#Trump & #Vance began to berate #Zelensky in front of the press after he pointed out that #Putin has a track record of breaking agreements — a problem for an administration that believes it can bring a quick end to #5Russia’s bloody war of #aggression.
For Zelensky, Putin’s #untrustworthiness as a negotiating partner is a particularly sore point. He won Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election on a campaign of bringing peace to the country, and met with Putin afterwards in an effort to negotiate an end to what was then a comparatively small-scale war.
“We signed an exchange of prisoners, but [Putin] didn’t exchange prisoners. What kind of diplomacy are you speaking about?” Zelensky asked, adding that Putin had broken a ceasefire by launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Vance then replied that he was “talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.”
Vance then threw in some red meat for Trump, telling Zelensky: “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office & try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
Vance added that Ukraine has manpower problems, & that Zelensky should be “thanking” Trump.
After another back-and-forth, Vance repeated the point: “Do you think that its respectful to come into the Oval Office of the United States America & attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”
Once Vance made it about Trump’s ego, there was no going back.
“You’re right now not in a very good position,” Trump told Zelensky at one point.
Vance continued to pour fuel on the fire:
“Have you said thank you once? This entire meeting? No,” he said. “In this entire meeting have you said thank you? You went to Pennsylvania & campaigned for the opposition in October.”
From there, Trump lost it.
“Your country is in big trouble,” he said, adding later: “It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this.”
After the meeting, Trump said on Truth Social that Zelensky had “disrespected” him & could come back to the White House once “he is ready for peace.”
If the past is any track record, that means demanding that Zelensky do the one thing he refused to do in the Oval Office on Friday: #capitulate.
#USPol #auspol #RussianAsset #PutinsPuppet #RESIST
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-and-vance-ambush-zelensky-in-prelude-to-betrayal
