I’m going to have to agreeably disagree with Jeff’s latest concerning Trump’s criticisms of Zelensky.
Jeff writes:
I also know what many of the responses to my outrage over this will be — I have been receiving them all day on social media, after all — and I will restate the gist of them for you here: “It’s just a negotiating tactic to end the war. It’s 4-D chess. I trust in Trump, I trust in the process.” Many more on the right seem happy to go further than that and adopt Trump’s claims wholesale.
I instead am going to draw a much straighter, cleaner line to explain Donald Trump’s ferocious hostility toward Ukraine and Zelensky. Donald Trump was once impeached over Ukraine and Zelensky. You do remember that, right? I ask because I am shocked at how many seem to have forgotten — at how many are analyzing this week’s events through anything but that filter — perhaps because it was only his first of two impeachments.
It’s really that simple. His tone can be explained by personal history more than anything else. Back in 2019, Donald Trump’s presidency — already under siege after a brutal midterm election in the House — was derailed by what he considers to be a spurious impeachment attempt by the Democrats. Trump was arraigned for improperly “interfering with the 2020 election” by pressuring Zelensky to probe the details of Hunter and Joe Biden’s financial entanglements with their government . . .
Jeff isn’t wrong here — Trump has had personal beef with Zelensky for the better part of a decade at this point. But there’s a modifier: Trump is more likely than not merrily airing his grievances while homing in on an objective. For Trump, an opportunity to rag on a guy he already doesn’t like while negotiating a peace deal is having his honey cake and eating it, too.
What I reckon happened: The Americans and Russians are hashing out a deal in Saudi Arabia. The Russians want to secure a PR victory to take home to a populace that just endured three years of privation amidst an unpopular, costly war, so they ask that Trump insinuate that Zelensky is the antagonist. Trump, who would have posted critically about Zelensky for a pack of smokes he won’t use (and a Diet Coke he will), proceeds to go above and beyond and torches the Ukrainian president (note that, in the post, the Ukrainians are not lumped in with their leader).
The Trump base and boosters delight at the Zelensky bashing, the Russians get a whole ham hock (рулька) of propaganda to use from this day forward, and Trump (maybe, possibly) gets the hasty conclusion to the Ukraine war that he promised on the campaign trail.
As far as savoriness, it’s the messaging version of Obama’s flying pallets of cash to Iran. Dirty, despicable, and it probably won’t work — but there are some layers to it.