Trump and Putin v. Ukraine and Europe
Aping Kremlin propaganda, Trump sides with Russia against Zelensky and U.S. democratic allies
At last week’s joint press conference in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump — along with Vice President JD Vance — aped Russian propaganda, lied about the war and berated his guest. The meeting ended acrimoniously, without an agreement on mineral mining rights that was the ostensible reason Zelenskyy traveled to Washington. America’s leaders presented not as peacemakers, let alone as Ukraine supporters, but as advocates for Russia. It left no doubt that the United States has switched sides.
Trump recently denounced Ukraine’s freely elected president as a “dictator” — something he has never said about Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia this whole century — and falsely blames Ukraine for Russia’s invasion. When Trump talks about peace, he calls for Ukraine to make concessions to Russia but never says what Russia must do. Not a word about how to make a settlement last, let alone to make it just.
In the White House meeting, Trump told Zelenskyy his position was weak and warned “you’re gambling with World War III.” Vance instructed Zelenskyy to get a ceasefire, and when Zelenskyy pointed out that Putin broke the last one — an unambiguous fact — Vance snapped that it’s “disrespectful to try to litigate this in front of the American media.” A phone call could have told Zelenskyy the mineral deal wasn’t happening, but apparently Trump and Vance wanted to make Zelenskyy fly across the ocean to pull the rug out from under him in public.
Let’s be very clear. The phrase “gambling with WWIII” is Russian propaganda. Russia typically threatens nukes when anyone stands up to Putin’s bullying, as if it’s the victims’ responsibility to avoid risk of escalation by doing whatever Russia tells them to. As the 19th century Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz wrote, “the aggressor is always peace-loving. ... He would prefer to take over our country unopposed.”
The right response to Russian threats…
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