Who Stepped in it?
No doubt many folks have watched what took place between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House. A lot of Democrats and Republicans are thinking that Donald Trump screwed up. It would probably be a good idea to look at this entire kerfuffle from a strategic and logical point of view, before everyone goes off the deep end. It’s important to know what this little twerp Zelensky has done in the last three years. He has postponed elections, outlawed opposition media and parties, suspended habeas corpus and walked out of negotiations when he had a hand in 2022 and now when he doesn’t have one now.
Donald Trump has been under constant political persecution since the beginning of his first term. Over time, he has learned to be patient and calculated, the traits inherit in a dealmaker. Zelensky was invited to the Oval Office to sign the rare earth minerals deal that he refused to sign in Kiev when Treasury Secretary Bissett visited. Then he balked two weeks later in Munich when the Vice President was there for a security conference. He wanted to do it in person with the President.
Prior to his meeting at the White House, he was at a briefing with well-known Trump troublemaker and hater, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). Was he the point man who told Zelensky to push for a security agreement and use this opportunity to campaign for it in front of the American media?
The Ukrainian President knew that Trump was not going to guarantee security as part of the rare earth minerals deal. Zelensky has continued to insist that NATO must accept Ukraine membership for their own security. But Trump knew that Russia would never agree to peace, knowing that NATO, their historical adversary, would surround them. But Zelensky plowed ahead with his agenda, thinking he had Democrats' support, believing he could make this bold move on live television. His strategy didn’t work. Trump and Vance shut him down and gave him the broom.
The biggest Ukrainian honk in the United States Congress is Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC). He has been to the country so many times he’s practically a resident. He characterized the meeting as “an utter disaster” saying that Zelensky needs to "fundamentally change or go”. Further he said, "I can't believe most Americans after what they saw today would want to be partners with Zelensky." He concluded his remarks with the following, "I've never been more proud of President Trump for showing the American people and the world, you don't trifle with this man."
On ABC’s Sunday morning program, “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State said, "Shouldn't we all be happy that we have a president who's trying to stop wars and prevent them instead of start them? I just don't get it. I really don't, other than the fact it's Donald J. Trump. If this was a Democrat that was doing this, people would be saying he's on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize."
What Zelensky didn’t realize evidently, was that if the United States were in the Ukraine, mining rare earth minerals, the Russians would think long and hard about ever invading. This would be especially true if there were a lot of Americans running around the country in Caterpillar loaders and bulldozers. When it comes to diplomacy, Zelensky is way over his head. He’s a short sighted, little grifter playing checkers while Trump is playing chess. Big Z came into the Oval Office probably wondering where the befuddled old guy was.
Now on social media the campaign is in full force, “I Stand with Ukraine”. If the progenitors of this statement really believe this, then they should book a trip to the Eastern Front and stand with the conscripted Ukrainians facing the Russian military meat grinder. There is no way that the evil Putin is going to agree to a cease fire given current circumstance. There is also no way Zelensky can lead his country to victory even if he has an unending supply of military equipment.
Zelensky stepped in it. Let’s hope he wipes his feet before he visits to the White House again.