LOS ANGELES.–President Donald Trump, 78, took off the gloves and fired back at 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky who told the Munich Security Conference that Trump was no longer interested in defending Europe. Zelensky has been asking for it for weeks, barely able to contain his contempt for Trump as the new U.S. president forges a different path from 82-year-old President Joe Biden. Zelensky knows that Biden’s foreign policy has been replaced by Trump but still thinks he can use Democrats and the European Union to sow divisions with Trump. Zelensky told Munich delegates that Trump couldn’t be trusted any longer to defend Europe, calling for a new European Army, something in addition to NATO. Zelensky has been rejected for NATO membership on more than one occasion, the former Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying Ukraine was not a democracy.
Trump finally had enough of Zelensky trash talking him in Munich or anywhere else he goes. “Today I heard, ‘Oh, well, weren’t invited,’” Trump said responding to press questions about Zelensky’s criticism. “Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it—three years. You should have never been there. You should have never started it. You should have made a deal,” Trump said, calling Zelensky “grossly incompetent.” Zelensky paints himself as a victim of Russian aggressions but the fake news repeats Democrat talking points that the Feb. 24, 2022 war was “unprovoked and unjustified.” Well, if you ask 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin how many months did he ask Biden to discuss new security arrangement for Ukraine, you’d get a different answer. Biden kept arming Ukraine over Kremlin national security objections.
Fake news likes to repeat Biden’s talking points that the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion was “unprovoked and unjustified,” something the fake news repeats regularly. Zelensky made a big mistake stabbing Trump in the back at Munich, spreading disinformation and propaganda about Trump’s interest in Europe. When the war started Feb. 24, 2022, Biden convinced the European Union [EU] to go along with his proxy war with the Kremlin. At the time, no EU country wanted anything to do with Biden’s war other than implementing its own economic sanctions against the Kremlin. Now that Trump knows where Zelensky’s coming from, he’ll move forward with Putin to reset U.S.-Russian relations. Zelensky thinks he can influence U.S. foreign policy because he had his backers on Capitol Hill, both Democrats and Republicans. But Trump has a new foreign policy and right to reverse the Biden policy.
Zelensky has interfered with U.S and EU relations promoting his Ukraine War or the right to determine when it ends. Zelensky has already forgotten when he received over $200 billion dollars from U.S. taxpayers to battle the Kremlin. Well, under a new president, Zelensky still thinks Biden is office, pushing his unrealistic peace plan, calling for Putin to be prosecuted as a war criminal in The Hague’s International Criminal Court. Zelensky got too big for his britches thinking that he’s calling the shots. Zelensky now pushed the EU to take a side against the United States, essentially demanding the EU takeover for the new Trump policy. Trump wants Ukraine to hold elections as part of any resolution of the war. Zelensky has rejected elections while his country is in martial law battling the Kremlin. If the war goes indefinitely, Ukraine will never have elections.
Calling Zelensky “grossly incompetent,” Trump signals to the EU that he won’t be bullied by the EU to take Zelensky’s position on the war. EU officials must decide if they want to take on the war with the Kremlin. Whatever Zelensky gets or doesn’t get in any peace deal with Putin, it’s not for the EU to decide unless their willing to underwrite the ongoing war. Trump let the EU know that the U.S. is moving on from Biden’s reckless war, resetting relations with the Russian Federation. “We have a situation where we haven’t had election in Ukraine, where we have martial law in Ukraine, where the leader of Ukraine—I mean I hate to say it, but he’s down a 4% approval rating—and the country’s been blown to smithereens,” Trump said. “That’s not a Russian thing,” Trump said about Ukrainian election. “That’s something coming from me and a lot of other countries also.”
U.S. and foreign press seem to oppose Trump’s peace plans with Putin, not accepting that he’s restoring normal diplomatic relations. Ending the Ukraine War from U.S. policy is the first step in returning to a pre-Biden normal diplomatic relations with the Kremlin. Zelensky opted for war with the Kremlin Feb. 24, 2022, rather than accepting Putin’s offer to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea and independence for Donetsk and Luhansk. Zelensky rejected Putin’s offer and went to war with the U.S. paying for it. Zelensky must continue to divide the EU from the U.S., capitalizing on resistance to Trump’s policies in the EU. But in opting to have the EU take over from the U.S, Zelensky knows he’s crossed the line with Trump. Whatever deal Trump and Putin agree to, it won’t be accepted by Zelensky, maybe the EU. EU officials are essentially taking on the Ukraine War.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.