News that I missed, courtesy of The Babylon Bee:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an unusual tactic rarely seen in high-level negotiations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to try insulting the people he was begging for money from.
Zelensky further decided that the best place to insult that person would be their work office, surrounded by dozens of colleagues, with several cameras recording the insult.
“It is unorthodox, but I firmly believe going into a person’s country, visiting them in their home, and then insulting them on national television is the best way to earn their trust and support,” he explained. “First, I will explain that they do not know what they are doing when they negotiate. Then, I will tell them that their country is only saved from destruction because of the ocean. Finally, I will roll my eyes when they mention that I came to campaign events for the opposition party. That should do the trick.”
According to witnesses, Zelensky executed his plan to perfection. “Wow, he really did it,” said White House aide Larry Sanders. “What a bold plan, telling the people you’re depending on for survival that they are foolish and weak. Let’s see how it plays out for him.”
Go here to read the rest. It is astonishing that anyone could so misunderstand Trump.
I watched the whole thing. I really enjoyed Trump telling a CNN reporter off and clapping back at another reporter who kept asking if Putin didn’t honour the ceasefire, in which Trump replied “what if a bomb dropped on your head- I don’t know!”…I found the whole exchange satisfying.
Vance was particularly impressive. An intelligent and “street-smart” communicator. Couldn’t pull the wool over his eyes and has a bundle of courage.
Zelensky came across as desperate and out of his depth and is not accustomed to dealing with strong leadership. Enough is enough. But there’s something obviously in it for Zelensky and he wants to continue it for personal gain. He’s lost the respect he still thinks he has.
Oh…and I especially like the fact Zelensky had to do away with his military khaki uniform and actually dress up for the occasion. He didn’t seem happy about that either. Too bad.
In the last 10 or so years we had gone from being the “knock it off country” to the “I’m sorry country” with this exchange it looks like we’re back to “knock it off” country territory 😉
About time we redefine who is asking for billions and who is giving it.
Ukraine is a stupid fight between second cousins. The fact that the cousins behave atrociously to each other does not alter that. Our main concern is that neither of them damage the furniture or burn down the house as they fight over the last piece of cake.
Wow Bruised, ‘flippant‘ doesn’t even begin to describe your assessment of a brutal invasion (let alone centuries of them) …
As for yesterday’s $h*tshow, nothing about it made me happy, just the opposite, in fact. I’m sure Putin is on cloud 9 though.
I don’t think “Kiss the ring, say ‘thank you’, then shut up and do as your told” is a good look for America. I’ve had the displeasure of being subjected to the manipulation of a salesman desperate to close the deal … the type who put you in a position of choosing between giving them whatever they want or being an A-hole … Zelenskyy chose option B.
I’m surprised he even agreed to the on-air dog and pony show. He knew he wasn’t going to sign the agreement, I knew, so Trump really should’ve known. And Vance’s Grover Dill impersonation was a bad look too.
For the Zelensky apologist: Since the fall of communism in Russia, could you please tell me one thing that Russia has done adverse to the interest of the United States? America First.
I’m no Zelenskyy apologist, but I’ll take a stab at it JRP:
You don’t think starting a major war in Europe qualifies as ‘against America’s interests’?
How about supporting Assad and the Ayatollahs?
Helping N. Korea improve their weapons systems?
Russian cyberblackmail/warfare?
Once a KGB thug, always a KGB thug.
CAG wrote some hard things that we need to consider. Trump and Vance were right, and Zelenskyy is a self-entitled cocaine addict. But CAG’s description of a salesman desperate to close a deal, the “kiss the ring” attitude, and the Grover Dill impersonation has merit. Truthfully, I was simultaneously happy Zelenskyy was put in his place, and embarrassed for him that this was done publicly in front of TV cameras. As for Putin, Don is 100% right: a murderous KGB gangster thug. But this war is a conflict between brothers who have been fighting on and off for a millennium. Zelenskyy should have eaten crow and sued for peace before any more Ukrainians and Russians get killed in a war Ukraine cannot possibly win. I don’t like letting Putin win, but he won’t stop, period. And Zelenskyy is just as much a dictator as Putin is, except that Putin is competent and Zelenskyy isn’t. The KGB has a way of making one more competent than the comedian that Zelenskyy played in the TV show called “Servant of the People.”
