Volodymyr Zelenskyy has got a lot of nerve. Six years after the wartime Ukrainian president refused to barter an audience with Donald Trump in exchange for digging up dirt on Trump’s then-political rival, Joe Biden, Zelenskyy had the nerve to come to the White House and refuse to bow down to Trump or gloss over Trump’s overtures to the invader Vladimir Putin. And to top it off, Zelenskyy didn’t even have the good taste to wear a suit for the occasion.
That’s more than reason enough to throw the Ukrainian people to the Russian wolves, cut off the weapons that Americans have been sending to Kyiv to defend itself, let Putin run over Ukraine and possibly keep on advancing westward into other parts of Europe, and side with the proverbial Goliath over David in a battle of totalitarianism against democracy.
Our nation, after all, has an insatiable ego in the White House that must be stroked, and if Zelenskyy isn’t willing to do the stroking, to heck with him and his besieged people.
That seems to be the outrageous message coming from Washington following the disastrous public sit-down last Friday that had Zelenskyy on one side and Trump and the easily offended, and regularly offensive, Vice President JD Vance on the other.
Vance accused Zelenskyy of being ungrateful for not thanking Trump and the U.S. for the more than $180 billion in military and economic aid that America has put into the Ukrainian resistance. That is untrue. Zelenskyy has repeatedly thanked Trump and this country, including several times prior to and at the Oval Office meeting before it degenerated into a public spectacle.
And Trump, during his dressing down of his guest, said that Zelenskyy’s “hate” for Putin was making it difficult to negotiate a peace settlement.
If it’s true that Zelenskyy hates Putin, instead of just massively distrusting him, how could that be? All that Putin has done is annex part of Ukraine by force, kill or wound tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in an attempt to make it a Russian satellite again, and mercilessly bombed hospitals, power plants and other civilian targets. You’d think the two of them would be best buddies.
Zelenskyy and Ukraine indeed should be thankful to the U.S. and the investment our country has made in Ukraine’s defense. The gratitude, though, should not be unilateral. The U.S. has a lot to thank Ukraine for as well.
Ukraine may not win this war, but it has been a proxy for the West, exposing the weaknesses of the Russian military for all to see. In exchange for our arms, Ukraine has given its blood. By standing down Russia now, it may spare the lives of American men and women in the future.
Ukraine is our ally. Russia is our enemy. Why is it that Trump can’t seem to keep that straight?
