The bullying of defenseless Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last Friday should live in television infamy. It gave us our most vivid real-time look at Donald Trump and J.D. Vance at their cruelest.
The Russian invasion three years ago has now taken more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilian lives, wounded nearly 28,000 more, killed close to 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers and wounded more than 100,000 others.
Maybe Trump and Vance can’t fully appreciate the nightly killing and suffering and the buildings blowing up all the way from the shores of Mar-a-Lago.
Or maybe, as the president of the United States said at the very end of Zelensky’s humiliation, “This is going to be great TV, I can say that.”
(And maybe they haven’t noticed that Russian military casualties are even higher, because they have far more troops in the field than Ukraine.)
In any case, with all this death and destruction half a world away, Trump and Vance bravely sat there in the safety of the White House and berated Zelensky.
For not caving in to Trump’s breathtaking demands.
For pointing out that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is not to be trusted, even if an agreement to stop the fighting is actually signed.
And for not being ostentatiously grateful enough to America, and more specifically to Trump, who never tires of ceaseless groveling, whether from friend or foe.
Days after stunning the entire planet by insanely claiming Ukraine “should never have started” the war and calling Zelensky “a dictator,” Trump reluctantly told Fox News Radio on Friday, “Russia attacked, but [Ukraine] shouldn’t have let him attack.”
At the White House, as Zelensky tried to express misgivings over any unfair settlement of the war and explained how Putin had reneged on previous diplomatic deals, Vance jumped in and simply changed the subject.
“You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” Vance shouted over Zelensky.
Yeah, that must have been the same empathetic spirit in which Franklin Roosevelt might’ve told the beleaguered Winston Churchill during the German blitz of London, “Sorry about your problems with Hitler, but would you mind sucking up to me a little more before we talk about that Lend-Lease business so you can keep trying to save your little island?”
“Have you said thank you once?” Vance demanded.
“A lot of times,” Zelensky replied, glancing around as though hoping sanity itself might enter the room. “Even today.”
“Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country,” Vance hollered.
It sounded more like a college fraternity “Hell Week” than international diplomacy.
“Animal House” meets White House.
On Friday, we watched the tag team of Trump and Vance bully Zelensky for stating the obvious — that Russia poses a threat beyond Ukraine, and that America with its vast Atlantic Ocean offering protection would ultimately feel the pressure.
“During the war, everybody has problems, even you,” Zelensky said. “But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless …”
“You don’t know that,” Trump cried, cutting him off. “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”
Was this calculated stupidity or the real deal? Zelensky was clearly warning that America would ultimately feel vulnerable if Putin gets his way in Ukraine.
He was not trying to psychoanalyze Trump’s “feelings” — if he has any — if Ukraine loses the war.
Trump didn’t care. He was on television, and millions could watch him looking tough.
Never mind that he was beating up a man desperate for America’s help. Never mind he was bullying a defenseless man forced into playing the sycophant.
That’s the way Trump likes it. And now he can’t wait to check out the TV ratings.
A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books, including “Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore” (Johns Hopkins University Press) and “Michael Olesker’s Baltimore: If You Live Here, You’re Home” (Johns Hopkins University).
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