It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
The defense secretary’s instructions, which were given before President Trump’s blowup with the Ukrainian president, are apparently part of an effort to draw Russia into talks on the war.
Facing a wave of criticism from his former Senate colleagues, Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the complaints lobbed by President Trump and Vice President JD Vance against Ukraine’s leader.
The question hovering over Washington was whether the confrontation was a spontaneous outburst or a planned verbal smack down.
Many Republicans have made a reversal on Russia and Ukraine, falling in line behind President Trump. No turnabout has been more striking than that of the Republican speaker.
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance castigated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for not being grateful enough for U.S. aid. “You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump told Zelensky.
Never in the past few decades at least has an American president engaged in such an angry, scathing attack on a visiting foreign leader in the Oval Office.
The Biden administration saw the $67 billion in military assistance it provided to Kyiv as essential. Trump sees any further aid as leverage.
The president’s explosive Oval Office encounter reflected his determination to put aside alliances and commitments to principles in favor of raw great power negotiations.
The statements piled up on social media, offering words of encouragement to the Ukrainian leader and his people.
The remarkable scene of a vice president injecting himself into a tense diplomatic discussion suggested that JD Vance does not want to be relegated to the B-team of the Trump administration.