Zelensky Chooses Applause From Democrats Over SurvivalYou know you’re in trouble if you’re the head of a foreign country that wants massive American military aid and intervention on your behalf and you lose Sen. Lindsey Graham. R-S.C.
But that’s what happened to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week as a result of his meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. He had a choice between securing American support and continued aid for his country’s war with Russia and listening to the advice of Trump-hating Democrats and Europeans who wanted him to grandstand at the administration’s expense.
The only logical choice would have been to avoid conflict with Trump. That would have assured continued U.S. military aid and a minerals deal that would have likely guaranteed that the United States would remain committed to Kyiv’s survival due to economic ties.
But Zelensky couldn’t do it.
And as a result, a shocked Graham was forced to conclude that Ukraine needed a new president if it was going to do business with Washington.
Having spent the last three years being lionized by the international press and world leaders as a 21st-century Winston Churchill, the Ukrainian president is unused to showing deference to anyone. And that includes the president of the United States, whose good will is necessary if Ukraine is to continue to have America’s backing in peace negotiations as well as the war.
Zelensky was reportedly warned by Graham prior to the White House meeting that all he had to do was behave himself and he would have tied Trump to continued involvement on Ukraine’s side, in spite of the fact that Trump has been publicly skeptical about the war and committed to seeking its end via a peace accord with Russia.
“‘Don’t take the bait,” Graham said he told Zelensky. “Don’t let the media or anyone else get you into an argument with President Trump. What he’s doing today is resetting the relationship.'”
That was good advice.
But getting most of what he wanted out of the White House wasn’t good enough for a man who clearly believes his own public relations propaganda. Zelensky had already twice refused to sign the minerals deal that had been negotiated with the United States, much to Trump’s annoyance...............
https://www.conservativereview.com/zelensky-chooses-applause-from-democrats-over-survival-2671259207.html
