The Trump-Zelensky conflict in the White House
In the last 100 years, the United States has never been as weak as it is today. In the last 100 years, not even during the Cold War, has any American president hesitated whether to be on the side of European allies or on the side of the hostile Soviet Union. It has never happened that any American president has proclaimed Soviet or Russian propaganda. This precedent was created by Trump only today. Never in history has an American president humiliated his important ally as Trump has managed to do.To quarrel with an important ally in such a demeaning way is not a sign of greatness but of the pettiness of Trump and the United States. People had higher expectations of Trump than just that he knows how to argue and provoke conflicts with an ally.
What Russian propaganda has been working on for a year, with thousands of people involved, Trump managed to do in a few minutes. The "genius" Trump is a useful idiot of Russian propaganda.
What Trump has achieved is the exact opposite of what he preached in his election campaign when he claimed that he would "make America great again". Being on good terms with the hostile power of Russia, not having one's own opinion and one's own solution for Ukraine, just repeating Russian propaganda, and quarreling with the ally Ukraine is a manifestation of a very weak United States, which is hanging on Putin's coattails. The United States is no longer a superpower. Trump has abolished the United States as a superpower. The United States no longer has prestige and authority. And that is very bad news for Europe, because with such a weakened United States, the security situation in Europe is deteriorating, and it increases Russia's assertiveness and aggression.
Vance and Trump are unjustifiably insulting each other just because Zelensky expressed a different opinion.
To treat Zelenskyy condescendingly, arrogantly, like a trained dog whose role is to obey, is wrong.
In addition, Zelensky has a strong negotiating position with the US and it is not essential for him to sign everything that Trump puts on the table. The percentage of arms and ammunition supplies from the United States is getting lower and lower, as European arms factories are increasing production incomparably faster than the US. The share of Europe and the US in arms supplies is 60:40. The US supplies the minority. However, there are types of weapons and ammunition that only the American side produces.
With the United States weakened in this way under the clown Trump, China may also become assertive and aggressive, daring to take on Taiwan. Since World War II, the security situation has never been as uncertain and tense as it is today. The threat of World War III has never been as close as it is today.
Since 2014, this is the first time that Russian propagandists can take a vacation. Because Russian propaganda was taken care of by Trump himself, and Russian propagandists do not have to invent their own as they have been doing all this time. Neither Putin himself nor Russian propagandists managed to humiliate Zelensky as Trump did. What more could the Russians wish for than what Trump did? And the entire Russian propaganda and pro-Russian disinformation scene is crying with joy and malice at how the primitive Trump managed to humiliate Zelensky.
The conflict between Trump and Zelensky is a very sad thing. However, pro-Russian propagandists and pro-Russian politicians are twisted zombies who are happy about it. Chmelár, Daniška, Dag Daniš, and Andrej Danko are the first people who would welcome Russian tanks in Slovakia with Russian flags and would be grateful for how the Russians "liberate" us from the "decadent" liberal West.
We thought that the United States could not be weaker during the term of the demented Biden. But we were very wrong. Trump managed to make the United States even weaker.
Under Biden, we were more or less certain that the Russian army would not be able to occupy Ukraine, continue, and attack a NATO country such as Slovakia. Now, under the chaotic and conflict-ridden Trump, who has done nothing but create diplomatic conflicts, we no longer have that certainty. The security situation is now far more tense than ever before.
Although Trump claims he wants peace, his actions are the exact opposite of how to achieve it. Creating conflicts with allies, humiliating and demeaning allies, and kissing Putin's ass is not the right way to achieve it. In this way, Trump only makes Russia stronger and the USA weaker. Trump also legitimizes Russian aggression.
Zelensky came to the USA prematurely. Even before the argument broke out, I had a bad feeling about it, as the issue of security guarantees had not been clarified.
Trump, Zelensky, and Vance should have answered journalists and not discussed among themselves and argued. They made a mistake. They should have kept the tense discussion off-camera.
Analysts also blame Trump for making the same mistake with Ukraine as he did with Afghanistan when he negotiated with the Taliban. And it turned out very badly. Biden had problems with dementia from the beginning of his term and was unable to cancel Trump's previous order for the US Army to leave Afghanistan. Journalist Matyáš Zrno wrote a very good article on this topic for a newspaper. It's a pity I couldn't find the article. I read it a long time ago.
