On Friday, February 28th, President Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office to discuss a potential end to the three-year Russia-Ukraine conflict that has ended nearly one million lives.
They sat in front of the cameras—two former TV stars who both climbed the political ladder: one actively fighting for democracy and one who has repeatedly tried to undermine it.
Trump and his Vice President, JD Vance, verbally attacked Zelensky for the whole world to see. Vance chastised Zelensky for not being more grateful for American support, while Trump snapped at him, “you’re gambling with World War III…You’ve got to be more thankful because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards.”
The worst part was watching Trump blatantly take the side of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s murderous dictator who invaded Ukraine in 2022 with the intent to wholly decimate the country and its democracy as a result of his nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Despite this, Trump called Putin the victim.
This is an astounding violation of American bipartisan foreign policy. Yes, there have been times in history when the U.S. has been relatively isolated from the world, policy-wise, and therefore needed to be persuaded to actively support our allies. Yes, there have been times when our government has had to align temporarily with dictators in order to defeat the most dangerous enemies like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. But, there has never been a situation quite like this.
Take for example, World War II. In August of 1941, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt met with Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill to sign the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration by the world’s two leading democracies to establish “common principles” for a post-war world. If, at this meeting, Roosevelt instead had told Churchill to ask for an end to the fighting on Adolf Hilter’s terms and to give up Britain’s coal resources to the United States in exchange for no American security guarantees, it would have been an astonishing abandonment of American principles and a serious threat to life, liberty, and democracy around the world. This, of course, did not happen, but it approximates what Trump demanded of Zelensky in February. For his fearless dedication to Ukraine’s freedom and the survival of its democracy, Zelensky received a lecture on manners from the most ignorant and disrespectful presidential administration the U.S. has ever had.
Also take for example, the Cold War. During the height of the tensions, American Republicans and Democrats did have significant differences in their approach to the Soviet Union (e.g. how much money to spend, how to approach arms control, and how to approach U.S. military intervention in proxy wars). These differences were important, as they drove political debate domestically. However, more important were the many points of agreement. Both parties were committed to NATO. Both parties understood that the Soviet Union was a grave national security threat. For decades, both parties were committed to finding a strategy of containment that would keep the Soviet Union at bay.
There was no point during the Cold War in which Americans had to decide whether to vote for a candidate committed to NATO or a candidate committed to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The thought of this would have been fantastical and unheard of. Presidential elections have often brought changes to the technicalities of our international strategy, but the strategy itself—no matter which party was in power—aimed for the same goal and didn’t alter our fundamental alliances or American identity and security. That is, until now.
Trump is teaching our most important foreign allies a lesson they will not forget: America can—and will—turn its back on its allegiances. We are abandoning our traditional allies in support of one of the world’s most dangerous and oppressive regimes.
“You see the hatred he’s got for Putin,” Trump said about Zelensky during the meeting, “it’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”
It seems our president is unable to understand why Zelensky is unhappy with Putin, a man who has repeatedly invaded Ukraine with intentions to destroy it and its people completely, repeatedly broken cease-fires, and committed serious war crimes.
Democratic European leaders like Britain’s Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron unsuccessfully attempted to guide Trump (through appeasement and flattery) in the days leading up to Zelensky’s visit, but it seems our president stuck to his startling tendency of mimicking—and in turn supporting—the pro-Russia, anti-democracy strongmen of the world.
Zelensky deserves America’s respect. Much like Churchill’s rallying of Britain during World War II, Zelensky’s wartime bravery and aid negotiations have been a driving force behind Ukraine’s three-year defense against Putin and its protection of democracy in Europe. Nonetheless, Trump kicked Zelensky out of the White House, showing complete disregard for decades of bipartisan American foreign policy choices and posing a serious threat to Ukraine and its people.
Referring to Zelensky, former Russian president and Putin supporter Dmitri Medvedev posted, “The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office.”
Trump, who—also much to Russia’s delight—has declared that Zelensky is a “dictator” and the perpetrator of the war, seems to have no actual interest in Ukraine’s fate or the triumph of liberty and democracy around the world. He seems to have no interest in the fact that Ukraine is physically protecting the European Union (which is a pro-American alliance that promotes free markets and free people) and the West from Putin’s violence. All that seems to matter to Trump is that Zelensky says “thank you” more often and that—in the middle of a war for the fate of his country and of America’s guiding principles—he signs over a generation of Ukraine’s mineral resources to us.
Most Americans understand that it is in our best interest to stand with Ukraine. The war needs to end, and for the fate of Ukraine and of the democracy we all stand for, it can not end on Putin’s terms.
Trump is completely and unprecedentedly dismantling the foreign policy practiced by every U.S. president since World War I. As Americans, we should be embarrassed to watch our country betray Ukraine, because in turn, we are betraying our longstanding fight for the very values this democracy was founded upon. Furthermore, the main beneficiary of Trump’s actions is Putin, who has long made clear his primary goal of reshaping world order to benefit Russia and destroy the West. Now, with our help, it seems he may succeed.
