President Donald Trump on Wednesday escalated his attacks against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — deriding him as a “dictator without elections” — amid negotiations with Russia to bring an end to the war.
His comments were trumpeted by Russian state media, while Ukrainians of all political stripes rallied behind their president. Members of Trump’s party have barely raised a peep.
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday morning. Trump then ominously insisted that Zelensky “better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
The onslaught followed Trump’s outlandish claims Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago that Zelensky was to blame for the deaths of more than 700,000 of his countrymen and Russians, even though it was Russia that invaded Zelensky’s country three years ago. “You should have never started it,” Trump scolded Zelensky. “You could have made a deal.”
Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence erupted over the attacks on Wednesday.
“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war,” he wrote in a post on X. “Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.”
Pence included a link to a 2022 Fox News story from day one of the war reporting: “Russia invades Ukraine in largest European attack since WWII.”
But Republicans in Congress have been focused on other matters, and haven’t taken the time to address Trump’s attacks on Ukraine.
Senate Republicans have been busy trying to pass a bill on Trump’s major spending priorities, but without the tax cuts he wants. Trump took a sledgehammer to that when he endorsed the House’s plan to pass “ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL” on Wednesday.
With the House out of session, conservatives will be descending on National Harbor just outside of D.C. for the Conservative Political Action Conference, where they will continue celebrating the Trump triumph.
As that activity has been playing out in the background, Trump was savaging Zelensky and dismissing his desire for Ukraine to have a seat at the table in negotiations with Russia. Trump mocked: “Today I heard, ‘Oh, we weren’t invited,’” before underscoring that Zelensky should have ended the war three years ago.
Trump also made the completely false claim that Zelensky had a 4 percent approval rating.
Though an escalation, Trump’s rhetoric did not come out of the blue. In the past, the president has said that Zelensky is “no angel” and “shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen.”
In response to Trump’s attacks, Zelensky said at a press conference Wednesday that the president lives in a “disinformation space” concocted by Russia.
“If anyone wants to replace me right now, then it just isn’t going to happen,” he said. “I wish Trump’s team had more truth. Because none of this is having a positive effect on Ukraine.”
Trump and Zelensky have had a rocky relationship going back to 2019, when Trump infamously called the then-newly elected Zelensky and asked him to “look into” his opponent, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter. The call took place after Trump had blocked the release of military aid to Ukraine approved by Congress. That conversation triggered Trump’s first impeachment when Democrats controlled Congress.
Trump’s turn against Zelensky comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have begun bilateral talks to bring an end to the war in negotiations that don’t include Ukraine’s president.
Rubio, formerly an ardent critic of Putin when he served as a senator from Florida and the top Republican of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has recently parroted Trump’s desire for a closer relationship with Russia, envisioning what he has called “extraordinary opportunities.”
Rubio has essentially deferred to Russia in the negotiations, slicing Zelensky and even the rest of Europe out of the talks.
“Obviously, there’s going to be engagement and consultation with Ukraine, with our partners in Europe and others,” Rubio insisted. “But ultimately, the Russian side will be indispensable to this effort.”
So far, Trump has endorsed Rubio’s negotiations, saying “Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism.”
None of this will prompt any action from Congress, which Republicans control.
No matter how much reassurance is given by Republican hawks like Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (who wears a lapel pin with the Ukrainian flag), the fact remains he shepherded through Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as Defense secretary.
North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis told The Independent last week before going to the Munich Security Conference that “people at the table have to involve Ukraine.” Yet he consistently votes to confirm Trump’s nominees, who support the president’s every position.
And Senate Intelligence Committee members Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young’ of Indiana furrowing of their brows is irrelevant, given they voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard – who has repeatedly praised Putin – to be director of National Intelligence.
Indeed, instead of condemning Trump as did Lindsey Graham’s mentor John McCain, Graham himself, a hawk on Ukraine, nevertheless defended Trump.
“When it comes to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I blame Putin above all others,” Graham said. But he also insisted Trump is Ukraine’s best hope to end the war. “I believe he will be successful and he will achieve this goal in the Trump way,” the senator added.
