Just when I thought Trump couldn't act like more of an authoritarian jerk than he already is, he surprises me by doing something so outrageous even his most avid Republican acolytes are criticizing Trump.
A New York Times story, "Zelensky and Trump Trade Blows as Feud Escalates Over Peace Talks," starts this way:
The simmering feud between President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Trump escalated on Wednesday when Mr. Trump mocked his counterpart in a post filled with falsehoods, calling him a “dictator without elections.”
His comments came hours after Mr. Zelensky said the American leader had been “caught in a web of disinformation” from Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The pointed exchange was set off by a meeting of American and Russian officials to open talks on ending the war in Ukraine that excluded the Ukrainian government. After that meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Mr. Trump suggested that Ukraine had started the war, a comment that brought a strong rebuttal from Mr. Zelensky on Wednesday morning.
“I would like to have more truth with the Trump team,” Mr. Zelensky said in some of the most overt criticism yet of Mr. Trump and his view of the war in Ukraine.
Trump spread a bunch of lies in a post on X about Ukraine and Zelensky.
There's basically nothing true in what Trump said here. His non-stop lies were almost amusing when Trump was campaigning for president. They aren't at all funny now that he is the leader of the free world, yet is acting like he's Putin's puppet.
The truth is that Europe has contributed more money to the defense of Ukraine than the United States has; that Russia started the war by invading Ukraine; that the constitution of Ukraine forbids holding elections in a time of martial law, which is still in effect in that country; that Zelensky has an approval rating of 57% in Ukraine, much higher than Trump's 45% approval rating in the United States; that Ukraine isn't at all shattered but is a fully functioning nation even in the midst of war: that millions of people haven't died in the war, and certainly not unnecessarily, given that Ukraine had a perfect right to defend itself against Russia's invasion; that half of the money sent by the United States isn't missing.
Rihards Kols is a member of the European parliament and a truth-teller.
Trump is supposed to be a master deal-maker. Actually Trump is a weak wimp when it comes to striking a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Michael McFaul is a former ambassador to Russia who knows well what sort of dictator Putin is, and how easy it is for Putin to manipulate Trump into making a bad deal for the United States and Ukraine. The fourth post on X ends with "except with Hitler there too."
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