How to Trigger a Tongue-Lashing Rumble at the White House: Talk About Logic, Facts and History
Visitors can easily get rolled. Be prepared, keep your eyes open and proceed with caution. Innocuous figures sitting on sofas are larger than they appear. They can be extremely dangerous.
SOME PEOPLE HAVEN’T LET the recent news sink in — including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Here’s what I’m talking about::
— The United States is reaching out to Russia to normalize diplomatic relations, blocking Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO and overlooking Russia’s efforts to steal 20 percent of Ukraine’s sovereign territory by military force.
— The United States is now voting with Russia and its allies Belarus and North Korea at the United Nations to oppose condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine and starting the deadliest, most destructive conflict in Europe since World War II.
— The United States wants to work economically with Russia and invite Russia to rejoin the G7 after being suspended from the economic group when it first invaded Ukraine in 2014 and illegally annexed Crimea.
This is the hard truth.
What You Do Is Kiss the Ring
President Donald Trump has remodeled the White House property into a very rough neighborhood. Fabricated facts get tossed around like junk food at a food fight. On a weekly basis week he is kicking longstanding allies and policies to the curb on a whim. Visitors can easily get rolled.
Be vigilant, keep your eyes open and proceed with caution. Innocuous figures sitting on sofas are larger than they appear. They can be extremely dangerous.
On Friday, Zelensky walked into the Oval Office unprepared. He brought the weapons of logic, facts and history. What President Donald Trump wanted was a shower of adoration.
You know, a “thank you” for the three years of U.S. support under former President Joe Biden that Trump publicly badmouthed and opposed and now calls a catastrophe.
No, better leave Biden out of it. Just tell Trump how smart and strong he has been during his first month in office. Keep it simple.
“With people like Trump, what you do is kiss the ring,” an international government affairs executive told me. The veteran of high-level deals around the world including with governments in Russia and Washington, D.C. advised “Focus on what you want done, let staff negotiate in private and leave with results. And don’t let the junior players try to score points at your expense. They always want to show off for their boss and the cameras.”
That didn’t happen, even though things began as a normal diplomatic and politely choreographed White House press gaggle.
The two presidents head democracies that have been allies for decades and the Ukrainian leader spent two days on a train and plane getting to Washington D.C. The plan was to sign an agreement with Trump that would give 50 percent of future mineral mining in Ukraine to U.S. interests in exchange for money to buy weapons and start patching up war-torn Ukraine.
But as the 40-minute briefing neared its end, the shit started flying again as it has been on and off for weeks now. “I count on your strong position to stop Putin,” Zelensky told Trump and called Russian President Vladimir Putin a terrorist. “Of course, no compromises with a killer.”
Calling a Spade a Spade
No, no, no…. Not in the White House. Calling a spade a spade means you have no cards in Trump World. Bite your tongue and zip those lips. Ignore the 10 million refugees, the murder, the torture, the $500 billion needed for rebuilding Ukraine. All compliments of Putin’s unprovoked military invasion.
And besides, Trump World does not view Russia’s war on Ukraine as an unprovoked invasion. A “special military operation” to conquer what Trump calls “always the apple” of Putin’s eye perhaps, but not without some pretzel-logic justification.
In recent weeks, Trump falsely blamed the 47-year-old Zelensky for triggering Putin’s invasion, claimed that he is an “unelected dictator” doing a “terrible job” and that he had a 4 percent favorability rating. All statements are slanderously wrong – Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 without military provocation, Zelensky was overwhelmingly elected in 2019 with 73 percent of the vote, and his favorability is around 57 percent. Ukraine didn’t hold an election last year because its constitution doesn’t allow it while the country is under martial law because of the ongoing conflict. Twenty percent of Ukraine is occupied by Russia.
But facts are perpetually changeable in Trump World. Zelensky responded in the press that Trump lives in a “disinformation space.”
No doubt, the U.N. votes didn’t help smooth out relations between the two.
As the Oval Office briefing touched upon Trump’s efforts to strike a peace “deal” with Putin, who Trump now calls a friend, Zelensky politely attempted to present his position on the conflict.
Europe has also been donating large sums in aid and weapons to Ukraine, he said, and any peace discussions would have to include Ukraine, European allies and security assurances against any future Russian aggression. Zelensky also said negotiations would have to address war reparations and the return of prisoners of war and an estimated 20,000 children who have been stolen from Ukraine by Russia.
Trump routinely brushes off such talk. He says bringing up that uncomfortable stuff alienates Putin and only gets in the way of negotiations that have yet to begin. The first “peace” summit in Saudi Arabia was a negotiation about having future negotiations and re-establishing embassies in Moscow and Washington, D.C. European allies and Ukraine have so far been left out of the picture.
JD Vance Grabs the Spotlight
Nevertheless, Zelensky’s comments about Putin being a terrorist and killer set the stage for Vice President JD Vance to get the attention of cameras and throw his punch.
“I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said in a firm, judgmental tone even though Zelensky was far from confrontational or rude. “You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”
Zelensky asked Vance what kind of diplomacy would be needed to negotiate with Putin, who has broke and ignored international peace agreements guaranteeing Ukraine’s security over the past two decades.
Screw that question. Vance dug in and criticized Zelensky for using conscription to fill its military ranks. Then Trump piled on.
The president and the vice president alternated verbal punches, asked multiple questions at a time, suggested Ukraine would not exist without U.S. aid, accused Zelensky of hosting politicians and others on propaganda tours, and said he was ungrateful. All the while, Zelensky maintained his cool, but the entire room sensed the doom. The United States was cutting loose its ties to Ukraine.
Logic and Facts Insult this White House
It was a political mugging in plain sight. If it wasn’t a setup, it sure looked like it.
“You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having the cards,” Trump scolded while talking over Zelensky and pointing his finger. “You’re gambling with lives of millions of people, you’re gambling with World War III and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country.”
Doing what? Talking logic and facts?
Basically, Trump was admitting he wasn’t planning to take on Putin, a world pariah, and that Zelensky, is the problem for insisting on security assurances for his nation and that European allies and Ukraine be included in any ceasefire talks.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” Trump said.
“Just say thank you,” Vance jumped in.
“You’re buried there,” Trump concluded. “Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers. You’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest, that’s not a nice thing.”
With that, Zelensky was shown the door. There was no mineral deal. And now it appears Ukraine and Europe will be on their own.
There’s an old saying, “Truth is the first casualty of war. Justice is the first casualty of peace.” Trump World has proved the first part to be true. We’ll see what is in store for the second.