Folks around the world – especially their leaders – still have their mouths agape after the Trump-Zelensky meeting in the Oval Office turned into a bruising encounter between a heavyweight and a featherweight. The audience was the White House press Corps – with the Ukrainian Ambassador among them. That she was caught on camera at one point with her face buried in her hands gave a clue as to how the bout went!! Paraphrasing Burnham – who was fond of saying “Never the day when canoe gon bore punt!!” – it was never the day a second-rate comedian from a backwater state could upstage a reality-show host from prime-time American TV!!
The problem was that while both Trump and Zelensky weren’t professional politicians, the more than 40-year older Trump could back up the hubris of a billionaire-cum-hustler, real estate billionaire, with the might of the most powerful country in the world. Zelensky – whose biggest comedic role in Ukraine was playing a comedian who became president – clearly forgot he was now playing a role where his scripted lines wouldn’t always give him the punchline!!
In the real world where money talks and bullshit walks, it’s the US – of which Trump’s the Commander-in-Chief – that’s picking up a big part of the tab for the war against Russia. To argue as to whether Trump’s assertion that America had given more than Europe or how much was for weapons or was gonna be paid back as loans, was bullshit. So this had to take a walk – as Trump and Vance told him in no uncertain terms!! Imagine cavilling at the exact American contribution to HIS country’s defence!! That’s ingratitude to the max!!
As several US politicians have complained, does Zelensky appreciate that the money Ukraine was getting coulda gone towards assisting hurricane victims in North Carolina – not to mention fixing up obsolete infrastructure?? Whether it’s US$300 Billion or US$180Billion since 2022, we are talking about SERIOUS money!! For comparison think of how proud we were to announce we got US$5Billion from our oil strike since 2019!!
So what’s ahead?? Some European leaders – such as those from the Baltics, Spain and France and the EU etc. – have taken Zelensky’s side. As this piece is being written on Sunday, they’re all meeting to chart a way forward. EU foreign minister Kaja Kallas declared ahead of the meeting: “Today it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge”! Imagine that!! The leader of the free world must be defined as continuing a war with Russia rather than ending it?!!
Wise heads say, “Be careful what you ask for”!! Let’s see Europe step up to the crease!!
…Zelensky’s mistakes
Your Eyewitness was impressed by a psychiatrist of Guyanese parentage – Raj Persaud – who analysed where Zelensky went wrong with Trump. It’s an object lesson for our politicians who say they wanna meet Trump to discuss US financial cutbacks. Raj says Zelensky started the fight the moment he rejected the White House request that he wear a suit to the meeting that was on camera.
He became the victim of “’Narcissistic Rage’ – derived from a sense of threats to the grandiose belief in self in the hyper-sensitive owners of a magnificent ego”!! …They’re overly invested in their self-image, obsessed with how they’re viewed by others, frequently dismissive of others’ needs and wants, particularly to the extent they interfere with their own. They need to be approached the way any bomb disposal expert warily advances towards any unexploded device. Yet Zelensky turned up and breezily appeared to want to juggle with grenades!!
Such personalities should never be challenged – even when their reasoning makes no sense. A word to the wise!!
