It did make great television. Everyone has been talking about it ever since. On Sunday news shows, Marco Rubio addressed the war and Trump's wish for peace during his appearance on ABC This Week. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz took a spin on State of the Union, where he spoke about the meeting, saying "It was not clear Zelensky was going to go to negotiations at all — that he would ever be able to negotiate with Putin and whether he shared our goal of ending this war … This was a huge missed opportunity for him and for his country."
Tulsi Gabbard on Fox News Sunday said "The longer this goes on, not only are more Ukrainians losing their lives, but it increases the potential of this escalation towards World War III ... That's not a cost that President Trump is willing to accept." On Face the Nation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Margaret Brennan "All President Zelensky had to do was come in and sign this economic agreement, and again show no daylight — no daylight — between Ukrainian people and the American people, and he chose to blow that up."
In other words, the administration is unified on message, and while plenty of people criticized both Trump and Vance for what was seen as their antagonism of Zelensky, it was Zelensky who basically kicked it all off. This despite the aftermath of narrative messaging from news outlets that said Vance and Trump "ambushed" Zelensky. All you have to do is watch the meeting to see that this is not actually so. The whole thing started off super nice. It wasn't until Zelensky basically threatened the US with war on our shores that it went right off the rails.
Zelensky was replying to Vance, who said, when pressed on if he'd ever been to Ukraine, "I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people in your military, and do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?"
"First of all," Zelensky said, before going on to seemingly threaten the national security of the United States, "during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have a nice ocean and don’t feel [the problems] now. But you will feel it in the future." This seriously angered Trump.
"You don't know that," Trump said as Zelensky continued to talk over him, "Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel We're going to feel very good." Zelensky kept trying to jump in. "We’re going to feel very good and very strong," Trump went on.
"You’re, right now, not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. You don’t have the cards right now with us," Trump said. "You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War Three. You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have."
"Have you said thank you once?" Vance asked Zelensky. "A lot of times," Zelensky replied. But this was a problem for Biden, too, who in 2022, per an NBC report at the time. In June 2022, Biden called to tell Zelensky about more funds and weapons being sent to Ukraine to fight Russia. Zelensky, in return, kept asking for more. NBC sources officials, saying "President Biden just got frustrated and lost his temper and told President Zelensky, 'look, you could be a little bit more grateful.'" Zelensky, it turns out, has lacked gratitude for American help for quite a long time. It's almost like he feels entirely entitled to it. That's certainly how it appeared in the Oval Office on Friday.
Somewhere after the blow up, the Ukrainian delegation waiting in the room next door was told to leave. Zelensky was led out of the White House. The White House press team got to eat the fancy food that had been prepared for the diplomatic lunch. And Trump, on Truth Social, posted that Zelensky could come back when he was serious about peace. Zelensky left the US. He went with hat-in-hand to Europe. The deal with Trump is pretty much off the table—turns out Democrats advised Zelensky ahead of the meeting not to take it. Weird that he'd listen to the party that has virutally no power in government.
Zelensky was offered the carrot, he rejected it, most likely now he'll get the stick. Keir Starmer promised troops and cash. Better them than us. Starmer is now looking at some kind of peace deal, but all of it, everything the Europeans and Zelensky would agree to would require a security guarantee from the US.
The thing is, it's the security guarantee President Bill Clinton agreed to in 1994. That memo, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, said that if Ukraine (which was at the time preceded with a 'The,' which was later dropped to give the nation more of a national, than regional, appearance) gave up the nukes they ended up with after the collapse of the USSR, the US would protect them in the event of an incursion. Now here we are. And Zelensky, and Starmer, want us to go back down that same road again.
Zelensky on Saturday said something about being ready to sign the mineral deal in exchange for these security guarantees. That wasn't part of the deal Trump wanted. Trump wanted Zelensky to sign the mineral deal as pay back for the masses of billions that the US has already given Ukraine. Zelensky wants it to be part of some new plan.
The thing is, despite the funds and aid and weapons given to Ukraine by the Biden administration, they were never given enough to actually win the war. Ukraine got enough stuff to hang on, to put up a good showing, to not let Russia win outright, but not enough to decisively win. There can only be one reason for this: the Biden administration didn't want Ukraine to win, they just wanted them to be at war, to be at the mercy of the United States, and to use a bunch of the money they got to buy weapons from US munitions makers. So the idea was, fund a war with money that's then kicked back to American companies who are in the business of facilitating war. Great plan, unless the goal is peace.
The goal should be peace. That's what Trump is looking for. That's what we had during his first term. That's what the American people voted for. If Europe and Ukraine want to keep fighting, if they keep thinking they have to "give Putin a bloody nose" before he will leave Ukraine, take his troops, relinquish the conquered land, and go back to the Kremlin to nurse his wounds, they will likely have to do it alone.