What I’ve gathered from the MSM narrative:
-Ukraine should not be expected to enter into any peace agreement where Ukraine gives any concession whatsoever. The war should continue until Russia is the one making all the concessions.
-It is reasonable for American troops to be used as “peacekeepers” or “security guarantees” to ensure this.
-Even if government officials agree to the above two points, it would be ridiculous for Russia to think that American against it, so there is no risk of this approach kicking off WWIII.
-There is no pressure on Ukraine to concede, because they are in the right and therefore will beat Russia any day now. The number of Ukrainian casualties literally does not matter.
I don’t know how anyone can believe all four points above simultaneously, but that’s what I’ve seen in the mainstream narrative.
Yes, Putin is a thug and Russia prefers dictators.
But to say that Ukraine is not cut from the same mold is naïve.
Zelenskyy: “First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. You have nice solutions and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.”
Trump: “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.”
That there was Zelenskyy undoing.
Who goes into someone’s living room and tells them their house will be attacked in the future, whilst asking to be fed and thereby putting some kind of “guilt trip” on your host? It’s dysfunctional behaviour.
And this after they let Zelensky talk and talk and talk and talk and talk.
Every time Trump mentioned the word Peace Agreement or Ceasefire or Deal, Zelensky would shut it down with excuses: Putin has broken every ceasefire agreement, we need EU countries involved with money, arms, we need every nation involved to win this war…to what point Zelensky? The analogy of his behaviour as a crack addict is fitting. He was not interested in negotiating the end to this.
They told him to come back when he is ready to negotiate the end of the war. Nobody “kicked him out”. Nobody told him to “kiss the ring and say thank you”.
Things turned when it was clear he wasn’t going to engage in any negotiations and all he wanted was money, and he started using guilt to get what he wanted.
He is a grifting.
Zelensky is now conscripting Ukrainian men because he does not have enough soldiers. He has run out of money. He won’t hold elections in his own country. He won’t sit down with third parties unless they give him money or war resources. He won’t entertain conditions for a ceasefire.
They told him this.
5 minutes after the Whitehouse visit, he was adding insult to injury in his TV interviews and he was off with Keir Starmer asking for money. 😂
Crack addict indeed.
So watching this and understanding the whole situation, …this is a mess.
On one hand, I’d like to give Zelenskyy credit for having inspired his countryman to fend off Russia. Except we’ve been supporting him for 3 years, knowing that he’d need to work at gaining creedence with much of eastern-most Ukrainians.
Yesterday, …Zelenskyy didn’t seem like a combat leader. He seemed more like a 17-year-old throwing a tantrum because Dad took away the key to the Mercedes.
He would have lots of trouble with making Ukrainian governance more palatable to eastern Ukrainians with that mentality.
Yes Zelenskii is a grifter, a man who has enriched himself for years at the hands of the Biden administration. The flower of his nation’s youth is being fed into a meat grinder in a war he absolutely cannot win, and he is uninterested in finding a resolution. Perhaps it’s because he and his wife have become fabulously rich during this bloodbath?
The Ukrainian government has been notoriously corrupt, and it is an underreported fact that a large amount — some say up to one half— of the arms and high-tech weapons systems the West has shoveled into Ukraine have been sold off by corrupt Ukrainian officials. Meanwhile, these weapons have begun showing up in the hands of cartels, failed states, and terrorist groups. This aspect of the war will not end well for the West. At all.
My own Mother is Ukrainian, and I have every sympathy for the people who are in a sense my countrymen. Even as much as I’d like to see Russia thrown back across the border, I realize that’s not going to happen. Zelenskii needs to find a way to make peace, or leave.
And it appears he’s not interested in making peace…
Excellent points, Clinton.