I keep hearing people say that Trump deliberately set Zelensky up—just so he could ambush and humiliate him on the world stage.
But I see it very differently.
The first hour of the meeting went perfectly fine. Trump and Zelensky were about to walk out of that room and sign a historic deal for minerals. Ultimately, that agreement might have been a win-win for both men by giving the USA a bigger financial stake in Ukraine. It wasn't perfect, but there were positive elements that advanced Trump's agenda and Zelensky's, as well.
JD DERAILED WIN-WIN DEAL FOR TRUMP & ZELENSKY
Unfortunately, Vice President JD Vance (remember him?) threw a monkey wrench into the whole thing—possibly for his own purposes.
After all, JD's agenda, ideology, and interests do NOT line up perfectly with Trump's.
Trump wants (1) to end the war on terms more favorable to Putin than Biden would have accepted; (2) to get American hands on Ukraine's minerals; and (3) to be respected. Trump's interests were being met in that hour-long meeting—and they would have been met by signing the pact later that day.
But the same cannot be said for chronically overshadowed and left-out JD Vance.
Our increasingly irrelevant VP has trash-talked Ukraine for years. He doesn't necessarily WANT closer ties between our countries. Getting in Putin's good graces is not a bad idea for someone who wants to win the 2028 presidential election. And any politician in JD's position would like to stay relevant—but Trump shoved him aside in favor of Elon Musk months ago.
Worse, JD is a devotee of Dark Enlightenment philosopher Curtis Yarvin. All Yarvin's followers have a deep, ideological hatred of pro-democracy leaders like Zelensky.
So, creating a big stink, embarrassing Zelensky, and derailing the mineral rights deal was actually in JD's interests. He successfully drove a wedge between the United States and Ukraine, advanced Curtis Yarvin's ideological agenda of discrediting democracies, ingratiated himself to Putin, and stepped out of Elon Musk's shadow.
All in one move! (Well played, JD!)
But was this whole controversy in Trump's interests? Probably not.
CONCLUSION:
JD is the biggest winner out of this train wreck, which is no surprise since JD is the person who crashed the train. Putin is the other big winner.
Zelensky, Ukraine, democracy, and NATO are clearly the losers.
But in this round, DONALD TRUMP might actually have been a big loser, too.
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