Demanding gratitude from Ukraine only makes President Trump look small
Susan Page analyzes Trump, Zelenskyy’s Oval clash impact on the world
USA TODAY’s Susan Page breaks down Trump and Zelenskyy’s fiery Oval clash and its impact on U.S. support, global alliances and Zelenskyy’s future.
- President Trump and Vice President Vance publicly admonished Ukrainian President Zelenskyy for not expressing enough gratitude for U.S. aid.
- The heated Oval Office meeting highlighted differing priorities, with Trump focusing on potential business deals and Zelenskyy emphasizing the humanitarian crisis and Russian aggression.
My wife and I are raising a 3-year-old girl, so we are constantly reminding her to be grateful.
“What do you say?” we ask, whenever she is given something.
“Thank you,” she coos.
It is something parents do with children. It is not something presidents and vice presidents should do with foreign leaders.
But that is what happened in the Oval Office on Friday. In a stunning display of bully diplomacy, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, in front of a live TV audience, admonished Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose nation has been fighting for its existence the last three years, for not being grateful enough for U.S. help.
Vance: “Have you said thank you once?”
Zelenskyy: “A lot of times.”
Vance: “No, in this entire meeting, have you said thank you? … Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”
All that was missing was “kiss the ring.” This may work in feudal kingdoms and movies about the mafia.
It’s not a good look for our nation.
Differing priorities
The heated exchange between these three men still has the world buzzing. Never have we witnessed an American president and vice president go back and forth so angrily with a foreign leader right in front of us in the White House.
Some people, who will never find fault in Trump, are cheering this on the way wrestling fans cheer on a stomp. Others who hate the idea of giving money to any foreign country are perfectly fine with sending Zelenskyy on his way, as Trump did after that exchange — no news conference, no lunch, no deal. Hit the road.
But I’m guessing the rest of us privately cringed at how our leaders behaved.
Let’s be clear about what happened in the 50-minute meeting — not just the highlighted, fiery moments.
The discussion, in front of media members, was going along OK at the start, with Trump saying a “very fair deal” had been worked out in which the U.S. would get to share in Ukraine’s mineral riches while Zelenskyy was saying “for us, it’s very important to save our country.”
You could see the priorities weren’t exactly aligned.
Then Zelenskyy showed photos of Ukrainians captured and mistreated by the Russians.
“That’s tough stuff,” Trump said.
Then a reporter asked Zelenskyy, “Do you think President Trump is on your side?”
Trump said, “That’s sort of a stupid question. We wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
Minutes later, the question looked prescient.
A feeling of forced gratitude
Things began to sink when Vance lectured Zelenskyy on how for four years, President Joe Biden “talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country.”
Right there, if he wanted to, Zelenskyy could have interrupted and pointed out that this was in direct contrast to Vance’s boss, Trump, who recently claimed, falsely, that Ukraine started the war.
He didn’t. He sat and listened as Vance continued his lecture: “What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy. That’s what President Trump is doing.”
Then came Zelenskyy’s undoing. He had the audacity to point out that Putin actually invaded Ukraine 11 years ago, “killed people” and “nobody stopped him.” And how Putin has broken every ceasefire deal to date, committed war crimes, and violated prisoner exchange agreements.
“What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you speaking about? What do you mean?”
Never mind how fair a question that is. Never mind that Zelenskyy only wanted to know what kind of deal was being suggested with his sworn enemy. Vance responded by calling him “disrespectful” for coming “into the Oval Office and trying to litigate this in front of the American media.”
Wait a minute. Isn’t that what all three of them were doing? And, just a question here, but why was Vance so front and center on this? Zelenskyy didn’t bring a second-in-command. And Trump certainly doesn’t need help.
You can imagine if Kamala Harris, as vice president, started scolding a foreign leader…
Read More: Demanding gratitude from Ukraine only makes President Trump look small