President Donald J. Trump held his tongue until Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went off the rails in the final ten minutes of what should have been a routine visit to the Oval Office and a win for both countries.
Ukraine could’ve signed a minerals deal, expressed concerns about security guarantees at the private lunch event, and got further exposure by taking questions at a joint press conference. Instead, Zelenskyy self-immolated himself, tried to be a big dog, and then got the Michael Vick treatment from Trump.
The stunning part of this is the lack of a backlash. It’s muted. Sure, there have been some meltdowns, but it’s nowhere near the intensity of the antics we saw during the first Trump presidency, possibly because some of the most insufferable liberal voices have either left their networks or have been fired. CNN’s Scott Jennings will have to explain, but for the most part, no one cares about Ukraine.
Second, Trump’s position on Ukraine is vastly more popular than that of Biden; even CNN’s Harry Enten couldn’t spin that. Support for the war in Ukraine is cratering. It was an appalling lack of political skill exhibited by Zelenskyy, where even pro-Ukraine war folks admitted his self-inflicted meltdown was entirely his fault. It also wasn’t an hour-long beatdown. The meeting in the Oval was mostly cordial. The last ten minutes are where things went off the rails, which Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent aptly described as one of diplomatic history's worst “own goals.”
The folks who were triggered by this smackdown either hated Trump already or only support this war because they dislike the president. It’s so fake and transparent that it’s easily ripped apart on live television. The folks who thought Trump would spark World War III after 2016 are mad…that he won’t do it now in 2025 vis-à-vis Ukraine?
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Zelenskyy seemed ignorant that Trump, not the Democrats, won the 2024 election. Was it political prosopagnosia? Who knows but everything he whined about could’ve been made at the private lunch instead of on camera where it led to his dismissal from the White House and a cessation of arms exports to the country until he publicly apologizes for his outburst.
It's also laughable that this man thinks we don’t consider Russia a threat. They’ve been our geopolitical foe for generations, man. They have nuclear weapons, and the great oceans concept regarding the defense of our country has been shattered many times—Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 attacks. You don’t have nuclear weapons, trading them away, which partially led to this kerfuffle.
The Ukrainian president has been an ungrateful brat, which got exposed. Even Joe Biden at a quarter brain capacity got furious with Zelenskyy. The only thing liberals can say about that was his blowups were done in private. That’s not saying much.
The blowback will be on Zelenskyy’s shoulders, who remains in office despite his term having expired. I frankly couldn’t care less about what the Eurotrash think of us. They’re snobs. They’ve always hated us and want us to pay the bill for everything.
Not anymore.