Fox News Anchors Fluff Trump’s NatSec Advisor Over Ukraine Drama: ‘How Should We Characterize’ Trump Calling Zelensky a Dictator?

Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz appeared on Fox News’ America Reports Wednesday afternoon and received remarkably convivial treatment from news anchors John Roberts and Sandra Smith, given President Donald Trump’s clear signal that he was supporting Vladimir Putin regarding his invasion of Ukraine.

Over the past few days, Trump has blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and blamed him for starting a war with Russia, when in fact, the deadly conflict is entirely the result of Putin directing troops to invade the former Soviet Republic, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of both military personnel and civilians.

The Trump administration’s clear pivot to support Putin in this conflict has drawn broad and bipartisan condemnation, ranging from editorial boards at the New York Times to Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and New York Post. Fox News appears to be one Murdoch-owned outlet that is still committed to giving Trump a pass on rewarding Russia’s illegal invasion, at least evidenced by its coverage and this segment above (save some rare notable exceptions.)

After reading Trump’s latest missive against Zelensky posted on social media, Roberts teed up Waltz in the kindest way possible, asking, “Can you disabuse us of any notion we might have that the president has gone totally south on Zelensky?”

I mean, it’s clear he’s gone south on Zelensky. A better question might be “How does Trump rationalize blaming Zelensky for getting invaded by Vladimir Putin’s troops, and doesn’t this rhetoric represent a MASSIVE foreign policy shift and a departure from American values that opt not to reward international aggressors?”

Waltz’s reply effectively reiterated Trump’s position and effectively lauded a Ukrainian partnership that would provide vital resources to the US for its investment in Ukranian defense efforts under the Biden administration. Oh, and he blamed Zelensky for “escalating rhetoric and push back” which, he added., Trump is “not going to tolerate.”

I think it’s just to unpack that a bit; just not everyone has gotten the message that the era of an endless grinding war with death and destruction on all sides, costing hundreds of billions and costing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives, that era was over. President Trump has been very clear. He intends to bring this war to an end, that all sides need to be bought into that and that, you know, I think the frustration really stemmed just in the last week from this bizarre pushback and escalation of rhetoric over the presentation of what we see as an absolute opportunity. And that’s to have the United States invest in Ukrainian infrastructure, to have them grow both their minerals, their natural resources, their oil and gas. And I have to tell you, a part of a much bigger pie is certainly better than where it stands today. And then, you know, just as an important subject to that is that we look at the type of aid the Europeans are providing, and it’s often in the form of loans. It’s being repaid with the interest on seized Russian assets. We believe the American taxpayer deserves to recoup much of their investment. All of that’s an opportunity for Ukraine. They need to see that for what it is. And instead, we had this kind of escalating rhetoric and push back and the president’s not going to tolerate it.

“So how should people be interpreting this message?” Smith followed up in a remarkably feeble manner. “Those were his words yesterday. He has since put out that that message over X or Twitter, as John just detailed, calling him a dictator. So how should we characterize this relationship?”

Again, Zelensky is leading a nation that was invaded by Putin and closed tens of thousands of civilians as a result. And Trump is supporting Putin by literally blaming the victim here, and the best question we can get to the Trump NatSec advisor is, “How should we characterize this relationship?” It’s like she is literally asking the Trump administration what they want her to say.

Waltz doubled down on his previous comments, saying:

Well, it’s one that’s that’s frustrated right now and clearly is going in the wrong direction. But what President Trump is focused on is ending the fighting, going to a cease fire and having a broader having a broader agreement that started with his call with President Putin last week. He immediately had a call with President Zelensky. They have a term for this in diplomacy called shuttle diplomacy. I don’t think anyone should be really I don’t know, criticizing the president for trying to drive this to a diplomatic solution. And what he said yesterday and today is why hasn’t President Zelensky tried to end this war for the betterment of his country? And we have to ask ourselves, is Ukraine’s position improving or not on the battlefield? And then thirdly, from the European perspective, I just got off the phone with my counterparts from the from the United Kingdom, from France, from Germany, and said, look, we welcome Europe stepping in and offering security guarantees. We welcome Europe. We’ve been asking for years for Europe to step up and contribute more to not only their own defense, but Ukraine’s defense. All of that is now happening, and that’s because President Trump is driving this very quickly. If some people may not like the now order that it’s happening, but you have to talk to both sides to get both sides to the table. And that’s what we’re doing. That’s what we did last week. And just a few days ago in Saudi Arabia.

Trump’s clear pivot to support Russia and villify Zelensky in this conflict is a massive story that literally and dramatically changes America’s global standing. In many neutral observers’ eyes, we are no longer the “good guys” but just another abider of the “might makes right” ethos.

It’s a shame that a “news program” on the most watched cable news network doesn’t have the courage to call it clearly, but that probably doesn’t pay the bills.

Watch the above via Fox News.

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