(Interupting my vacation from blogging to comment on an event today)
The most prominent leader of the free world where the country’s elected President stands up for and believes in democracy will be at the White House today.
That person is Volodymyr Zelenskyy. His people have fought the second largest army in the world to a standstill. Today he is on the front lines fighting for liberty from authoritarian rule. A cause that Americans honor on July 4 or recall from personal experiences of WW II.
His host is President Trump. Last Friday Trump gave the literal red-carpet treatment to a dictator who has been indicted for war crimes from killings in Bucha to the bombing of a building in Mariupol protecting hundreds of children. And the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to convert them to Russian citizens.
In the prelude to their Friday meeting Trump set the public goal as an immediate ceasefire, or in his words, there would be immediate, severe consequences. Instead, Trump was transformed into Putin’s messenger to convince Zelenskyy to give up territory to an aggressor who wants to destroy Ukrain’s identity as a people and country.
I am ashamed by this act of political betrayal of America’s most basic political and moral values. Trump wants to get a peace prize by brokering Ukraine’s surrender.
No matter the public announcements from today’s discussions, the war will continue. There will be more talk of further meetings. As long as Trump believes words and threats will change Putin’s goals, there will be no cessation of hostilities.
Putin positioned Trump to force Zelenskyy to accept an outcome the two crafted without his presence. Trump’s pimping for Putin will fail.
Ukraine will persevere, because they know what it takes to be truly free, a spirit and cause Americans used to honor—and fight for.