Ambush in the Oval Office, Zelinsky’s out, Putin’s in

Heather Cox Richardson, February 28, 2025, Letters from an American, March 1, 2025.

Today, President Donald Trump ambushed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in an attack that seemed designed to give the White House an excuse for siding with Russia in its war on Ukraine. Vice President J.D. Vance joined Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office—his attendance at such an event was unusual—in front of reporters. Those reporters included one from Russian state media, but no one from the Associated Press or Reuters, who were not granted access.

In front of the cameras, Trump and Vance engaged in what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo called a “mob hit,” spouting Russian propaganda and trying to bully Zelensky into accepting a ceasefire and signing over rights to Ukrainian rare-earth minerals without guarantees of security. Vance, especially, seemed determined to provoke a fight in front of the cameras, accusing Zelensky, who has been lavish in his thanks to the U.S. and lawmakers including Trump, of being ungrateful. When that didn’t land, Vance said it was “disrespectful” of Zelensky to “try to litigate this in front of the American media,” when it was the White House that set up the event in front of reporters.

Zelensky maintained his composure and did not rise to the bait, but he did not accept their pro-Russian version of the war. He insisted that it was in fact Russia that invaded Ukraine and is still bombing and killing on a daily basis. His refusal to sit silent and submit meekly to their attack seemed to infuriate them.

Trump appeared to become unhinged when Zelensky suggested that the U.S. would in the future feel problems, apparently alluding to the new U.S. relationship with Russia. “You don’t know that. You don’t know that,” Trump erupted. “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 went downhill from there. After Zelensky had left the room and Trump ranted at a reporter, the meeting ended:

After unloading on the reporter, Trump abruptly ended today’s meeting, saying it was “going to be great television.” Shortly afterward, he asked Zelensky and his team to leave the White House.

This afternoon, former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) posted: “Generations of American patriots, from our revolution onward, have fought for the principles Zelenskyy is risking his life to defend. But today, Donald Trump and JD Vance attacked Zelenskyy and pressured him to surrender the freedom of his people to the KGB war criminal who invaded Ukraine. History will remember this day—when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for.”

I have no idea where this is leading, nor does anyone else. What does Trump want? Does he even know?

Does he want to divide the world into three sectors: Trump and his America, Putin and his Russia, and Xi and his China? But that won’t work if Trump doesn’t give up American hegemony. I can’t see him doing that.

I think moving beyond hegemony would be a good idea. Hegemony is expensive, exhausting, and in the end it doesn’t work very well, as America’s wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan made abundantly clear. But Trump lives in a zero-sum, us-against-them, world. He has no choice but to preserve, maintain, and strengthen American hegemony. That’s why he wants Greenland, for example. He doesn’t see it as a hedge against Paraguay, Angola, Sri Lanka, or the Maldives. It’s a buffer against Russian, Putin’s Russia.

This makes no sense.

BTW, there's more at the link.