Vice President JD Vance blew up a cerimonial meeting today in the Oval office between President Trump and President Zelenskyy.
J.D Vance turned a meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy from celebrating a mutual trade agreement into one of the ugliest displays of “diplomacy” in recent history.
The question is why was Vance even in the meeting between two heads of state?
For most of the 49 minute session, Trump actually looked presidential as he sat next to Zelenskyy. He spoke thoughtfully as the discussions got off the ground.
But Vance either terribly misread the room or purposely sabotaged the meeting with a blistering attack on the Ukrainian president.
In December 2023, Vance complained on Fox News because he was being called a “Putin puppet” for pushing in Congress to cut all U.S. aid to Ukraine.
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In today’s meeting, Vance engaged in a grotesque and disgraceful display that seemed to bear out that view.
“Mr. President… with all due respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you (meaning Zeleskyy) to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” he interjected in an off-point comment.
“Right now you guys are going around and trying to force conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems,” he said, thrusting his finger at the Ukrainian leader.
“Right now, you should be thanking the President for trying to end this conflict.”
Zelenskyy, who was merely answering media questions, countered that every country has problems during the war and noted that Vance had never bothered to visit the country. Vance said derisively any visit would be a “propaganda tour.”
But the vice president didn’t stop there. “Do you think it’s disrespectful to come to the Oval office and attack the administration that’s trying to end the war?” he shouted.
Clearly, nothing of the sort had happened.
After sitting passively through Vance’s diatribe, Trump got combative.
Trump was triggered when Zelenskyy warned that the U.S. would face similar problems in a war. “Everybody has problems, even you. But you have a nice ocean and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future,” Zelenskyy said. “God bless… God bless you don’t have war.”
“You don’t know that… you don’t know that. Don’t try and tell us how we’ll feel,” Trump shot back. “We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”
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At that point, Trump went off the rails. “You’re in no position to dictate. You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel.”
Then, Trump continued: “You’re not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be not in a very good position.”
The conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy continued with a back and forth that grew more heated, until Trump went off about starting World War III, a repeated Putin talking point.
“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump asserted. “And when you do it, it’s disrespectful to the country… this country.”
Vance threw more fuel on the fire by bringing up Biden again, accusing Zelenskyy of backing Trump’s opponent by visiting an ammunition production facility in Pennsylvania, as if that had anything to do with the conversation.
There was no salvaging the meeting after that. Trump and Zelenskyy traded words while Vance continued to make inflammatory comments.
Vance was clearly advancing a Putin propaganda point by insisting Ukraine was losing the war, despite Zelenskyy’s admonitions to the contrary.
“You’re wrong and we know your wrong,” Vance interjected.
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Trump then went off on his own tangent, attacking Biden and Obama for their contributions to the war, regurgitating the “Russia hoax,” and even Hunter Biden, while defending Putin for “having to put up with all that.”
All of Trump’s grievances and victimizations came pouring out.
“You are either going to make a deal, or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
“But you’re not being thankful… you’re not being thankful enough and that’s not a nice thing. All right I think we’ve seen enough,” Trump said, ending the meeting.
Trump walked out of the room with no deal and a major international fiasco on the admnistration’s hands. Zelenskyy left immediately, and the world was left to deal with the repercussions.
GOP Congressional members, Fox News pundits and others immediately went into spin mode, trying to shape the outcome as a major victory for Trump for being tough with the Ukrainian leader.
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Even Trump held an impromptu news conferenction on the White House lawn to spin the meeting
But the ferocity of the spin made it clear that Vance and Trump had caused major damage to U.S. international relations.
Leaders of France, Germany, Poland and 15 other European countries issuing statements in support for Ukraine. Many pundits pronounced U.S. leadership of the world dead after the frightful display.
“Russia illegally and unjustifiably invaded Ukraine. Canada will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in achieving a just and lasting peace,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“He retains his unwavering support for Ukraine and is playing his part to find a path forward to a lasting peace, based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine,” said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer through a spokesperson.
For his part, Zelensky refused to apologize in a Fox News interview, but was sorrowful about the meeting and expressed appreciation for U.S. support. “We are thankful and sorry for this,” he said.
It was clear going into the meeting that Trump was not expecting such a sharp confrontation and seemed hopeful about signing the agreement.
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“It’s an honor to have the president of Ukraine. We’ve been working very close, very hard,” Trump said opening the meeting.
“We had a little negotiation spat, but that worked out well, I think for both countries, I think for the world actually.”
Trump, who vowed during the 2024 campaign to resolve the Ukraine war in “24 hours,” had failed on that score, but finally had something to take from the table — a trade agreement for Ukrainian minerals and rare earths.
Trump mistakenly kept calling them “raw” earths.
“It’s a big commitment from the United States, and we appreciate working with your very much. And we will continue to do that. We have had some very good discussions with Russia. I spoke with President Putin and we are going to try to bring this to a close,” the president said.
Trump praised Ukrainian troops as “unbelievably brave” and acknowledged the “tough fighting.” He then announced the agreement signing, plans for lunch and further discussions afterward
Zelenskyy thanked the president and thanked him again for the invitation to the meeting.
“I hope this document will be a real first step for security for Ukraine,” he said.
He thanked Trump once more for trying to stop the war, calling Putin a “killer” and a “terrorist,” and talked about further cooperation on defense, including sharing Ukrainian drone and U.S. Patriot missile technology.
Zelenskyy asked for helping getting back some 20,000 children who were kidnapped by Russia in the early days of the war. “It’s a big, dream, task and goal for me.”
He also brought the plight of Ukrainian prisoners of war to Trump’s attention, asking for permission to show photos. Trump agreed and looked through them.
“This to me is one of the most important things,” Trump said of the agreement.
For 35 minutes, the meeting was cordial and low key. But the situation quickly went down hill when Vance suddenly became combative.
Trump was asked by a reporter whether he favored Putin or Zelenskyy. The president responded calmly and said he saw himself more as an arbiter between two parties, who had tremendous hatred for each other.
“I’m not aligned with Putin; I’m not aligned with anybody,” Trump said in a conciliatory tone.
At that point Vance interjected himself into the discussion and went off on a tangent with a blistering attack on President Biden.
Vance asserted that Biden had bashed Putin for four years and it did nothing to prevent the 2022 invasion. Now, he said, diplomacy was the way.
Zelenskyy responded by explaining the history of the conflict beginning in 2014 when Russia occupied Crimea and part of Eastern Ukraine. Clashes continued up until the invasion. Numerous cease fires were signed, he said.
“He broke the cease fire, he killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners. He signed the agreement to exchange prisoners and he didn’t do it. ” Zelenskyy continued.
“What kind of diplomacy, JD? What kind of diplomacy are you asking me about? What do you mean?”
Vance started to answer the question then suddenly pivoted to a broad attack on the Ukrainian leader.
Pundits are all over the map on the meeting, but one thing is clear, Trump left without something he very much wanted. But Vance got what he wanted at the president’s expense.