Trump Shows Zelenky The Door: What Happened During Trump and Zelenky’s Meeting
- Katherine Williams
- Mar 15
- 3 min read
I think we all saw it- or, at least watched clips of it. The meeting that our Country and Ukraine had anxiously been awaiting. A meeting to finally initiate peace terms between Ukraine and Russia. With the United States giving Ukraine around $128 billion directly in its efforts to help the Ukrainian people affected by Russian advancements in their land, something else needed to happen. Moreover, with all of the financial aid the United States has given Ukraine, peace terms needed to finally be put in place to divert and dissolve the inappropriate amount of foreign aid sent overseas to Ukraine.
And so, being the businessman he is, Trump utilized this event to strike a deal with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to gain precious rare earth minerals necessary for the production of AI chips in the States. Sounds like a good plan: Ukraine is going to negotiate peace with Russia with the help of the US, and we get the materials that we need. Peace, rare earth minerals, and did I mention peace?
Well, you should probably never hope for the best outcome with these kinds of things. During the meeting, things started to get a little heated. Zelenskyy was accused of being disrespectful and “looking to go on and fight, fight, fight,” said President Trump to reporters in an NBC article. Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, explains further in an interview, “There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic.” Furthermore, it appears that Zelenkyy’s table manners got a little out of hand, and it was glaringly evident that the Ukrainian President needed to reset his temperament in front of President Trump and Vice President Vance.
If you’re the President of a country that is wrought with war, you probably shouldn’t go into the Oval Office, antagonize, and be disrespectful to those who are trying to help you achieve peace-- not to mention one that's already given you $128 billion in aid.
What we saw in that meeting wasn’t Trump and Vance “bullying” or “attacking” Zelenskyy. Creating a narrative where Zelenskyy is a victim in this situation is disrespectful to the Ukrainian women, children, and men actively dying in this war. Zelenskyy had the responsibility to close one of the biggest deals Ukraine could make after three years of peril and war, and it appears that he used this time to be disrespectful to the President, Vice President, and staff while making no talk of peace, but rather negotiation. Trump did not invite Zelenskyy to the States to talk about negotiation, he invited him to end the war.
Trump clearly stated, “We’re not looking to go into a 10-year war and play games, we want peace.” Trump’s main responsibility first and foremost is the American people. It would be an issue if Trump decided to sign a deal that he thought would lead to war because then the American people would inevitably be involved and subject to all the horrors of war. What we saw during that meeting was us–the American people–being put first. If Zelenskyy only wanted to negotiate, it’s in the President’s best interest to decline said deal to negate the chance of America being involved any more than we have in this foreign war.
If being a bully is what it takes in this political climate to divert from war to maintain American peace, bully on.
Photo Credit:
[Header]: Saul Loeb | AFP
[Embedded 1]: Mystyslav Chernov | AP
[Embedded 2]: Doug Mills | The New York Times
Sources:
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