Trump’s atrocious behavior, a personal opinion. Readers following this blog may recall that I gave Trump a D- as his final grade for his first term in the Oval Office. He accomplished a few good things, I thought, but his personal behavior, embarrassingly non-presidential as it was, clearly deserved a flat-out F. Only some of his good actions made me nudge him up to a D-. (Click here for that post)
Now his behavior is undeniably much worse! Admittedly, I think he started his second term with some necessary and useful efforts, most importantly working to close the open borders of the previous administration, and to reduce our swollen governmental bureaucracy. But his behavior?
Any good his administration may be doing is overshadowed by his abysmal behavior, the most recent example occurring this morning when he and Vice-president Vance screamed at Ukrainian President Zelensky at the White House. The meeting ended badly, I am told, further straining relations between the U.S. and Ukraine, and certainly putting a huge blemish on our country in the minds of observers around the world.
Click here to watch that fiasco, and grit your teeth.
Trump already had bothered me by cozying up to Putin and simultaneously calling Zelensky a dictator. And now this crude performance? Videos of Trump and Vance’s vicious attack-dog performance surely will be featured on every newscast around the world this evening. Our country will be diminished by their undiplomatic tantrums.
There is no need to say more, except to add that I am furious.
You verbalized my outrage. Thank you for sharing.
I think many feel as we do. Yet late yesterday Trump seemed unaware of how ugly his treatment of Zelensky actually was. Unless I dreamed it, I heard Trump say, “it will make great television.” He might change his mind when he sees his approval rating take a steep nosedive when the next polls are published. I fearlessly forecast that will happen. And Vice President Vance? He’s another bulldog about to slide down with Trump.
Should be titled Zelensky’s Atrocious Behavior, imo. Vance was correct to tell him that what they were discussing should have been behind closed doors. Though I’m not Trump’s biggest fan, he has at least been answering questions and been more transparent in 30 days than Biden was in 4 years.
I’ve learned a bit more about that tussle in the White House since I wrote my last post. As you suggest, Zelensky apparently was overly aggressive, and his attitude may have triggered the tension. Clearly that kind of “diplomacy” should have been conducted in private, not on television. However, there may be at least one good result of the fracas. It seems to have jarred European countries into ponying up more money for defense spending. I read this evening that Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said that European countries would increase their military spending and assemble a coalition to defend Ukraine, adding that European countries should aim to spend about 3 to 3.5 percent of their G.D.P. on defense, much more than they have been spending, and even more than Trump’s urging they spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense.