In a stunning breach of decorum, friendship, and basic decency, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance attacked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky today, savaging him in front of a scrum of reporters in the Oval Office, cruelly ambushing America’s putative ally for allegedly being ungrateful and “disrespectful,” and for refusing to parrot the president’s pitiful pro-Kremlin narrative about the war that has consumed his country for three long years. The attack was almost certainly a deliberate and planned set-up designed to justify Trump’s budding alliance with the Kremlin, and America’s betrayal and abandonment of Kyiv.
It marked a catastrophic moment for the Ukrainian president and nation and the entire free world, and signaled what may be perhaps the final breakdown in relations between Kyiv and Washington, alongside the rapid deterioration of America’s position as the defender and guarantor of security on the European continent, and democracy globally. Stunned European leaders reacted with fury and disgust, and loudly declared their unwavering support for the Ukrainian leader, who remains trapped in an existential battle against a murderous dictator intent on obliterating his nation, Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump is now openly aligning himself and the United States of America.
President Zelensky was in Washington to sign a squalid rare earth minerals deal with the administration, which unleashed an ugly pressure campaign, pushing the extortionate deal on Kyiv mafia-style, while offering no security guarantees whatsoever in return, but rather vague and obviously unreliable promises of future support. Trump said this was to be “payback” for the roughly $120 billion in economic and military aid that Washington has sent to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022, a number Trump likes to inflate into $350 billion.
Apparently, it’s not enough that Ukrainians are fighting and dying to prevent the vicious dictatorship in Moscow from dominating Europe once again, doing America’s own geopolitical dirty work. They should also pay America for the privilege with their natural resources, as if it’s not in America’s own national interest to prevent Putin from owning Europe, to the negation of U.S. power everywhere. It’s as if the Cold War never even happened, as if Moscow were our closest partner, instead of our bitterest and most pitless enemy.
Indeed, Trump was attempting a base mercantile blackmail scheme against a war-torn European democracy fighting for its survival against our oldest adversary in Moscow. The deal was shameful and heartless, though Zelensky appeared to be on the verge of signing it anyway, as a way to mollify a rapacious Trump, and prod him away from Moscow’s embrace. In any case, the effort fell apart today amid more fundamental disagreements regarding the trustworthiness of Russia and the future of the war itself.
After the clash, Trump apparently canceled the rest of the visit, and kicked Zelensky out of the White House. The wartime leader left with a grim look set on his face, speeding off in his black armored SUV and into an entirely uncertain future, for both Ukraine, America, and the rest of the world.
Predictably, Russian officials reacted with uncontained glee at the rupture in Washington. Former president and top Putin crony Dmitry Medvedev said this on X: “The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And @realDonaldTrump is right: The Kiev regime is “gambling with WWIII.” This is the same man who’s been threatening to unleash nuclear armageddon for the last three years, threatening to nuke London and saying Russia could turn Kyiv into a “giant melted spot.”
However, European leaders were universally aghast. Below is a sampling of the tidal wave of support for Zelensky and Ukraine that erupted online following the disastrous meeting. The sudden outpouring included leaders from Poland, Canada, Finland, Latvia, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and all across the European Union and beyond. It shows that global sentiment lies squarely with Zelensky and Ukraine, the freedom fighters, and against the Trump administration, the fascist sympathizers.
The end of America’s role in the world
Frankly, it’s a dark day to be an American. This American president is a resounding disgrace, his vice president is a sniveling little pit viper, a fascist vampire and a hypocritical coward. Incredibly, the only democrat in the Oval Office today was the president of Ukraine, hero to millions around the world for resisting the brutal invasion of his country by a ravenous dictator.
Unfortunately, America now has its own aspiring dictator.
More to the point, Zelensky’s two American counterparts seem to be Russian agents, acting on behalf of Moscow rather than Washington. They marked a new low today, in what will be remembered as a historic moment in the death of the transatlantic alliance between Europe and America, and the collapse of the democratic West more generally. Of course, those are Vladimir Putin’s longstanding strategic goals, but it’s Trump who’s accomplishing them.
Ultimately, it’s clear Trump is paving the way for a renewal of the Russian empire, rebuilt over the bones of our democratic allies in Eastern Europe. It’s a suicidally dangerous policy to be encouraging a warmongering Russia, as Zelensky tried in vain to point out, because America inevitably enters these wars in Europe, regardless of the ocean separating our continents, as two world wars amply demonstrate.
For its part, Ukraine has enough ammunition to last until perhaps April or May without another infusion of American materiel, and it’s abundantly clear by now that the Europeans are going to need to start supplying Kyiv themselves with shells and bullets, if they’re at all serious about stopping the Kremlin from breaching their own borders eventually.
Thankfully, Europe finally seems to have gotten the message, in what is perhaps the sole benefit of today’s nightmarish encounter. There’s a summit planned for Sunday in London between 18 European powers and Ukraine, and it’s likely this clash in the White House will demonstrate to these leaders that defending European security must now be a European job, or will not happen at all.
In a telling moment during the meeting, Trump was asked by a reporter what would happen if the imaginary ceasefire he’s trying to broker were to be violated by Russia. He responded with this testament to his partner in the Kremlin:
“What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now?”
“They respect me. Let me tell you, Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt, where they used him and Russia, Russia, Russia, you ever hear of that deal? It was a phony Democrat scam. He had to go through it. And he did go through it.”
It’s clear Trump feels a personal and political bond between himself and the Russian tyrant, even as he shows nothing but animosity and loathing for America’s democratic allies in Kyiv, and elsewhere. Perhaps it’s just his natural inclination to support dictators, or perhaps he was recruited by Russian intelligence. Either way, it’s the same foul result, the same agonizing betrayal of our friends and our values.
He wrote this on X after Zelensky left the White House: “I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved.” Clearly, he’s getting ready to slash U.S. support for Ukraine, as a device designed to pressure Kyiv into accepting a terrible deal that rewards Putin and destroys Ukrainian sovereignty, and as a gift to Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime.
At this point, Trump is openly aligning the United States with Moscow, and the rest of the world’s autocratic powers, even as he betrays and abandons our closest partners, and everything we supposedly stand for as a nation. It’s a bitterly sad day to be an American and a small-d democrat, two qualities that were once inextricably bound throughout history. It’s an identity that is now being shattered into dust and ashes, as the world looks on in sadness, fear, and horror.
We’re entering totally uncharted waters now, as Donald Trump and his minions attempt to rewrite the global order, turning America from a beacon of freedom and democracy, into a bonfire of authoritarianism, corruption, and rank inhumanity, emulating the kleptocrat in the Kremlin he so admires. This administration is like watching a progressive disease consume a loved one. It just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.
Slava Ukraina.
