Gambling With World War Three

Two "leaders" beclowning themselves on the world stage, with significant geopolitical consequences

An embarassing shitshow (Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA / Getty)

On Friday, a meeting in the Oval Office between representatives ot the US and Ukraine turned into one of the most disgraceful moments of the Trump presidency to date. It is hard to describe the shame, embarrassment, and horror that comes with the eight-minute exchange between two of America’s most powerful men and the Ukrainian leader still fighting a war for three years, but we can try.

During the meeting, Donald Trump and JD Vance ganged up and berated the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while the Secretary of State Marco Rubio shrank himself into the couch while sitting next to a shouting Vance. In a public and embarrassing confrontation with Zelensky, Vance and Trump scolded the Ukrainians for not being grateful enough for US support in the war, and threatened to abandon Ukraine if Zelensky didn’t go along.

The confrontation began with JD Vance responding to Zelensky clapping back at why Putin should not be trusted: “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president…”

After Zelensky’s brief response, Vance implied the Ukrainians were here for a propaganda coup: I’ve actually watched and seen the stories and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems with bringing people into your military? And do you think that is respectful for [Zelensky] to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to try to prevent the destruction of your country.”

Zelensky began calmly responding to Vance’s arguments, but his mention of “But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future. God bless, you know. God bless you” triggered Trump, who began shouting “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.” Things got more deranged from there: “Because you’re in no position to dictate that. You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good. We’re going to feel very good and very strong. You’re right now not in a very good position. You’ve allowing yourself to be in a very bad position and he [Vance] happens to be right about it.”

Trump then accused Zelensky of “playing cards” and “gambling with World War III,” while the shameful Vance wanted Zelensky to say thank you to them during the meeting, pressuring Zelensky by saying: “You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”

After Zelensky tried his best to thank America and the new administration, the Trump gang continued to humiliate themselves (While attempting the same at the Ukrainian leader) by saying the Ukrainians don’t want to have peace, saying of a ceasefire: “That wasn’t with me. That was a guy named Biden who is not a smart person. Excuse me, that was with Obama, who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins. You got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards. But without us, you don’t have any cards.”

Reading this is spectacular already, but you have to watch the whole video to feel the visible shame and embarrassment radiating from your screen.

It should be known that during the meeting, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova was seen facepalming during the jaw-dropping spectacle, a reporter somehow asked Zelensky why he won’t wear a suit, and the Russian state-media outlet TASS was in the Oval Office but not the AP or Reuters.

The US President then cut short the meeting and cancelled the proposed press conference between the two leaders, the signing of a mineral deal was dropped too, and Zelensky left the Oval Office without any support from the White House. After the meeting ended, self-proclaimed Ukraine supporter Senator Lindsey Graham calls on Zelensky to “resign and send somebody over we can do business with or he needs to change.”

On Truth Social, Trump continued to berate Zelensky: “We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

Hours later, Trump said he wants an “immediate” ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and warned Zelensky to make peace or lose American support. “That was not a man that wanted to make peace. I want a ceasefire now.”

Being the bigger man, Zelensky thanked the US by tweeting: “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit. Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”

But at the same time, Zelensky repeatedly refused to apologize during a Fox News interview,  saying Ukraine won’t enter peace talks with Russia until it has security guarantees, and pointed out “This kind of spat is not good for both sides.”

As America’s allies scrambled behind the scenes to decipher what the actual hell is going on, many leaders took to social media to vouch for their support of Zelensky amid a complete abandonment by the United States. It’s not a surprise that the Oval Office meeting will turn out that way, the Trump administration has shown time and again how much their position has changed in opposition to Ukraine, and in compliance with Putin’s agenda.

Days ago at the UN, on the third anniversary since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an EU-backed General Assembly resolution was adopted demanding Russia immediately withdraw troops from Ukraine. The vote was 93-18 with 65 abstentions, and most shockingly, the US sided with Russia in voting against the resolution. Then at the UN Security Council, a US resolution calling for a “swift end” to the war but not faulting Moscow for the conflict was passed by member states.

On Thursday in Moscow, Putin praised Trump for “pragmatism, a realistic worldview” and “discarding many stereotypes, so-called ‘rules’ and messianic, ideological clichés of their predecessors.”

It is hard to overstate just how dramatic and consequential this exchange is, Tom Nichols of the Atlantic wrote it thusly:

Leave aside, if only for a moment, the utter boorishness with which President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House today. Also leave aside the spectacle of American leaders publicly pummeling a friend as if he were an enemy. All of the ghastliness inflicted on Zelensky today should not obscure the geopolitical reality of what just happened: The president of the United States ambushed a loyal ally, presumably so that he can soon make a deal with the dictator of Russia to sell out a European nation fighting for its very existence.

It is very possible the meeting is just a setup, a setup for a breakup. The worst case scenario is Trump feeding Ukraine to the wolf that is Vladimir Putin, and abandoning America’s allies in Europe so much it breaks up the NATO alliance. In every step of the turn, Trump’s side wants to actively undermine Ukraine’s position going into “peace talks” set up in his terms. Apparantly, Trump and Vance were mad Zelensky did not suck up to him as profusely as they wanted, maybe because they’re narcissistic sociopaths, or maybe because they don’t have Ukraine’s best interests at heart.

Or maybe, it’s both of them.