Summary
Trump just presided over one of the greatest diplomatic disasters in modern history, with flared tempers, raised voices, and shredded protocol.
Never before has a U.S. president bullied and berated an adversary, never mind an ally, in such a public way.
During a tense Oval Office meeting, Trump and JD Vance attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, demanding he accept a peace deal with Russia or lose U.S. support.
The conversation devolved into shouting, with Trump accusing Zelenskyy of being ungrateful and “gambling with World War III.”
The meeting ended in chaos, with no agreement reached.
Everybody, especially Zelenskyy, knew that this was going to be a bad deal, for one simple reason: Putin won’t back down on Ukraine, and Trump will never defy Putin. So, the best possible outcome is that talks are televised, so that the world can see that he’s being reasonable, and Trump was being a bully. And it worked!
Is this really a given? He must want something.
He does. He wants Ukraine.
Okay, besides Ukraine. Yes, I think that you could set up a deal to give Putin something that he wants in exchange for a truce. The problem is Putin can’t be trusted, and, sooner or later, he’ll break the truce, because he really, really, really wants Ukraine.
What’s the real reason he wants Ukraine so badly? I don’t see a reason other than using it as a springboard to attack the rest of us in Europe. Or is Ukraine his secret bae somehow?