LOS ANGELES.–Ukraine’s 47-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky was tossed out of his Oval Office meeting with 78-year-old President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance for arguing over security arrangements in Ukraine, but, more importantly, expecting Trump to continue the failed Biden foreign policy. For the first three years of war with the Kremlin, Zelensky was treated by Biden with a blank check, collecting some $300 billion in military and humanitarian aid. Unknown to most Americans, Biden was actually paying for Kiev’s government salaries and pensions, including Zelensky and his upper management team. Zelensky has no excuses for his nervous breakdown in the Oval Office, lecturing Trump and Vance about what would happen to the United States if Ukraine loses the war to Russia. From that point on, Trump and Vance told Zelensky where to go.
Zelensky was actually only supposed to sign a rare earth mineral deal in the Oval Office, not discuss Biden’s past policies or how they would change under Trump in the future. But Zelensky thought he could perform the same song-and-dance on Trump and Vance that he did with Biden to extract billions in U.S. aid to Ukraine. Once Zelensky told Trump and Vance what would happen if Ukraine lost the war, all they could see was red, watching Zelensky gaslight them the same way he did Biden for years. Vance told Zelensky Trump was engaged in diplomacy. “What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you speaking about?” Zelensky asked, telling Trump and Vance that 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin broke all his past promises. “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country,” Vance told Zelensky.
Zelensky couldn’t read the room that he was escalating the fight captured on camera for all to see in the Oval Office. Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance told Zelensky, prompting him to get more defensive. Zelensky told Trump and Vance they had not yet felt the ramifications of the war, asking them both if they’ve come to Ukraine. Zelensky told Trump and Vance that if he didn’t continue to fight Russia, the war would morph to more countries in Europe, implying that it would require more direct involvement of the United States. “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel,” Trump told Zelensky. “You’re in no position to dictate that,” Trump said, incensed that Zelensy was selling Trump and Vance with old Biden talking points.
Imagine the shock of Trump and Vance listening Zelensky hit them up with old Biden talking about continuing the Ukraine War? If you don’t win the war, then Putin will move to pick off more European countries. Trump and Vance couldn’t believe what they were hearing from Zelensky in the Oval Office when he was supposed to graciously sign a rare earth mineral deal. “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards,” Trump told Zelensky “You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that has backed you.” Zelensky doesn’t see it that way at all. He still thinks that if he gets enough cash-and-arms from the U.S. and EU he can win the war against the Russian Federation. Zelensky lost control of himself in the meeting because he’s so enraged over Trump’s peace overtures to Russia.
Zelenky thought he could gaslight Trump and Vance, finding out the hard way that things have changed in Washington. Zelensky called Putin a “terrorist and killer,” accusing Trump in Munich of living in Putin’s “disinformation space,” the same message Hillary gave in the 2016 presidential campaign when she called Trump a “Putin puppet.” Trump went into yesterday’s meeting knowing Zelensky had stabbed him in the back in Munich, continuing with a summit in London on Sunday, trying to drum up support for the Ukraine War. No one in the EU wants to admit they were at war, like Biden, with the Kremlin. With Trump changing U.S.-Ukraine policy, it heaps pressure on the EU to take over financing the war with the Kremlim. No matter how much EU countries have sympathy for Zelensky, they’re not going to subsidize the war with the Kremlin without the United States.
Zelensky’s breakdown in the Oval Office can only be explained that he’s cracked under the pressure of Ukraine War. Arguing with Vance and Trump in public showed that he’s not fit for any high stakes diplomacy, certainly not peace talks with Putin. When Zelensky meets with U.K. and EU officials in London March 2, he’s going to run out of options knowing that EU can’t underwrites his war with the Kremlin. Zelensky actually thought Trump would continue the Biden policy to giving him a blank check indefinitely to battle the Kremlin. Trump and Vance let Zelensky know that he has no options other than letting Trump pursue peace talks with Putin. Zelensky can’t get his land lost during three years of war back to the Kiev government. Submitting to Trump’s peace talks means Zelensky threw in the white towel. If he admits he lost the war, he’d have to admit the truth to the Ukrainian people.
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.
