Trump’s Toadies Have Already Lost the Argument

(AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov)

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s tag team tantrum in the Oval Office resulted in the implosion of a U.S.-Ukraine security deal and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky being thrown out of the White House on Friday.

The talking points are already out to Trump’s toadies in the media, and they are embarrassing.

“This is entirely Zelensky’s fault. Trump greeted him graciously, was ready to turn the page. Just said he wanted to get help Ukraine get it’s territory back. And Z comes in and gets into a fight in public? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” mused The Washington Post‘s Marc Thiessen.

“Zelensky says he wants peace but he just rudely dismissed the Trump administration’s diplomacy as pointless. That angered Trump and @JDVance and now Zelensky has fled the White House. This should be the wake-up call that global elites & Europe desperately need,” declared Michael Shellenberger.

“When you’re the leader of a war-torn country that has already been handed $200 billion in aid, you check your ego at the door, stay cordial, and sign the deal,” submitted RedState’s Bonchie. “Stupid, stupid decision by Zelensky.”

Do these people hear themselves?

First, there are the outright lies. The verbal brawl between the the three men began not because Zelensky was rude or came in looking for a “fight,” but because Trump and Vance were criticizing their guest.

“You see the hatred he’s [Zelensky] got for Putin. It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hatred,” said Trump. “He’s got tremendous hatred.”

Then after Vance blamed the previous American administration for the prolonging of the war, Zelensky pointed out that the Russians had launched multiple wars of aggression over the last decade, committed atrocities against Ukrainian citizens, and violated past agreements.

Vance responded by calling him “disrespectful.” That’s when the conversation began to unravel — after Trump and Vance excoriated Zelensky, not the other way around.

Even setting aside the mendacious retelling of what happened in the Oval Office, though, this “defense” of Trump is actually a staggering indictment.

Zelensky must say precisely the right thing in every moment while speaking in a foreign language or this administration will alter its position to favor Vladimir Putin’s Russia? He has to meekly nod along as Trump decries his “hatred” for the man who’s slaughtered tens of thousands of his countrymen — or else?

What Zelensky was trying to say before the ignoble duo at the top of the executive branch picked up their toys and went home was that it doesn’t matter if he hates Putin. What matters is that he can’t trust Putin because Putin has proved he can’t be trusted.

Trump’s sycophants have already lost the argument. Strategically, could Zelensky have played it better? Sure. But the more momentous takeaway from Friday’s events is that Trump and Vance’s poor character represents an enormous threat to not only the interests of their own country, but the world order that depends on it.

And there’s no reason to emphasize the former point while ignoring the latter, save for rank self-interest.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.