President Donald Trump fired off his bombshell Truth Social post calling Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” while on his way to the golf course.
After Zelensky told reporters outside his office that Trump is living in a Russian “disinformation space,” the president then told his aides he wanted to respond directly, CNN reports.
So, he decided to fire off a Truth Social post calling the elected official a “dictator” on his way to a golf club in Miami, according to the outlet.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote Wednesday morning. “In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do.”
Zelensky was legitimately elected by Ukrainian voters in 2019. While the country was supposed to hold another election in 2024, Zelensky’s martial law declaration following the full-scale invasion by Russia has put it on pause.
Now, White House staffers tell CNN they’re growing increasingly frustrated with Zelensky — who they say isn’t helping his own situation with his remarks about Trump.
“It’s a frustration,” an unnamed White House staffer told CNN. “There is a strong and legitimate feeling that this brutal war has to stop and that this pathway is being diminished through Zelensky’s public statements.”
Trump administration officials have expressed this publicly, too. Vice President JD Vance told the Daily Mail Zelensky’s “badmouthing” will only backfire.
“The idea that Zelensky is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media, everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” Vance said.
Trump’s negative comments about Ukraine and his administration’s hardline stance on the issue appear to have intensified since the president held a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth surprised onlookers when he appeared to make a series of concessions to Russia – publicly stating that Ukraine would not recapture all occupied territory, and saying Ukraine would not be able to join NATO – before negotiations had even started.
Still, Trump has painted himself as a peacekeeper between Russia and Ukraine.
“We’re successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, something all admit that only Trump is going to be able to do,” Trump said Wednesday. “In the Trump administration, we’re going to be able to do it. I think Putin even admitted that.”
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz similarly claimed Trump can go “toe-to-toe” with Putin when asked about concerns that the president may be under his influence.
“If there’s anybody in this world that can go toe-to-toe with Putin, that can go toe-to-toe with Xi, that can go toe-to-toe with Kim Jong Un … it’s Donald J. Trump,” Waltz said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, US and Russian negotiators have reportedly established a plan to end the war — but Zelensky was not informed of the talks on Ukraine’s future, nor invited to them.
“I wonder – if we didn’t accept such ultimatums in our most difficult moment, why does anyone think we would now?” Zelensky said.
