No. of Recommendations: 11
From a FB friend:
I watched the entire Oval Office event. Twice. As someone who is neither a Republican or a Democrat, here are my observations and analysis.
President Trump led the conversation. It was interesting that during the first 40 minutes, he almost never invited President Zelenskyy to speak. The Ukrainian president had to frequently speak up over reporters jockeying to ask the next question to add his comments to what Trump had just said.
Trump denigrated President Biden 5 separate times, each time saying basically the same thing.
Trump made self-aggrandizing statements 7 times throughout the first 40 minutes, including this remarkable one: "I've stopped wars. I've stopped many wars. My people will tell you. I stopped wars that nobody ever heard about. I stopped wars before they ever started. You can look at some of... uh...I could give you a lot of nations that would tell you right now they were probably going to war. I can tell you right now, there's a nation thinking about going to war on something that nobody in this room has ever even heard about. Two smaller nations, but big, still big, and I think I've stopped it."
Trump said "raw earths" rather than "rare earths" 7 times.
Zelenskyy repeatedly emphasized the need for security guarantees. Trump claimed Europe would provide them. He refused to comment further on the subject.
Zelenskyy shared before-and-after photos of prisoners of war with Trump to show him the result of their mistreatment by the Russians. Those photos were not shared with the press.
Trump repeated many of the falsehoods he had stated earlier in the week with President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer, both of whom had to stop him and correct him. Zelenskyy didn't attempt to do the same, which was tactically smart, as I'll discuss below.
Trump insulted CNN live on international television during a state meeting in the Oval Office.
Speaking of media, the White House's new policy of choosing who gets to cover presidential events was evident. Several reporters from conservative outlets lobbed softball questions at Trump, such as:
-Where do you think you will rank in history?
-Will you be remembered as a peacemaker?
-What gave you the moral courage and conviction to step forward and lead that?
Further speaking of media, an agent of the Russian state news agency TASS was present in the Oval Office. The White House press office said the individual was not on the official list, but "accidentally" (their word) gained access. The individual was escorted out at some point.
The turning point came when Vice President Vance jumped in to denigrate Biden again, casting the Trump administration's approach of diplomacy as being superior to Biden's approach. It was at this point that Zelenskyy lost it. He tried to make the case to Vance that diplomacy without security guarantees was worthless based on the fact that Putin has broken multiple promises and treaties, as well as the UN charter.
Nothing that Zelenskyy said was wrong, but debating Vance at that juncture was a tactical mistake. Narcissists can't stand to be proven wrong, and both Trump and Vance are extreme narcissists. (Don't take my word for it--you can check it yourself online.) Rather than admit Zelenskyy's concerns might possibly be valid, Vance exploded, leading to the debacle many of us witnessed.
While it was definitely a mistake on Zelenskyy's part to challenge Vance, I can certainly understand why it happened. Keep in mind that just a week ago, Trump called Zelenskyy a dictator, a term he has refused to use regarding Putin, who actually IS one. Over the past 2 weeks, Trump, Vance, and Sec. Hegseth have all publicly criticized Zelenskyy and Ukraine, while stating that Ukraine will have to give up land and will never be admitted to NATO, two of Putin's goals. Vance's diplomacy claims was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Here is my belief: Both presidents misjudged each other. I believe that Trump intended to show the world that he was superior to Zelenskyy. He wanted the world to view Zelenskyy as Oliver Twist, humbly asking for "more please." I can think of no other reason why this live media event occurred BEFORE their private negotiations, rather than AFTER. Zelenskyy refused to bow down, however.
And Zelenskyy misjudged Trump's and Vance's egos. His briefing on how to deal with narcissists wasn't thorough enough. Zelenskyy thought he could get Trump to take him and his cause seriously, but Trump sees him as his inferior, and will never take him seriously.
Finishing this post with a timely Gene Hackman reference: The fiasco reminded me of the events in the movie "Crimson Tide." An epic failure that never should have happened.
And America is the worse for it.
My 'bolding' above. Typical Trump lying his ass off like the narcissistic fool he is.
