On Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky rejected any notion of a ceasefire after he decided to interrogate Vice President JD Vance during what was supposed to be a cordial Oval Office presser. The resulting scene snapped the already frayed relationship between the Ukrainian president and President Donald Trump, and the planned mineral rights deal that would have provided Ukraine with more much-needed aid was shelved.
In the aftermath, I penned a piece entitled “What the Heck Was Zelensky Thinking,” gobsmacked at the decision. What was gained by starting a public fight in the White House over the mere mention of diplomacy when all that was left to garner the deal were handshakes and smiles? As I articulated in a later article, Trump does not care what the mainstream press thinks, so attempting to bully him in front of the cameras was always going to have the opposite effect. That the Democrat politicians who hold no power but talk a big game will be of no help to Zelensky goes without saying.
You’d think that after all that self-destructive drama, the Ukrainian president would take a step back and try to reset his diplomatic strategy. Instead, he’s now taking shots at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Ukraine’s biggest and most vocal supporters. Has Zelensky lost his mind?
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you