Utterly disgraceful

Another Friday in the POTUS47 administration, another calamitous incident from the White House.

Today the president, along with vice-bully JD Vampire, hosted Vlodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, intending for the two heads of state to sign an agreement that would extort mineral mining rights from Ukraine in order to retain some support in Ukraine's war effort against Russia.

The signing of that alleged agreement didn't happen. Because the U.S. president and vice-president instead chose to verbally pistol-whip a U.S. ally for being insufficiently grateful.

Which is, of course, utter bullshit. Zelenskyy has been unfailingly polite and thankful for the support the U.S. has given him, never made any distinction between aid from the Biden administration and aid from the current guy, and has been a genuine statesman the entire time when it has to have been difficult. His nation is fighting for its very existence and he needs help.

What he wouldn't do, what no one with an ounce of integrity ever should do, was grovel to and slobber over POTUS47.

Because he didn't get the obsequious praise he wanted, our weak-minded, massively insecure head of state behaved like a petulant child and the meeting ended.

I wrote my congresspeople again today, citing that meeting as yet another reason we cannot afford four years of this president. Whether one supports Ukraine in its war effort or not, the behavior POTUS47 engaged in today hurts this nation, hurts its reputation, hurts its ability to function in the world. And that's on top of the damage he's done and continues to do domestically, which is at least equally catastrophic.

I implore everyone to share this article from the Guardian, which includes video of the event, with friends and acquaintances and others who might not be as tuned in to politics as the rest of us. It's easy to digest, not a deep analysis, just here it is, and here are some quotes in reaction.

The deeper analysis pieces are also worth one's time, but harder to get someone not already interested to read. Two from The Atlantic, one by Tom Nichols—which includes the line, "Trump and Vance acted like a couple of Kremlin sock puppets instead of American leaders"—the other by David Frum, stand out.

Nichols:

Leave aside, if only for a moment, the utter boorishness with which President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House today. Also leave aside the spectacle of American leaders publicly pummeling a friend as if he were an enemy. All of the ghastliness inflicted on Zelensky today should not obscure the geopolitical reality of what just happened: The president of the United States ambushed a loyal ally, presumably so that he can soon make a deal with the dictator of Russia to sell out a European nation fighting for its very existence.

...

[The] meeting reeked of a planned attack, with Trump unloading Russian talking points on Zelensky (such as blaming Ukraine for risking global war), all of it designed to humiliate the Ukrainian leader on national television and give Trump the pretext to do what he has indicated repeatedly he wants to do: side with Russian President Vladimir Putin and bring the war to an end on Russia’s terms. ... Vance is usually an invisible backbencher in this administration, with few duties other than some occasional trolling of Trump’s critics. (The actual business of furthering Trump’s policies is apparently now Elon Musk’s job.) This time, however, he was brought in to troll not other Americans, but a foreign leader. Marco Rubio—in theory, America’s top diplomat—was also there, but he sat glumly and silently while Vance pontificated like an obnoxious graduate student.

...

Baiting Zelensky into fighting in front of the media was likely the plan all along, and Trump and Vance were soon both yelling at Zelensky. (“This is going to be great television,” Trump said during the meeting.)

Frum:

Today’s meeting gave the lie to any claim that this administration’s policy is driven by any strategic effort to advance the interests of the United States, however misguided. Trump and Vance displayed in the Oval Office a highly personal hatred. There was no effort here to make a case for American interests. 

...

The American people need to reckon with the mess Trump and Vance are making of this country’s once-good name—and the services they are performing for dictators and aggressors. There may not be a deep cause here. Trump likes and admires bad people because he is himself a bad person. When Vance executed his personal pivot from Never Trump to Always Trump, he needed a way to prove that he had truly crossed over to the dark side beyond any possibility of reversion or redemption; perhaps his support for Russia allowed him to do that. But however shallow their motives, the consequences are profound.

Write/call your congresspeople. Particularly if they're Republicans. Tell them the childish tantrums of an insecure wannabe-tyrant do nothing to "make America great." Tell them the Ukrainians deserve all the support we can give them. Tell them the United States cannot tolerate four years of POTUS47 and the sooner he's expelled from office the better.