So this was a pre-planned (and likely paid for by the Kremlin) show: to invite Zelenskyy, scold him like a kindergartener in front of the press, present him with an unreasonable “deal” – an ultimatum – knowing full well he will refuse it (as anyone in this position would).
And then tell the world: “Look, our mighty Orange King could’ve ended this horrible war in a day, but this poorly-dressed, warmongering, ungrateful twat just doesn’t want peace! It’s not our fault, we did what we could!”The show is so cheap, so transparent, yet still effective for so many brainless people.
I want you to know that the Mexican press is calling Zelinskyy a hero for walking out and putting his people and country first.
So is the Canadian press, who are also reporting that it hasn’t played well for anyone but Trump’s most staunch supporters in the US.
From the moment it was discovered that a member of TASS, the Russian state-controlled media outlet had “somehow” gotten into the Oval Office to livestream the shitshow “without anyone noticing” (and this is the same White House which has banned anyone from the Associated Press and Reuters from Press events in the White House" I think any doubts this was, as a British commentator put it, “a pre-arranging mugging of Zelenskyy by Trump and Vance” faded away.
And don’t forget: this is a revenge story. It’s not all about rare earths or mineral rights… not by a long shot.
Trump got impeached the first time because he got caught trying to get Zelenskyy to lie about Joe Biden doing illegal/corrupt things, and Zelenskyy refused to do it. The Suit without a Man In It* will have cuddled that grudge to him like a vomit-soaked teddybear, dreaming of ways to someday inflict maximum punishment on Ukraine’s President for making him look bad.
So the mugging, as described above, went forward. But I seriously think no one associated with the current inhabitants of the White House realized how badly the event could or would backfire and/or catalyze opinion, both in the US and in other parts of the world.
It’s going to be interesting—in the historical (annoying) sense of the word—to see how all this unfolds over the next couple/few months. But today’s speech from the Danish prime minister is a real banger. (Apologies for the TikTok-ized version of this with background music. I’ll look in a while and see if I can find one with, you know, just the words.)
Earlier I ran across a comment from somebody to the effect of, “The inhabitant of the Oval Office may just have accidentally created the United States of Europe.” An interesting take. We shall see…
*There’s a description of yesterday’s events making the rounds: “A man without a suit on had a meeting with a suit without a man in it.”
The good (y’know, comparatively) news is that after the last 48 hours, we can decisively conclude that that whole embarrassing shitshow went far, far worse for Trump/Vance/Putin et al than it ever did for Zelenskyy. The pile-on has been worldwide and consistent. Zelenskyy came out looking strong and principled because he was the only adult in the room and everyone saw it. Europe got together and hastily pledged tons of new spending and support for Ukraine, including about four billion pounds for military support from the UK alone (rare Starmer W). Zelenskyy got to meet King Charles (who didn’t say anything about his non-suit-wearing). Every single European leader posted messages of support (except for Orban of Hungary, who is obviously as much a Putin stooge as Trump). There were worldwide demonstrations for Ukraine. Vance got his Vermont ski vacation ruined for being a treasonous chud and had to be removed to an “undisclosed location” like certain other crappy Republican vice presidents of yore. Lololololol.
It’s worth noting that Zelenskyy has refused to submit to Trump’s blackmail in 2019, refused to surrender to Putin’s invasion in 2022, and now refused to bow down to the Trump-Russia Axis of Treason in 2025, even after, as noted, the whole Friday debacle was very clearly set up to humiliate him and kowtow to Trump’s Daddy Dom, Vladimir V. Putin. He’s still politely but flatly refusing to let anyone get away with lying about the war and the invasion, excuse Russia’s actions, create a false moral equivalence, or let Trump/Vance just bully him for the transient masturbatory satisfaction of their Kremlin paymasters. He is a human politician and therefore flawed like any of them, but the individual courage and incredible tenacity that it has taken to repeatedly stand up to the worst elements of what Anne Applebaum calls “Autocracy Inc.” and tell them to take a hike even when he will quite obviously suffer for it, is remarkable and should be recognized. So yes. May we all channel more of this determination.
amhrancas 