A Hero And 2 Zeros
Today's reality TV show episode of The White House was a spectacularly difficult show to watch. Many Americans finally realized today that the US has officially switched sides.
I forced myself to watch today’s episode of Zelenskyy vs. Trump in the White House.
I know recently this administration spoke of hiring UFC fighters to help train the FBI, but it looks like they were also hired to help Vance and Trump promote a fight.
From the moment Zelenskyy stepped out of the car at the White House, the cameras were rolling and the insults began. The first thing Trump said to Zelenskyy was a sarcastic, “Oh you dressed up.” It was not a hot mic, that implies someone doesn’t know cameras are rolling. There were cameras filming Zelenskyy’s arrival from multiple angles.
During the brief meeting, JD Vance is obviously speaking in prepared statements and Zelenskyy is speaking off the cuff, while Trump is speaking Trump, a unique combination of age-related ramblings, talking points, catch phrases and tangents.
JD Vance starts off looking into the cameras as he speaks in a cadence that clearly was memorized speech and is addressing the cameras more than the Ukrainian leader, while Zelenskyy is looking at whoever is speaking. Then in an abrupt spin, JD “Talking Into Camera” Vance accuses Zelenskyy of putting on a show for the media…. The US media that the White House scheduled to be there.
We know that the White House orchestrated the media because they have put up such a stink in recent weeks about which media outlets are allowed in the White House.
Even though American media outlets like Associated Press and Reuters were shunned from today’s showstopper, the White House let in a Russian state media reporter. A reporter can’t just “sneak” into the Oval Office from the outside world. Someone let the reporter in. The reporter was invited to White House and allowed into the Oval Office. Russia has state sponsored media. so essentially, someone from the nation that Ukraine is at war with was in the room recording the US and Ukraine’s meeting.
One of the other “reporters” there was the boyfriend of right wing wind bag and space laser enthusiast, Marjorie Taylor Greene. With the opportunity to ask Zelenskyy anything of substance, he went with asking him why he didn’t wear a suit.
The man is at war, flew at least 12 hours, through 7 time zones to a contentious meeting, and Americans are wasting his time with asking him about his wardrobe choices? Zelenskyy isn’t an American business man, he is the military leader of a nation during wartime. Why would he be dressed the same way as the guy who bankrupts casinos for a living?
Suit Up or Get Dressed Down
Trump is suit obsessed. The only time he is seen without an ill-fitting suit and an overly long tie is when he’s playing golf. When Don Jr. was in college, Trump showed up to pick him up for a Yankees game, and evidently Don Jr was wearing a jersey and jeans like a normal college student going to a game, and Trump slapped him so hard he fell down and told him to put on a suit. What kind of asshole wears a suit to a Yankees game? And also makes his college age son wear one? And why is Trump so concerned with micro-managing what everyone wears?
Today’s meeting was on the heels on Trump having a “peace” meeting with Russia without inviting Ukraine and Trump publicly slinging lies about Ukraine. Trump is beholden to Putin. Multiple former KGB agents have confirmed that Krasnov or Trump was recruited by Russia decades ago. The only peace Trump is trying to negotiate is between himself and his conscience.
Side Rant:
Did Spacelasers boyfriend say anything to Elon Musk when he wore a “Tech Support” t-shirt and ball cap inside the Oval Office during a filmed press event? A cap indoors! Surely the founding fathers would be mortified. Elon also routinely brings his child to official White House meetings and mostly wore t-shirts while campaigning with Trump, but did this MAGA mouthpiece ridicule him for that? Elon only wears a suit when he’s doing a Nazi salute.
Trump repeatedly telling Zelenskyy that he’s in no position to “dictate” is a call back to recently calling him a dictator. It’s not a coincidence that Trump is using this word, you can tell that he is knowingly choosing this word to make an impact.
The problem with Republicans in 2025 is they have overplayed the victim move. They frequently throw a punch, then act offended when people punch back. This happens in all levels of the government, from local to state to federal politics. The victim card is routinely played after they instigate a fight.
