An ugly and unprecedented confrontation in the Oval Office hammered home President Donald Trump’s hostility toward Ukraine and its president, along with his persistent affinity for Russia’s autocratic ruler.
As television cameras rolled, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the democratically elected leader of a country that has been under attack by Russia since 2014, calling him “ungrateful,” “disrespectful,” and “gambling with millions of lives.”
The lecture left no doubt that Trump sees Ukraine merely as one of the parties in a negotiation, and not as a democratic U.S. ally grappling with the invading force of a much larger, autocratic neighbor, Russia.
It also seemed to illustrate Trump’s lopsided negotiating tactics, demanding the weaker side — Kyiv — make concessions instead of trying to pressure Moscow into a compromise.
The extraordinary scene left Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, who was in the room, holding her head in her hands — an image that went viral.
Previous American presidents have had plenty of tense exchanges with allies, but often in private, and never like this.
What made this one different was not just that it unfolded with cameras rolling, but that it featured an American president siding with an autocratic and longtime adversary, Russia, against a nascent democracy that has struggled for years to break away from Moscow’s orbit and join the NATO alliance of Western democracies.
For decades, presidents from both parties embraced the idea that backing democratic countries served America’s interests and reflected its values. U.S. foreign policy viewed democratic states as better allies and better trading partners, helping to promote stability and the free flow of commerce.
But Trump, and the Republican party he has transformed, appears to have rejected that decades-old American consensus.
For Trump, Russia is apparently a powerful country that the U.S. can cut a deal with, and Ukraine is a less powerful country that does not necessarily have a seat at the table or a sympathetic ear at the White House. Democracy doesn’t seem to figure in this president’s equation.
Zelensky and Trump openly clashed in the White House where they were due to sign a deal on sharing Ukraine’s mineral riches and discuss a peace deal with Russia. SAUL LOEB / AFP – Getty Images
Partisan gulf
After the tense exchange was broadcast, Republicans in Congress almost uniformly praised Trump for attacking Ukraine’s leader. “Thank you for standing up for OUR COUNTRY and putting America first, President Trump and Vice President Vance!” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted on X.
Senator Jim Banks, (R-Ind.) suggested that the Ukrainian leader was spoiled. “Zelensky ungratefully expects us to bankroll and escalate another forever war—all while disrespecting the President,