Art of the “Un-deal”
Opinion by Team Thomas
NEVER BEFORE SEEN, NEVER BEFORE IMAGINED …
The scene unfolding before us on live television, in what should have been a brief Oval Office media spray, was extraordinary. The leader of the free world, Donald J. Trump, openly attacked the visiting president of our European ally, Ukraine, and passionately defended Vladimir Putin, the brutal communist dictator of our long-time foe, Russia, instead.
The President and JD Vance, the vice president of the United States, berated Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy because he allegedly was not sufficiently thankful that Mr. Trump was browbeating him into signing away 50% ownership of his critical mineral rights to the United States and was showing the United States disrespect “… in its cherished Oval Office.”
What was to have been a signature signing ceremony for Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy, and a potential end to the Russia-Ukraine War that has lasted more than three years, devolved into a bitchfest by Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance anchored by long-harbored animosities about presidents Obama and Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Robert Mueller “Russia, Russia, Russia” investigation, and the erstwhile laptop saga of Hunter Biden.
Mr. Trump charged that the Ukrainian leader had “no cards” to play in the negotiation for peace with Russia and could be enticing World War III. Mr. Trump warned Mr. Zelenskyy, “You’re gambling with lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III.”
The president of Ukraine pushed back against President Trump, suggesting instead that he offer security guarantees given Russia’s aggression since first invading Crimea in 2014. Zelenskyy admonished Trump noting, “I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr. President. I’m very serious.”
Self-described to be a highly accomplished dealmaker, Trump brought the Zelenskyy mineral rights signing ceremony to a decidedly un-ceremonial screeching halt, canceling the deal, an afternoon-scheduled joint news conference highlighting the mineral rights agreement, and ushering Mr. Zelenskyy out the front gates of the White House and onto Pennsylvania Avenue well before the appointed hour.
Rather than showing Mr. Trump’s “art of the deal” skills, the upended Zelenskyy meeting showcased the 47th president of the United States’ expertise at the “art of the un-deal.” Never before has an American president and vice-president shown such amateur foreign policy skills to the American public on what the President predicted would be “great television.”
One has to ask, why would an American president be sitting in the Oval Office of the White House adamantly defending the communist warlord of Russia at the expense of the Ukrainian people, who have been valiantly defending their country from the invading communists of the former Soviet Empire?
One would have also to ask, why are so many of Mr. Trump’s party leaders okay with propping up Vladimir Putin, ineptly doing his bidding on negotiating an end or ceasefire in Ukraine that would reward Mr. Putin with land that he brutally captured without provocation and justification?
Why are Mr. Trump’s Make America Great Again supporters so pro-Russian and anti-democracy? What happened to Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party that events have come to this?
Thomas has several reactions to the meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy:
If World War III is indeed to break out over the Russia-Ukraine War situation, it will be Mr. Trump who made that potential reality with his decidedly undiplomatic and bombastically amateur behavior in the Oval Office.
The mineral rights deal Mr. Trump proposed was what was not “respectful” in the Oval Office meeting between the two allied leaders. Mr. Zelenskky was ambushed by Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance and was anything but disrespectful of the United States.
Europe will undoubtedly have to re-access what it will take to help provide for Ukraine’s security in the face of mounting evidence that Vladimir Putin would like to reestablish the boundaries of what was once the Russian Empire. Mr. Putin’s ambition is not in the United States’ best interests and should not be permitted to go unchecked by the American Congress.
The American Congress needs to get an immediate handle on the war issue between Ukraine and Russia and the United States’ involvement from security funding to peace settlement negotiations.
The United States’ standing and reputation in the free world has been badly damaged by the President’s behavior and approach in the Oval Office.