Today's Train Wreck in the White House

 I just finished watching the entire (replay) of the Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Zelenskii. President Trump, and Vice President Vance. All sides can agree that it was a train wreck and made much worse by the fact that it played out in front of the media. It lasted 50 minutes and was going just fine until the 42-minute mark when Vance began berating the Ukrainian president over the question of American diplomacy over the years of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Vance was no doubt irked by Zelinskii’s question to him about (American) diplomacy. From there everything went downhill. Trump jumped in and poured gasoline on the fire in his own inimitable manner. After it was over, Zelenskii and his delegation were essentially kicked out of the White House.

Now we have the spectacle of this mess being played out before the world. In Russia, Putin must be laughing his butt off.

The media is treating this as would be predicted. CNN is blaming Trump, and Fox is taking Trump’s side. Fox’s talking heads are saying that Zelenskii must apologize.

The US-Ukraine relationship in the face of Russian aggression is complicated, and certainly, Ukraine owes much to the US for its support. Whatever differences the two sides have, the discussion should have taken place behind closed doors and not in front of the press and the world. If Zelenskii made comments they disagreed with, they should have held their fire until the press was gone. You don’t berate the leader of a friendly government in front of the press.

I blame Vance for overreacting to Zelinskii’s remarks and escalating the exchange. I also blame Trump for escalating the situation instead of de-escalating it. Trump and Vance should not have berated Zelenskii publicly in this manner. Rather than moving toward a peace deal and the US and Ukraine signing a win-win deal on Ukrainian minerals, everything has blown up. It is an embarrassment.

I voted three times for President Trump, and up to now, I was impressed with JD Vance. Just prior to witnessing this press conference, I had posted an article complimenting Trump on his diplomacy for helping bring about the extradition of Mexican drug lord, Rafael Caro-Quintero, and others to the US from Mexico. Now I am sitting here questioning the diplomacy of the administration I voted for. Don’t get me wrong. I will never regret voting against Kamala Harris, but if I am to maintain any credibility on this site, I have to call it as I see it. This is terrible. Just plain terrible.

You can watch the entire news conference here (The Hill).