You can tell from the audio that both Trump and Vance were raising their voices, so when that is pointed out by Zelenskyy, it is a valid comment. But in typical GOP style, they deflected.
“Have you said thank you?” is such a creepy and petty question for JD Vance to ask a person considered a national hero to his nation. Vance sounds like an older woman badgering her adult son, not a leader speaking with another leader.
This may have been the most cringy part of the show today. It’s like Vance and Trump are needling Zelenskyy. Did he say thank you? Does it matter? What is the protocol when you’re at war? Are you supposed to send a hand written note, “Dear Biden, than you for the tanks.” It is a text situation? “TY 4 tanks. TYSM. BRB. Bombs overhead.”
Vance’s not so gentle parenting of Zelenskyy backfired because it makes Vance just look tiny and petty, while Zelenskyy looked exactly like anyone watching it, confused. It was a fruitless jab at Ukraine.
The Biden administration sent money and supplies to Ukraine. Throughout Biden’s administration, Republicans routinely complained about Ukraine and tried to block funds. Republicans were so mad about money going to Ukraine that they fired their own GOP House leader over it to shut down the government to stop money from going to Ukraine. The only reason they put someone back in place is because Hamas invaded Israel. Once Trump took office, he halted the money that Biden had already approved to go to Ukraine.
So what exactly is Zelenskyy expected to be thanking President Trump for?
Thanks for Nothing? Thanks for the giant headache that Trump caused when he tried to get Europe to turn on Ukraine? Thanks for having him to the White House to be part of this insulting US reality show?
This is how America hosts allies? This is how America treats guests? By belittling what they are wearing and insulting their manners? Every nation in the world is watching. We are showing our allies and our adversaries how unpredictable and small we are right now.
Zelenskyy saying “I heard it from Putin” after both Vance and Trump repeat Russian talking points is a subtle jab pointing out that both Trump and JD Vance are obviously saying verbatim things he has already heard Vlad say.
And Trump repeatedly crap talking Biden while in the ring today is odd and puts Zelenskyy in an awkward position to speak on a domestic squabble. It’s like when a couple has you over to their house and then they get in a fight, you know better than to comment on or take a side. It’s a no win situation.A world leader sitting listening to another world leader demeaning his predecessor, how should one respond to that?
Afterwards Fox News was of course framing the event in an augmented reality, blaming Zelenskyy for the media being in Trump’s White House. It was in Trump’s house! How could Zelenskyy be responsible for the media in Trump’s own house?
Every time Trump tells a lie and every time media like Fox News repeats a lie, it is an insult to Trump voters. It is insulting their intelligence because it is flaunting the fact that Trump feels valid saying whatever he wants because he believes his supporters will never bother to look up the truth.
Trump said he wanted the media there to see how Zelenskyy behaves. Obviously he wanted the media to be there to see how Zelenskyy responded to JD Vance’s scripted and planned verbal attack.
As Jim Acosta points out, today’s meeting looked like “extortion. It looked like something out of The Godfather.” Jim Acosta questions whether we are on the side of good with, “We are being the bully to a country that has already been bullied enough” and “A larger power is beating up on his country.” The show also describes a silent spineless Marco Rubio as “slinking into couch.”
Not only is the US kicking another country, but we’re kicking another country while it’s down. It’s not a fair fight. Trump and JD Vance were trying to get in a sucker punch to a nation that is already in the hospital on life support. They don’t look like strong men, they look like small men.
This is the second oval office meeting with press that Trump has decided to sit back and let someone else take the lead, before it has been Elon, today it was JD Vance.
Today wasn’t surreal or out of the ordinary as others have suggested, but rather it was crystal clear that Trump’s loyalty is to Vladimir Putin and not to the United States. He praises Putin every chance he gets, but today wasn’t just a quip, but rather deliberate words to distance the US from allies and unite us with Russia.
WHY RUSSIA?
It’s no surprise that Republicans have a loyalty to Russia. The NRA which has generously donated to Republican campaigns for years was reported to be a Russian asset to funnel money into the US.
