OPINION: Ukraine and Us

Every American should watch the video footage of JD Vance and Donald Trump’s Oval Office smackdown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to see just how scary this administration is.

The exchange at Friday’s meeting could have been a scene from either a gangster movie or a preteen comedy except that there were no police or responsible adults to intervene.

Of course, we’ve known for years that Trump is nothing more than a middle-school bully in a suit and tie, incapable of empathy, self-discipline or self-examination. Vance, who has shown he’ll take on any role to get ahead, seems eager to play the loudmouthed sidekick who eggs his superior on.

We’ve also seen how both Trump and Vance have shown much more warmth toward Vladimir Putin than to the leader of the country the bloodthirsty dictator has been bombing for three years.

The duo’s victim-shaming was exactly what you’d expect when someone doesn’t immediately hand over whatever they’re demanding (in this case, access to Ukraine’s vast natural resources to compensate the U.S. for the military aid it has provided.)

What was surprising was how unhinged they became when Zelenskyy committed the unpardonable sin of trying to reason with them.

He said Ukraine needs security guarantees because Putin has violated ceasefires 25 times.

Trump just pressured Zelenskyy to accept his deal as is, saying it would be enough to deter Russia because “Putin respects me,” and Vance lectured him on the need for Ukraine to engage in diplomacy rather than fighting back against its invader.

The veep also accused Zelenskyy of not thanking the U.S. for the weapons it has sent to his country.

He did, many times. Furthermore, Vance didn’t seem to realize or remember that it was the Biden administration, not this one, that provided the weapons. The Pentagon hasn’t announced a new shipment to Ukraine since before Inauguration Day. 

When Zelenskyy didn’t roll over, Trump showered him and the media in attendance with the same sort of falsehoods and nonsense that he inflicted on his campaign rallygoers.

He said that if he had been president, Putin would never have started the war, and he claimed the U.S. has spent $350 billion on helping Ukraine, a figure much higher than what the BBC was able to verify.

What really set Trump off was Zelenskyy’s warning that Americans would eventually feel repercussions from emboldening Putin. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel,” Trump snapped. “You’re in no position to dictate that.” Dictate?

Later he went completely bonkers, running his mouth off about what he and Putin “went through” together during what he termed “a phony witch hunt.”

“They used him and Russia, Russia, Russia,” he babbled. “That was a phony Hunter Biden/Joe Biden scam. Hillary Clinton, shifty Adam Schiff, who was a Democrat, scam …  He was accused of all that stuff. He had nothing to do with that. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bathroom. It came out of Hunter Biden’s bedroom.”

Apparently, Trump and now Vance have grown so accustomed to getting their own way that they just can’t control themselves when someone expresses a difference of opinion.

It’s too bad that no one with any clout seems willing to use it to stop this administration, which is led at least sometimes by the unelected official Elon Musk, from dismantling our government and demolishing our relations with our allies.

Plenty of people who know full well how bad things can get have nonetheless fallen in line. The GOP, which holds both chambers of Congress, have either cheered the White House’s moves or expressed some reservations before voting its way. Some media outlets are already hesitating to use the freedom of speech that we ostensibly still have. And what the Supreme Court majority that Trump created will do when legal challenges reach it is anyone’s guess.

The Ukrainian people have risked their lives to try to save their country from an evil tyrant. How many of our powers that be are willing to risk anything at all to save ours from the aspiring autocrats in the White House?

Lisa Von Ahn is an experienced columnist previously published in the Pottsville Republican Herald newspaper.

Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.

Want to be a columnist with Coal Region Canary? Contact us at newscanary@gmail.com.

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