As expected the reaction from American mainstream pundits and Ukraine’s backers to Trump’s Wednesday post decrying Zelensky as a “dictator” who “better move fast” on striking a peace deal and holding elections or else “he won’t have a country left” has been swift and fierce.
The ‘fact-checkers’ are also out in force, for example with the NY Times quickly putting out a piece entitled “Trump Falsely Says Ukraine Started the War With Russia. Here Is What to Know.” They want the public to know why “the country isn’t holding elections.” And below is what CNN’s frontpage is currently displaying, reviving the old debunked ‘Russiagate’ talking points of supposedly ‘parroting Russian talking points’:
And Puck News’ co-founder Julia Ioffe is dumbfounded and outraged: “What I cannot understand is why the American establishment and its institutions are folding so quickly. What are you people so afraid of? You never even had gulags,” she wrote in an emotional appeal on X.
There’s also the absurd accusations that Trump has ‘switched sides’ – after Zelensky strongly suggested earlier that Russia is feeding him ‘disinformation’…
„Mr. Trump is in the middle of executing one of the most jaw-dropping pivots in American foreign policy in generations, a 180-degree turn that will force friends and foes to recalibrate in fundamental ways.“ https://t.co/1fGguKnKSb
And the reaction from the neocons has been predictably loud: “Trump’s characterizations of Zelensky and Ukraine are some of the most shameful remarks ever made by a US President. Our support of Ukraine has never been about charity, our way of life at home depends on our strength abroad,” John Bolton wrote.
More from Europe:
Olaf Scholz challenges Trump for calling Zelensky a dictator: ‘It is simply false and dangerous to deny Zelensky democratic legitimacy’ In turn, German FM Baerbock called Trump’s words ‘completely absurd’.
But Vice President J.D. Vance is pushing back alongside other top Trump admin officials, warning that Zelensky will regret this feud and ‘badmouthing’ President Trump:
Statements by US Vice President also corroborate my prediction that US could remove Zelensky because of his refusal of peace deal: "EXCLUSIVEJD Vance warns Zelensky he will regret 'badmouthing' Trump and condemns his 'atrocious' response to peace talks.
And Musk too has been pushing back. For example he tweeted out the following list by prominent pro-Trump account @DC_Draino:
Want to know why Trump called Zelensky a Dictator? Here are the FACTS:
He’s in year 6 of his 5 year term
Declared martial law Feb 2022 and has banned elections since then
Banned 11 political parties
Passed law in 2022 to censor journalists and combined all news into one gov’t station
Journalists investigating his corruption get conscripted and thrown on the front lines to die
The list ended with the observation that “Even Saddam Hussein held elections!” We should add to this list the ongoing persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the Zelensky government, merely because it maintains spiritual communion with the Moscow Patriarchate.
President Trump has absolutely excoriated Zelensky in a growing tit-for-tat which is fast turning into an exchange of wide-ranging criticisms and direct insults. Trump in a fresh Truth Social post has dismissed the Ukrainian leader as a “modestly successful comedian” who essentially tricked the US into spending hundreds of billions for a war that “couldn’t be won” and should have never started.
Worse, Trump blasted Zelensky as “A Dictator without Elections” given that he “refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’ Trump added: “I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…” and said the Ukrainian leader “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left.”
These are by far the harshest words Trump has ever hurled at Zelensky yet, even on the campaign trail (where previously he dubbed Zelensky as the “world’s greatest salesman”. Below is the full post which is sure to fuel the flames of controversy further, as European always also express bitterness over Trump’s peace talks with Russia…
* * *
How did we get here?
Much as expected, President Volodymyr Zelensky is reeling in the wake of President Trump’s Tuesday evening words from Mar-a-Lago wherein he blasted critics of his Ukraine peace initiative, including Zelensky himself. Responding to a reporter’s question about Zelensky and his European partners demanding a seat at the table in any negotiations with Moscow, Trump had said, “You’ve been there for three years. You should’ve ended it in three years. You should have never started it.”