Remember when Russia hacked both GOP and Democrats leading up to the 2016 election? After this news broke, all of the Democrats dirt and Hillary’s emails were aired on the Internet… but we never saw what Russia hacked from Republicans. I assume this is why Republicans are willing to silently ignore open corruption like Marco Rubio sinking expressionless into the Oval Office sofa.
I also assume that Mitt Romney is the only squeaky clean Republican that couldn’t be coerced. (Mitt Romney was the only Republican who voted to impeach Trump during his first term, and seemingly the only Republican who spoke out against Trump during his last term. He stepped down in December before Trump took office again warning Americans against people who “tear at our unity.”)
Trump’s background is not governing, it’s not diplomacy, it’s not even negotiating. Trump’s background is reality TV. He’s a showman. And what people saw today was semi-scripted reality TV. I don’t know if the US or Russia wrote the script, but today was disconcerting.
What is glaringly evident is that both JD Vance and Donald Trump are completely influenced by Russia. A draft dodger and coward who hasn’t even visited Ukraine, have the audacity to insult the guest that they are hosting.
JD Vance nor Trump have ever served the military, while Zelenskyy has literally been in the trenches of war. Trump got a doctor’s note to get out of going to a battlefield while Zelenskyy is managing a war and simultaneously doing a PR campaign for Ukraine to get more supplies.
Even if you voted for Bone Spurs, you have to concede that this administration is not working in the best interests of the American people. And you have to realize that Zelenskyy simultaneously standing his ground with both Putin and Trump at the same time shows that he may possibly have the biggest balls in the world.
Courage isn’t standing up when it’s convenient, it’s standing up when it’s necessary. Right now it’s necessary for the US to stand up and defend Ukraine, but it’s not convenient for Trump because he’s currently in Putin’s pocket.
America, like every country, needs allies. And one by one Trump is pushing them away.
Admittedly, in the past the US has gone in and taken advantage of other countries. We’ve occupied other countries, we know how it works. The easiest way to occupy or take over another country is isolate them without allies and/or instigate infighting domestically to weaken their solidarity. And right now, the US has both. We look so weak right now because we are, domestically and globally very compromised.
This reality show today was jarring and humiliating, but more than that, it highlights how vulnerable the US is right now. The US is vulnerable to outside influence and even invasion not just from Russia, but any nation.
The depressing part is that both Trump and Vance boldly stated lies to Zelenskyy’s face because they know that their supporters are too lazy to do a simple online search to see what the facts are. Low information voters don’t go look for any new information, they take everything a leader says as truth.
In addition to showcasing how petty and vulnerable the US is, the episode also showed the world how dumb we are. These two bozos in the oval office nagging and insulting another world leader are leaders that millions of Americans thought were viable candidates.
Lastly, this episode, and I mean literal TV episode, is the reason why any reputable journalist should stop going to the White House and stop covering Trump. He’s not a reliable source. He is a known liar, and is just stirring up publicity for himself. Trump isn’t even pretending to speak on behalf of America, or to promote America, no, he’s speaking for himself. Just like his recent Trump Gaza video, that wasn’t about the US. Nope, it was about Trump, and his hotel, not about the US. There weren’t American flags, but a tacky gold Trump statue and a dancing lady JD Vance.
While media was covering this spectacle in the Oval Office, it distracted from other important news like the fact that the already underfunded Social Security Office is cutting 7,000 jobs. Did anyone notice that today the EPA was freezing people’s bank accounts? Journalists missed the opportunity to talk about the fact that Elon fired FAA employees to destabilize it and specifically fired people producing traffic navigation maps, but now Elon’s Starlink is taking over those jobs with a $2 BILLION contract to control the nation’s air traffic control system. Mind you, Tesla’s fatal accident rate is double the national average, and now the guy running that company is also in control of every flight in US airspace.
While this administration is busy flooding the zone, media outlets need to get better at deciding on which fish to catch and which to release.