We coulda madea deal
Trump says Zelenskyy should have submitted.
President Donald Trump suggested in an interview that aired Thursday night that Ukraine should not have fought when Russia invaded it.
No he didn’t. He didn’t “suggest” it; he said it, entirely bluntly. Why does journalism do this? Why does it euphemize everything? Especially Trump? A big part of what makes Trump so loathsome is his pea-brained assertiveness. It’s not the job of reporters to dress that up as making “suggestions.”
“Zelenskyy was fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “He shouldn’t have done that, because we could have made a deal.”
Yeah. Same with Britain in 1940, am I right? It shouldn’t have done that. It should have surrendered to Hitler, so that the US could make a deal. That obviously would have been much better.
“I could have made that deal so easily, and Zelenskyy decided that ‘I want to fight,'” Trump said.
How odd of Zelenskyy not to prefer to let Trump team up with Putin to squash Ukraine.
It’s interesting that Trump and Zelenskyy aren’t from entirely dissimilar backgrounds. Both were entertainers who ended up in politics almost accidentally. But the choices they’ve made since taking office really show who they are. Trump could never, ever understand Zelenskyy asking for “ammo, not a ride” as the Russians closed in on Kyiv.
What sort of ‘deal’ did Trump have in mind, I wonder.
He’s probably thinking the same way with his blurts about trade with Canada, that because we would be “fighting a much bigger entity, much bigger, much more powerful,” that we’ll come begging for a “deal”, or roll over and play dead. How much of this is his idea of a clever bargaining tactic is anyone’s guess, but it’s a shitty one. He’s playing at being a “tough guy” for the idiots who voted for him and are cheering him on. But this isn’t how adult heads of state do things. This is playground behaviour. This is mobster behaviour. Trump is a bully. He mustn’t be allowed to think his bullying will work, and I hope it doesn’t with us. Not that I’m in any position to “negotiate” or make a “deal”, but as far as I’m concerned, the Fucking Moron in Chief can go to hell.
Everything, but everything, is transactional to DJT. It’s so tawdry and cheap to constantly whine about “making a deal.” Despite having a ghost-written book, “The Art of the Deal” (DJT’s favorite book, supposedly), his “deals” are completely artless. For one thing, DJT’s promises mean absolutely nothing. No “deal” is ever “set” such that he deems himself bound by it.* For another, his “deals” are atrocious. They are as much about inflicting fraud and vindictiveness on the other party(ies), who are regarded as enemies, as weaklings, and as suckers and losers, as it is about any mutually beneficial agreement. DJT doesn’t know the first thing about making good deals.
* I maintain now, as I did in 2016, that DJT is not a legitimate president, because he cannot in any good conscience honestly take the oath of office. He’s figuratively holding crossed fingers behind his back while repeating the formula. That’s all he’s capable of: mouthing the words with utterly no intent to fulfill the promise (in fact, consciously pre-planning actions that he knows are antithetical to the oath).
@Piglet,
Zelenskyy and Trump are both “entertainers” in the same sense that Renoir and I are both “painters”. (If you’d ever played Pictionary with me, you’d understand.)
@What A Maroon: fair point. But neither of them came from a traditional political background.
I heard this “suggestion” ie outrageous statement today and of course switched off immediately.
As entertainers, Zelenskyy is very talented – his comedy routines are funny, he can dance, and he is an engaging actor – Servant of the People is a very good comedy. He even voiced Paddington Bear for the Ukrainian version. Wasn’t Trump merely some kind of braying host shouting You’re fired?
Zelenskyy is also clever, well-educated and very courageous. No wonder Trump can’t stand him.
A bit over 10 years ago, while I was working for a company that processes seismic data for oil & gas exploration, we were working with such data from Ukraine for Kuwait Energy Company (If I recall the name correctly).
I don’t know if oil or gas was found at that location, but any such resources found in Ukraine would reduce the reasons for European countries to buy from Russia. Part of why Putin attacked I guess.