Trump & Vance's Disgraceful Attack On Zelenskyy Fits Within Broader Strategy
Trump and Vance's angry Oval Office attacks on Zelenskyy were a microcosm of Trump’s calculated foreign policy shift away from democratic allies and toward authoritarians like Putin.
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On Friday, we witnessed one of the most disgraceful foreign policy moments that has ever transpired in the Oval Office.
What unfolded wasn’t diplomacy. It was an unhinged public verbal assault on a US ally, orchestrated by a President and Vice President openly siding with an authoritarian adversary.
President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance instigated an argument and angrily attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump and Vance treated Zelenskyy, an American ally and wartime leader defending his country, as if he were the aggressor, all as the Trump administration has been publicly siding with Russia, who was unilaterally responsible for this deadly invasion.
That Oval Office meeting didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was a microcosm of Trump’s foreign policy shift away from democratic allies and toward authoritarians like Russian President Vladimir Putin. It’s now crystal clear that the ending of the post-WWII order is the core of Trump’s foreign policy, as many of us have warned since Trump’s first term.
Two weeks ago, I wrote an article about this in more detail, outlining how President Trump is changing America’s stance on the world stage, cozying up to adversaries, antagonizing allies, and uplifting the global far-right.
Even before this Oval Office disaster, Trump had falsely blamed Ukraine for Putin’s invasion and called Zelenskyy a “dictator,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave away key concessions before Ukraine-Russia talks even began, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Saudi Arabia negotiating with Russia without Ukraine at the table - with our European allies also sidelined.
In just over one month into Trump’s second term, he’s already brought Putin out of global isolation, insulted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, alienated European allies, and upended the post-WWII order.
On Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear that this Oval Office debacle solidified Trump’s shifting U.S. policy toward Russia: “The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely aligns with our vision.”
Putin has long wanted weakened Western alliances, and when it comes to Ukraine, they want no security guarantees, no NATO membership, and no withdrawal from captured territory. The Trump Administration has already conceded those Russian goals, and now they’re further abandoning Zelenskyy.
When Russia is celebrating your foreign policy shifts, you’re on the wrong side.
You’ve likely seen the footage by now, so I won’t litigate it in its entirety here, but I did want to note that the first 30 or so minutes of the Oval Office meeting were mostly calm. There was a signing room set up for Trump and Zelenskyy to sign the rare mineral deal afterward. Lunch was awaiting them. There was a scheduled press conference. Then, Vice President J.D. Vance decided to escalate the situation.
This is important because right-wing circles have tried to shift blame onto Zelenskyy. The truth is the same when it comes to Putin’s war on Ukraine: The aggressor certainly was not Zelenskyy.
The meeting started to go off the rails when Vance began talking about American diplomacy in a way that essentially argued diplomacy had not been tried in Russia-Ukraine relations and as if Putin’s invasion was provoked.
“So look, for four years the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant chunk of the country,” Vance claimed. “The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy...” Vance continued to talk about the importance of diplomacy in a condescending tone.
“Can I ask you [something]?” Zelenskyy jumped in and explained how Putin invaded Crimea and occupied it from 2014 to 2022, and no American administration stopped it. Also, Trump tried to claim it was in 2015 that Russia invaded, and Zelenskyy corrected him, stating the fact it was in 2014. Trump likely didn’t like this.
Zelenskyy then made his key point about how Putin can’t be trusted and has repeatedly violated ceasefires, contesting Vance’s remarks on diplomacy. “The deal I signed with him, Macron and Merkel. We signed a ceasefire, ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go. We signed him with gas contract... but after that, he broke the ceasefire. He killed our people, and he didn't exchange prisoners we signed the exchange of prisons but he didn't do it. What kind of diplomacy, J.D., are you talking about? What do you mean?”
This set J.D. Vance off. “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country… Mr. President, with respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media…”
Then, the argument escalated, and the rest of the exchange we’ve all seen with Trump and Vance angrily tag-teaming Zelenskyy.
It was Vance who escalated that dynamic into a full-blown disaster. We do not know for sure if this was planned or not, but the outcome appears to have aligned with Trump and Vance’s goals.
If this was planned, it appears to me the intent was to try and rile up Zelenskyy and create a scene in an attempt to erode his US popularity, justify Trump's pro-Russia moves, and possibly build a pretense for regime change in Ukraine - a key goal of Putin. If it wasn’t planned, and Vance really did singlehandedly jump in and blow up Ukraine-US diplomacy, then that is equally concerning. Whether or not this was planned, the outcome served Trump’s broader agenda.
After the meeting, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made eyebrow-raising comments to reporters: “I told [Zelenskyy] this morning, ‘Don’t take the bait. Don’t let the media or anyone else get you into an argument with President Trump. What he’s doing today is resetting the relationship.’”
Was there any pre-knowledge from Graham on how Trump and Vance would approach the meeting? The only bait I saw being thrown wasn’t from the media - it was from J.D. Vance.
If the Trump Administration’s intent really was to try and erode Zelenskyy’s popularity, all they accomplished was an Oval Office disgrace of historic proportions and an unmistakable demonstration of where they stand - with Putin and against US allies. Sensible Americans will see right through this, even if Republican lawmakers try and defend it.
There are few better demonstrations of the effectiveness of Russian disinformation than the Republican Party defending Trump and Vance’s indefensible Oval Office attacks on Zelenskyy. Putin is indisputably the villain in this story. There are not two sides to this. Period.
As Americans and the world analyze that Oval Office meeting and Trump’s foreign policy, I think it’s vital to keep this in mind: President Trump doesn’t want the US to be the leader of the free world. He wants it to be the leader of the autocratic world. Understanding this truth clarifies everything this administration does.
Trump is also transactional. It’s why he’s trying to force Ukraine into a minerals deal. He doesn’t see it in his own personal interest to simply uphold democratic values and defend Ukraine. He doesn’t see alliances the way past presidents do. He cares about transactions, not ideals, and sees authoritarians who think like him as his peers, not democratic leaders.
It appears Europe is beginning to grasp that reality.
After the Trump-Zelenskyy Oval Office meeting, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, “Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.”
There was an immediate outpouring of support from Ukraine’s allies in Europe, and European leaders hosted a pre-planned summit in London where they gave Zelenskyy a hero’s welcome.
There was one moment where Zelenskyy appeared emotional as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told him how much the UK has Ukraine’s back.
“You’re very welcome here in Downing Street,” Starmer said. “As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom. And we stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take.”
Now that is how you communicate with an allied democracy whose country’s sovereignty is under unjustified attack by a raging far-right authoritarian.
What people who are claiming that Zelenskyy should’ve groveled at Trump’s feet misunderstand about him is the fact that he is one of the bravest leaders of our time. He knows the stakes and is forcefully defending his country from Russian aggression and pushing back against Russian lies, even when they’re coming out the mouth of a US President. He’s not bending the knee to any authoritarian—whether in the Kremlin or the White House.
It’s unclear exactly where this goes next, but the UK and France have spent the past few days trying to come up with a credible proposal to end the war or temporarily cease fighting. Meanwhile, Trump continues his public attacks on Zelenskyy.
I’ve yet to hear President Trump say anything negative about Vladimir Putin.
Thanks for weighing in, Ahmed. I particularly enjoyed the clip of the British Prime Minister being so welcoming. A little balm for my soul after watching that disgusting performance at the White House.
I think that this moment, more than many others, makes it clear that if Trump is not a Russian asset, it doesn't matter. There is nothing more that a Russian asset would do to destroy this country than he has done.