Remind us never to play poker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The embattled leader of Ukraine, currently embroiled in a years-long war with Russia, visited the United States recently to drum up support for the ongoing conflict. He met with former president Donald Trump and remained stone-faced while the GOP candidate, well, did what he does best — conjure tall tales out of thin air, pitching them as the truth, and forgetting that his claims are so lame that they can be fact-checked into oblivion.
This time it involved Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and how he wants to end Russia’s attack on Ukraine. And of course, how Trump can be instrumental in fast-tracking that decision.
“He wants it to end and he wants it to end as quickly as possible,” Trump said, standing next to Zelensky in front of a bevy of American flags. “He wants a fair transaction to take place.”
Trump then said he was campaigning and didn’t have much to do with the conflict “other than we’re doing very well in terms of the campaign.” Say what you will, the man knows his way around a non-sequitur. He further added that if he wins the presidency, he thinks there will be a “rather rapid deal.”
The most real moment, the point where any rational person would probably be unable to contain themselves, came next. “It should stop. And the president wants it to stop. And I’m sure President Putin wants it to stop. And that’s a good combination.” The fact that the Ukrainian president manages to keep his expression smooth in the face of a man blatantly cooking stories about a situation he has been living for years needs to be lauded.
There is not even a muscle twitch from Zelensky as he looks sort of toward Trump with his downcast eyes. One can only imagine what’s going through that man’s head.
Reactions to this exchange were understandably impressed with Zelensky, noting that while the justified reaction would be to lose his cool, he knows how to behave in front of the camera and why reacting to Trump’s tactlessness won’t be helpful to his hard work of getting his country maximum support.
While Zelensky had to meet Trump this time (which is the tradition when it comes to presidential candidates), many are hopeful that he won’t have to tolerate the Orange Blob a second time.
Zelensky’s past as a stand up comic was also brought up in the discourse, mentioning how even a deadpan comedian would have trouble with Trump’s words. Perhaps what embodies his epic tolerance best is the reminder of how it mimics us sitting at the Thanksgiving table, listening to impossible-to-digest relatives, itching to vomit our own bitterness, but still biting your tongue to maintain the calm.
Whatever you believe, mentioning that you have a good relationship with a controversial world leader who’s currently at war with the world leader standing next to you is not the mast tactful of moves. To be fair, it’s not like he had a different position before the meeting, when he told reporters:
“We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And I think if we win, we’re going to get it resolved very quickly.”
Ever since Putin, in his misguided desire to influence the results of the 2024 election, seemed to “endorse” Kamala Harris, Trump has been laying it on extra thick when it comes to praising the Russian leader. But even if that’s cut out of the equation, starting, maintaining, and completing a coherent thought has been getting steadily difficult for the 78-year-old, which is evident from the very surface level exchange between Zelensky and Trump, where the former invited the latter to Ukraine, adding that he should “come to see all us.”
“I will,” Trump said. “It’s a beautiful country.” Cue eye rolls and off goes that mirage of the last brain cell the former president ever possessed.
Published: Sep 28, 2024 01:05 pm