On Donald Trump’s “ukraine Problem”
On February 28th President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House to meet with Donald Trump. As the pair greeted each other, Trump quipped “ Nice of you to dress up for me,” referring to the military fatigues of the visibility-exhausted man. After this interaction Trump and J.D Vance would go on to berate Ukrainian president Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in front of a large press pool on live T.V. After a several-minute tirade Trump’s face red with anger and emotion, spitting while he yelled at the obviously exhausted Zelenskyy. Trump then turned to the cameras and remarked: “This will make good TV.” As of March 10th, the United States has stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, resulting in airstrikes by Russia on hospitals and the deadliest day of airstrikes in the war.
The given excuse for Trump's (and Vance’s) outbursts was that Zelenskyy’s attitude was not deferential enough. In the confrontation (you can read the full transcript here), Vance cuts Zelenskyy off:
“Vance: “Have you said thank you once?”
Zelenskyy: “A lot of times. Even today.”
Vance: “No, in this entire meeting. You went to Pennsylvania and
campaigned for the opposition in October.”
Zelenskyy: “No.”
Vance: “Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of
America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”
Various Trump surrogates have supplied the reasoning that Zelenskyy's tone spoiled the meeting. This, however, is not the case. First, Zelenskyy is correct in his statement that he has often thanked the United States for its support. Multiple news outlets have reported that Zelenskyy has thanked the United States at least 33 times and other outlets report he has thanked the United States upwards of 90 times. However, based on the transcript of the meeting Vance reveals one of the true sources of friction: “You campaigned for the opposition in October.” This statement reveals two things about the Trump-Vance position on Ukraine that are alarming. First, in his statement, Vance equates the United States with Donald Trump. Zelenskyy has not thanked Trump in this meeting, and thus he has not adequately shown his appreciation to the United States. I hope I do not need to explain why this reasoning is dangerous. The US has always been a large and diverse country containing a multitude of opinions and types of people. Specifically, in the past election, where Trump won the popular vote margin by 49.78% to 48.23% or a 1.55% margin of victory. While it is true that Republicans swept the electoral college votes and won the House and Senate - this is not evidence of overwhelming support- it is the by-product of a governing system that allows an incredibly narrow margin of victory to dictate and control all the levers of government with minimal influence from the losing party. Within this system, there is little incentive for coalition building, bi-partisan collaboration, and compromise. This lack of incentivization for collaboration structure exists despite 48% of the voting population supporting (sometimes) the exact opposite agenda. The fact is Trump did not win by a majority, but a plurality. The fact is some house seats were won by a couple of thousand votes.
What I am describing is not new. The “winner takes all” two-party system of the United States has been endlessly critiqued, however, my point is if Trump believes that he is the singular representative of the will of the American people, he is not only delusional but incredibly stupid. The United States is an institution that exists independently of the president currently occupying the Oval Office. This is necessarily true as the United States has had many presidents in the past, and despite his rumored third-term dreams, Trump is an obese, aging man and there is one fact that rings universally true for both beggars and billionaires - death is unrelenting. There was a period before Trumo, and there will be a period after. Even if Project 2025 succeeds and the US government is twisted into an unrecognizable, abominable thing where the entirety of the government’s power rests with the president, or a collection of billionaires, the collective global imagination of the US will move forward with Trump as a part of it, but he will never be the whole. This is true for other dictatorships. Stalin and Hitler died. Both of these wretched people left deep wounds on the histories of their countries but time marches on and history continues to be constructed. This is the flaw of Vance's equivalency (and as a Yale graduate he should be intelligent enough to understand this). Trump can never be the United States, he can forever scar it but no matter how hard he tries it is impossible for him- someone who cannot live for more than 30 years longer, someone who is undisciplined, and who only won by 1.55% of the vote to rewrite 200+ years of collective history. He isn’t strong enough, he as a man will only be a chapter in this story. His successors may, with time, bastardize the country so much it is unrecognizable to those who remember a time before Trump- but it will not be in Trump’s lifetime- he is too old and too weak.
It is within this narcissistic equality of self and state that Vance and Trump make their second error. Zelenskyy did not “campaign for the opposition” as Vance puts it. The instance he is referring to is a September 2024 visit to a munitions plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Regarding the visit, Zelenskyy tweeted:
“I began my visit to the United States by expressing my gratitude to all the employees at the plant and by reaching agreements to expand cooperation between Pennsylvania and our Zaporizhzhia." "It is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail. Thanks to people like these—in Ukraine, in America, and in all partner countries—who work tirelessly to ensure that life is protected."
While the visit was criticized by Republicans, the visit makes sense. It was the Biden administration’s foreign aid bill that sent billions of dollars worth of munitions, artillery, weapons, and tanks to Ukraine. The munitions plant in Scranton was a vital part of making these weapons. Like it or not, Biden was in charge of foreign policy in 2024 and the administration was committed to helping Ukraine. The criticism of this should lay with the hosts of the event rather than the attendees. If the main proponent of foreign aid to your country invites you to come and speak to the workers making the shells that will help defend your country from invasion - would you be able to refuse?
