped up in oil and gas, as much as 80% of gdp. Add the fact that inflation is high in Russia, running up to 21%, makes the Russian economy ihe weak; not what Putin likes to think of himself as the master of a powerful economy.
Secretary Rubio’s trip to Russian to come home to “economic opportunities” for American companies in Russia makes no sense. The Russian government controls the gas and oil and is not about to let American companies come in and share that wealth. That leaves little of interest to any foreign investment. More smoke and mirrors from the Trump adminisration.
There have been a couple of reports from people who were working for Russia in the ’80s, that he was recruited or cultivated. One element of that kind of effort can be an envelope of compromising material, but I think they found that with sufficient flattery they didn’t need to twist his arm at all.
Personally I don’t care why he’s betraying America and the west. He needs to be stopped.
The pollsters must be out taking the current temperature on this one. It will be interesting to see if when Trump takes up with Putin, will his MAGA crowd follow him? Putin sure wants to Make America Great Again, I think you can count on that.
Thanks to Musk-Trump regime and complicit Republicans, it seems US is now allied with Mother Russia, North Korea, Hungary, and Belarus. Does this mean US will reinstate a draft of young Americans to build an army of cannon fodder to fight Ukraine and Western Europe? And, with Defense Secretary Hegseth’s elimination of DEI policies, doesn’t that require a draft including only white males? If so, it should be wild, as self-anointed US king and pawn of the butcher in the Kremlin might say.