No, this was shocking on multiple levels. What motivates the nominally most powerful person on the planet to behave like this?
I'm not sure what anybody could really expect other than this.
People often attribute 5D chess strategies to Trump when base instincts are a far clearer explanation.
His supporters believe in many lies because they've been brainwashed. Things will continue to degrade until an counter agent is developed for this insanity.
On Twitter, it's common to find populist-right commentators say things like:
1. Supporting Ukraine against Russia is risking WW3
2. Zelensky is always asking for more, more more and is SO disrespectful to the generous United States. And he doesn't even show up in a suit when meeting the president. How disgraceful. etc. etc.
These points were both touched upon by the Trump/Vance tag team and that's no coincidence.
My respect for Zelensky, the only decent politician in that room. Ukraine is lucky to have him in a time like this.
Trump failed to make the deal, they tried to get resources for a minimum of involvement, and the deal didn't go through because Zelensky is adamant in wanting to protect Ukrainian integrity.
From Trump's perspective this puts him in a good light. He is attempting to negotiate rationally and Zelensky is irrationally spending Ukrainian lives to hold on to an ideal.
Of course Europe and many Americans believe in that ideal and would support Ukraine, but that's not Trump's political platform. His motivation is to end the war, and the easiest way to end the war is to yield to Putin's demands. Making Zelensky look unreasonable is a critical part of that.
Aggressive war is proscribed in the UN Charter. Starting a war to expand borders or subjugate people is untenable. The right to conquest is obsolete.
Returning to that time is absolutely what the Trump regime is asserting on behalf of Americans. And Americans should be vary wary of returning to a time prior to the two world wars as if the lessons learned should now be dismissed or unlearned. We do this and we guarantee there will be one or more world wars again. More wars of conquest, again. More wars of aggression, again. A return to might makes right. Not law.
A republic is an empire of laws, not men. We follow Trumpism, and we return to an entirely familiar and more chaotic world than what we have had.
Not one fucking square meter of Ukraine should go to Russia. There already is a negotiation and a treaty that said the very goddamn thing that's happening would not happen. So why trust untrustworthy liars by giving them land, with a piece of paper that means less than nothing?
You know what is "holding onto an ideal"? Negotiation with Russia.