Thanks For Nothing

The only person who should be thanking Trump right now is Putin

If you watch the entire Oval Office meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, you’ll notice that Trump was thanked by Zelensky, not once, but twice, three minutes into the meeting. Zelensky thanked Trump again at the 7:35 mark. At minute 41, Zelensky said, “God bless, now, Trump will stop Putin.”

Before minute 41 was over, Vice President (sic) JD Vance told Zelensky, “You should be thanking the president.” At minute 44, JD asked, “Have you said ‘thank you’ once?”

Maybe JD should have been studying a brief on recent Ukrainian/Russian history instead of focusing on ambushing Zelenskyy. If he had, then maybe he wouldn’t have suggested something as stupid as “maybe engaging in diplomacy.”

The Minsk Agreements were negotiated and signed in 2014 to end the fighting between Russian separatist groups in Ukraine.

The agreement consisted of a package of measures, including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, release of prisoners, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas, and restoration of control of the state border to the Ukrainian government. The agreement was signed, with Russia getting the better end of the deal.

It was signed in September 2014, and in January 2015, the Russian military entered the region to continue fighting with the separatist groups. In 2022, Vladimir Putin declared that the Minsk Agreement “no longer existed” and commenced a full invasion of Ukraine.

In 2019, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a "full and comprehensive ceasefire" that included prisoner swaps, which never happened.

At 4:25, President Zelensky explains this, quite elegantly, to Trump and JD.

Zelensky starts with, “Can I ask you?” Vance says, “Sure. Yeah.”

Zelensky: “OK. So he (Putin) occupied it, our parts, big parts of Ukraine, parts of east and Crimea. So he occupied it in 2014. So during a lot of years — I’m not speaking about just Biden, but those times was (Barack) Obama, then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now President Trump. And God bless, now, President Trump will stop him. But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what the --"

Trump: “2015?”

Zelensky: “2014.”

Trump: “Oh, 2014? I was not here.”

Vance: “That’s exactly right.”

Zelensky: “Yes, but during 2014 ‘til 2022, the situation is the same, that people have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know that we had conversations with him, a lot of conversations, my bilateral conversation. And we signed with him, me, like, you, president, in 2019, I signed with him the deal. I signed with him, (French President Emmanuel) Macron and (former German Chancellor Angela) Merkel. We signed ceasefire. Ceasefire. All of them told me that he will never go … But after that, he broke the ceasefire, he killed our people, and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners. But he didn’t do it.”

And this is my favorite part.

Zelensky asked, “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?”

And that’s where Trump and JD got pissed and the shouting match began, although, the only ones doing the shouting was Trump and JD. This was a planned ambush, and it didn’t go as planned for Trump and JD. They didn’t expect President Zelensky to push back on the “diplomacy” bullshit. That probably made them angrier.

I believe Trump’s proposal to trade military support for Ukraine’s “Rare Earth” minerals was a bluff, and Zelensky called it. Trump is a terrible negotiator. Trump doesn’t want to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia.

For JD Vance to suggest that Ukraine engage in diplomacy is like asking the British and French after Germany broke the agreement signed with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and started World War II, “Have you tried talking to Hitler?”

Hitler should have been a guy easy to negotiate with, right? He was a vegetarian dog lover. Even Trump doesn’t like dogs, and his only vegetable is ketchup. Is it possible that Hitler, who murdered over six million Jews, was more human and likable than Donald Trump? Maybe we could have stopped the invasion of Poland by negotiating over some eggplant lasagne (or maybe living on a diet of nothing but eggplant lasagne (an ex made me some once) is what could start a world war. I bet Neville Chamberlain could have gone for some eggplant lasagne.

Trump and JD have never suggested to Putin that he try diplomacy. For Putin, diplomacy is just another method of swindling.

Trump said Zelensky can’t return to the White House until he wants peace. But they haven’t put any pressure on Putin. Trump, who said Ukraine doesn’t “have the cards,” gave his cards to Putin when he made the condition that Ukraine can’t join NATO and Russia can keep areas of Ukraine his military gained control of after his illegal invasion.

Trump once thought he held all the cards in a negotiation over a government shutdown with Nancy Pelosi, and those cards were in his ass when he handed it over to her.

Trump later said that Zelensky “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office,” but Trump and Vance disrespected Ukraine when they didn’t even bother to learn enough history to have a basic understanding of this situation.

Trump loves to say Russia didn’t invade Ukraine until Biden was president (at least he admitted Russia started the war). But the 2014 deal remained broken through Trump’s first presidency (sic), and the 2019 agreement was broken while Trump was in office (sic).

Putin may have invaded during the Biden presidency, but he was setting it up during Trump’s. And Trump didn’t do anything to stop him. If Ukraine is lost to Russia, that too will be during the Trump administration (sic).

Trump isn’t doing anything to stop him Putin now, either.

After showing the world that America can no longer be trusted to side with democracy, Zelenskyy and Ukraine received support from the United Kingdom, Estonia, France, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Canada, Croatia, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Portugal, among other nations. He even received it in person from King Charles.

“Slovenia upholds the principles and respect of international law and international relations. What we witnessed in the Oval Office today undermines these values and the foundations of diplomacy,” wrote Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar. “We stand firmly in support of Ukraine's sovereignty. We repeat, Russia is the aggressor.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote, “Russia illegally and unjustifiably invaded Ukraine. For three years now, Ukrainians have fought with courage and resilience. Their fight for democracy, freedom, and sovereignty is a fight that matters to us all.”

Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever wrote, “We stand behind Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their historic fight to defend themselves against an unprovoked Russian aggression. Their fight is our fight. United we are strong.”

“The Netherlands supports Ukraine as firmly as ever. Now more than ever,” wrote Netherland Prime Minister Dick Schoof. “We want a lasting peace and an end to the war of aggression started by Russia. For Ukraine and its people, and for Europe.”

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote, “Sweden stands with Ukraine. You are not only fighting for your freedom but also for all of Europe’s. Slava Ukraini!”

Robert Metsola, president of the European Parliament, wrote: “Your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President Zelensky.

It needs to be noted that this united Democratic coalition was brought together by President Joe Biden, a man who understands the importance of defending democracy and that we don’t choose fascist authoritarian dictatorships over our allies.

Donald Trump needs to go back to school and take his couch-fucking mutt JD Vance with him.

Drawn in 30 seconds:

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