In conclusion,
I try to be an optimist and I believe that common sense will eventually prevail, aid to Ukraine will not be stopped, and that at least Trump's closest advisors will not lose the last remnants of their common sense. I believe that such people are the majority around Trump. The world is strongly globalized and interconnected. If Europe has problems with Russia, the United States will have them too. Europe and America are two interconnected vessels that cannot be separated, regardless of whether the egoistic nationalists around Trump like it or not. If Europe suffers, the United States will suffer too. The policy of nationalist isolationism and egoism is not a solution. The policy of only caring about ourselves, our country, and not caring about suffering in other countries is not a solution. I believe that hardline nationalists around Trump are a small minority.
Trump is not so much pro-Russian as he has a strong animosity towards Zelenskyy. The history of their relationship is interesting.
Confirmed: Trump set a trap for Zelenskyy. The goal was personal revenge for the lost 2020 elections.
There was conflicting information in the American or our media as to whether the argument was an unplanned accident or whether Trump had set a trap for Zelenskyy. However, the arguments in favor of it being a trap prevailed, and we can say so with almost complete certainty.Very valuable arguments were provided by the former ambassador to the United States, Michael Žantovský, who was probably the only person who could comment on this in a relevant way. He knows how things work in the USA, he has been to the White House several times, he is a trained psychologist specializing in non-verbal communication, and he watched the entire video of Zelensky's visit four times and analyzed it in detail.
I am also supplementing this article with my own analyses and contexts.
The narcissistic madman Trump took the defeat in the 2020 elections extremely hard. See the attack on the Capitol. However, few people realize that Zelensky is to blame for Trump's defeat, as he politely refused Trump's request to unethically interfere in the US campaign. But the narcissist Trump sees this as an injustice, and in his emotions, Zelensky is "the bastard because of whom I lost the election." The narcissistic madman Trump needs to take revenge on Zelensky and humiliate him as much as possible, and he succeeded in doing so in full glory.
But now let's go back to the 2020 US presidential election campaign. How did it actually go? We here in Central Europe have no idea what it was really like. 90% of the campaign in the US focused on attacks by Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, on his actual or alleged corruption in the Ukrainian gas mining company Burisma. Trump called Zelenskyy to interfere with the investigation in order to harm Hunter Biden as much as possible. I'm not interested in the American elections, I don't want to study it in detail, I don't know what exactly Trump wanted to ask Zelenskyy for, but I can imagine that if the Ukrainian police arrested Hunter Biden and held him for a few days in pre-trial detention or if they issued an arrest warrant for him, that could be extremely strong fuel for Trump's team, which was in charge of the election campaign, and that could realistically decide that the elections would turn out differently and Trump would win and not Biden.
During Trump's term, a recording of a phone conversation between Trump and Zelensky leaked, in which Zelensky politely rejected Trump's absurd request. Trump also blackmailed Zelensky, saying that if he helped him in the campaign, he would give Ukraine military aid worth $400 million. Few people realize that even before 2022, there was no ceasefire, but only subdued fighting in which an average of one to two Ukrainian soldiers died per day, so any military aid would have been very useful to Ukraine.
Trump faced impeachment proceedings and an arrogant overreach of his powers, and was humiliatingly investigated for it in front of cameras and millions of viewers. For Trump's narcissistic ego, this must have been a real blow, from which he must have been recovering mentally for years. Although Zelensky was not responsible for Trump's impeachment, this does not change the fact that Zelensky was associated with something very negative in Trump's emotions. Trump's narcissistic ego can subjectively interpret this as Zelensky being co-responsible for his humiliating impeachment. Of course, under the Biden administration, Trump was further investigated by the police for a phone call to Zelensky, which must have been hard for him to take.
Military aid to Ukraine is associated with negative emotions for Trump from 2019 and 2020, when it was about those 400 million. Logically, Trump's aid to Ukraine is associated with negative emotions in 2025 because his negative emotions are associated with it from his previous term. And especially in connection with Zelenskyy.