Unfortunately, these nuances are lost on the Vice President. He views Kamala Harris and Joe Bidend (and I am assuming 48.23% of the voting population) as “opposition.” This us vs. them mentality is the ugly core at the center of the Republican party's rotten truth- democracy is unappealing to them. Trump has repeatedly voiced dictatorial tendencies, floating the idea of running for a third term, overreaching executive powers, flirting with the idea of shooting protesters, and openly vying for the attention of brutal dictators such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung Un. According to his own words, he has a special bond with Putin: “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me. He went through a phony witch hunt …” This diluted affinity is coupled with his well-documented unstable temperament. Trump is a small insecure man who often shouts because the content of his words cannot make an impact. He often seeks retribution and throws temper tantrums. The combination of personal weakness, and disdain for democracy resulted in this outburst.
Zelenskyy’s strength is a natural foil to Trump’s weakness. For three years Zelenskyy has led his country through a brutal war. Zelenskyy has stood up to Putin often on the front lines, while Donald falls to his knees and kisses the ring. Zelenskyy stands for democracy and national sovereignty, while Trump finds the inner workings of government, and democracy unappealing. This natural foil of Donald and Zelenskyy is only exacerbated by the pair’s history.
In truth, the Zelenskyy-Trump meeting was doomed from the beginning. Few aspects of Trump’s nature have been consistent- with his petty need for retribution being the most steadfast aspect of his lack of character. In his first term, Trump was impeached twice. The second impeachment, revolving around the January 6th insurrection, received more attention, as he was charged with incitement to insurrection. However, in the first impeachment, Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, over allegations that he solicited Ukrainian authorities to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election in his favor. While it may seem like a relic from a different far-away time- the first Trump impeachment trial plays a larger role in this interaction than it initially seems. Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected president of Ukraine on April 21st, 2019. The impeachment charges resulted from a phone call that took place on July 25th, 2019. The impeachment revolved around allegations that Donald pressured the new Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden accompanied by threats to withhold military aid to the country.
The US House Intelligence Committee reported:
“President Trump, personally and acting through agents within and outside of the U.S. government, solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to benefit his reelection. ...President Trump conditioned official acts on a public announcement by the new Ukrainian president...of politically-motivated investigations, including one into Joe Biden, one of Trump's domestic political opponents. In pressuring President Zelenskyy to carry out his demand, President Trump withheld a White House meeting desperately sought by the Ukrainian President, and critical U.S. military assistance to fight Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine."
In addition to this report, the Government Accountability Office wrote in their final report that “the White House broke the law by withholding military aid to Ukraine.”
It was this exchange that Donald dubbed the “perfect phone call.” The fact of the matter is, that Donald attempted to exhort the new Ukrainian president to get dirt on his political opponent and was impeached because of it. Knowing Donald Trump, his need for retribution, and his disdain for Democracy, the public humiliation of Zelenskyy was the only possible conclusion. The fact is Donald Trump doesn't like Zelenskyy, he doesn't like what he stands for, and he doesn't like that Zelenskyy’s bravery illuminates the darkness within his own malformed soul.
While Donald Trump may prefer Putin to Zelenskyy, it is important to describe the truth of the situation in Ukraine. As of today, Putin occupies around 20% of Ukraine. Russia has kidnapped 20,000 Ukrainian children. According to UNICEF, within six weeks of the full-scale invasion, nearly two-thirds of all of Ukraine's children had been displaced. The organization estimates that a total of 2.8 million children have been internally displaced, while 2 million have fled Ukraine as refugees. According to Reuters, approximately 240,000 Ukrainians have refugee status in the United States - something the Trump administration has toyed with revoking.
Putin has murdered more than 20 political opponents, he has poisoned journalists, jailed protesters in penal colonies, and murdered opposition leaders. Putin’s Russia is brutal and repressive and this is whom Trump favors. While right-wing propagandists such as Tucker Carlson and Tim Poole are happy to repeat Russian propaganda and Donald Trump openly expresses affection for Putin it is important to understand these actions in the greater context. It is important to remember this is not the first time Putin has invaded Ukraine. Russia annexed the entire Crimean Peninsula in 2014, forcing its 2.4 million residents under Russian occupation. It is easy to minimize the reality of brutal authoritarians when they are an ocean away. However, it is another thing to look at the true reality of the suffering these autocrats cause and still support them. Over one million people have died in the Russo-Ukrainian War conflict, the OHCHR has recorded 41,783 civilian deaths with many more injured. Next time Trump praises Putin, withdraws military support or withholds intelligence reports, remember that these decisions have consequences. When Trump praises Putin, think of the children who will never return home or speak their native language. When Vance says that Zelenksyy is ungrateful, think of how you would feel after three years of seeing civilians die and watching bombs being dropped on hospitals and schools. Think of the real human toll of these policy-makers' decisions. Think of who to trust- the man who grew up with golden toilets, or the man watching the slow and targeted death of his country's culture, the kidnapping of his country's children. Remember while different political spinsters criticize Zelenskyy’s decorum, while Trump criticizes Zelenskyy for wearing fatigues to the White House, Trump only understands one thing - what is directly in front of him.
