Even Some Republicans Are Shocked by Trump-Zelenskiy Shouting Match
At least a couple Republicans are brave enough to criticize Donald Trump after he and Vance teamed up to rip the Ukranian president to shreds on live television.
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Donald Trump and JD Vance had a disastrous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. And while most Republicans are cheering on their fearless leader, at least two GOP members have found the courage to criticize the Trump administration.
Trump and Vance were incredibly condescending and verbally hostile toward Zelenskiy in their Friday meeting, likely destroying whatever allyship and goodwill the two countries shared. They both constantly interrupted and yelled over Zelenskiy, insisting that he had shown no gratitude for the previous aid he’d received, that he was being disrespectful for defending his country, and that he was “gambling with World War III.”
This moment is a point of climax in the GOP’s turn away from Ukraine and toward Russia. But the meeting left at least some Republicans shocked.
“Our White House leaders sound like the Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s in regard to Russia. Reagan was right then,” Representative Don Bacon told The Wall Street Journal’s Olivia Beavers. “A bad day for America’s foreign policy. Ukraine wants independence, free markets, and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom.” Bacon was notably one of 35 Republicans who voted with Democrats to establish the investigative January 6 commission in 2021.
Representative Mike Lawler, an otherwise staunch Trump supporter, felt similarly.
“Today’s meeting in the Oval Office was a missed opportunity for both the United States and Ukraine—an agreement that would undoubtedly result in stronger economic and security cooperation,” Lawler wrote on X. “Diplomacy is tough and often times there are serious differences of opinion and heated exchanges behind closed doors. Having this spill out into public view was a disaster—especially for Ukraine. As someone who fundamentally believes that Russia, China and Iran are not our friends or allies and continues to believe it is important to support Ukraine, it was extremely short-sighted to engage in that type of exchange in front of the US and international press as you work towards an agreement. Sadly, the only winner of today is Vladimir Putin.”
Trump and Vance have lambasted Zelenskiy for weeks, calling him a dictator, saying that Ukraine started the war, and making any aid to Ukraine conditional on the grounds that they hand over their “rare earths”—all moves sure to delight the Kremlin.