Therefore, what Trump is doing against Zelensky cannot be rationally understood. Emotions are not rational. The desire to take revenge on Zelensky is enormous. Trump is a narcissistic madman. He doesn't care if he comes across as a total idiot who hangs on Putin's coattails. The main thing is that he took revenge on Zelensky, because of whom he lost the election and was humiliatingly investigated.
They want to humiliate Zelenskyy as much as possible, and the best arguments for his humiliation are to repeat Russian propaganda.
So, after my psychoanalysis of Trump, we can better understand why the incident in the White House occurred.
Furthermore, the narcissistic Trump may perceive it as an injustice that Zelensky refused to engage in a dirty campaign in his favor in 2020 but indirectly participated in the 2024 campaign in favor of Biden. Vance also reproached him for this.
Arguments in favor of it being a trap set for Zelenskyy:
- Never in history have there been so many journalists in the White House. Never have so many journalists been invited to the White House as during Zelensky's visit, so much so that they could barely fit. A strong indication that a show ordered directly by Trump was being prepared. They even invited a journalist from a Russian state media outlet to the White House. The goal was to humiliate Zelensky as much as possible, even in Russia.
- A suspiciously long press conference that lasted almost an hour. Its length is probably a White House record. A strong indication that Trump was not interested in serious negotiations, but in putting on a show for the media. Trump answered questions with great enthusiasm, as if he was enjoying it immensely, and after answering, he eagerly invited journalists to ask another question. I have never in my life seen any politician take such great pleasure in answering journalists. Apparently, Trump and Vance were waiting for a suitable opportunity and pretext to provoke and humiliate Zelenskyy when journalists asked questions. Even before it escalated into a total argument, it was clear that Trump wanted to provoke Zelenskyy, and his style of communication was arrogant and condescending towards Zelenskyy. For example, the hoax that the US gave 350 billion to Ukraine, or that Putin is a great guy with whom one can negotiate and who certainly wants peace.
- Trump entrusted the dirty work to Vice President Vance, who was tasked with provoking and humiliating Zelensky as much as possible, and he succeeded perfectly. The insults were too personal and aggressive. Žantovský points out that it is completely against the rules and protocol of the White House for a subordinate official of Trump to speak without being called upon. Moreover, he began to aggressively attack his guest. Perhaps that's why the press conference lasted so long, because Vance had to take a long time to muster the courage for this terrible act, this dirty task.
- Allegedly, someone from Trump's team dissuaded Zelenskyy from visiting the US because they probably already knew or suspected that this type of spectacle was being prepared.
- Some politicians close to Trump have indicated that it would be better if someone other than Zelenskyy were present at the negotiations, which confirms Trump's aforementioned animosity towards Zelenskyy.
- Furthermore, it is certainly possible to criticize Zelenskyy for some communication issues. If he had a more appropriate way of communicating and stronger nerves, he would not have given Vance and Trump a pretext, and both could have come across as much bigger fools. However, no one could have prepared for Vance's aggressive outburst. But Zelenskyy has it tough. What would they say to him back home in Ukraine if he did not object at all to the aggressive attacks and insults of the Ukrainian nation by Vance and Trump? Zelenskyy was in an extremely difficult situation.
- Zelensky might have suspected that a malicious show was being prepared for him, but if he hadn't come to the USA, if he had refused Trump's invitation, then Trump would have spread propaganda against him, saying that Zelensky was against peace by refusing to come to the USA. Russian propaganda would probably have expressed itself similarly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden_laptop_controversy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump%E2%80%93Ukraine_scandal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biden%E2%80%93Ukraine_conspiracy_theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_United_States_Capitol_attack
In conclusion,
Trump is a narcissistic psychopath. It is sad that revenge on Zelenskyy is more important to him than achieving peace or helping suffering Ukraine. The suffering Ukrainian people have become hostages of Trump's ego and revenge.We also have experience with narcissistic politicians in Slovakia. During the peak of the pandemic, it was more important for Matovič to deal with the insults and humiliation of his partner Sulík than to deal with the suffering Slovakia and the suffering and dying patients in the hospital.
The positive thing is that Trump is not so much pro-Russian and not anti-Ukrainian, but he just feels hatred towards the person of Zelensky.
I don't understand the political system in Ukraine and the USA, and whether it would be an obstacle to sign an agreement on minerals without Zelenskyy, as he allegedly has weak support in parliament.