Trump, who in the last couple of days has odiously called himself *King* twice, in the US where we HAVE NO KINGS and actually fought a war while declaring out independence from a king, has said he would be a dictator on day one, and who has been looting government offices with the help of an unelected and unaccountable immigrant, Elon Musk, has the nerve to call Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator, among other things and seems to be parroting Russian propaganda.
President Donald Trump has now fully adopted Russia’s false propaganda on Ukraine, turning against a sovereign democracy that was invaded in favor of the invader.
Trump’s furious attacks on President Volodymyr Zelensky come after he opened talks on ending the war but excluded the nation whose territory was seized by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Tuesday, Trump wrongly accused Ukraine of starting the conflict and parroted another Moscow talking point in saying that the Ukrainian president should hold an election that was suspended because his country is in a state of war, under daily attack from Moscow’s forces.
Zelenskyy seemingly responded to Trump’s claims Wednesday during a press conference, in which he claimed the United States president “unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” Associated Press reported.
ZELENSKYY ACCUSES TRUMP OF LIVING IN ‘DISINFORMATION SPACE’ AMID US-RUSSIA TALKS
Sen. Thom Tillis reportedly voiced pushback to Trump’s statements, according to HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic via X post.
Bobic wrote on X that Tillis stated the following:
“There is no more equivalency between Vladimir Putin and President Zelenskyy. President Putin is evil, and he has to be stopped.”
“Putin is a murderous dictator who started this war, ordered the occupation, and now the souls of tens of thousands of Ukrainians are lost on his watch.”
“He has lied every step of the way, and I believe any resolution in Ukraine that makes him feel like he won or just pushed to a tie is a bad idea.”
News 13 reached out to Thom Tillis’ office to verify these statements were factual. A spokesperson for Tillis confirmed to News 13 that the statements were accurate.
Let’s look at this.
The US decided to negotiate peace with Russia ABOUT Ukraine and did not include Ukraine in the talks. Imagine. This is like your neighbor from a few streets over coming onto your property, entering your house and destroying the stuff inside , why? Because they COVET YOUR HOUSE and ignore your legal right to have it, and spend every day attacking your property. Then, instead of the neighbor you thought was your friend supporting your right to defend your property, that guy, who you know realize is an uninged kook, takes the side of the guy attacking you,and defames you. This AFTER your good neighbors supported you because, for one other reason, they realized that this bloodthirsty kook Putin had a track record of taking over people’s property and that they needed to band together to defend everyone. It, frankly, makes me wonder again just WHY Trump is so supportive of Putin instead of the alliance through NATO that the US has had for years. Did our fathers, grandfather, etc fight in World War II for nothing? I also remember when the USSR fell and how unhappy, later, Putin was about Russia losing it’s world position. Back to my analogy once more. Your kook neighbor says he wants to stop the war, insists that the war is YOUR fault and in order to stop it, goes to the deranged neighbor attacking your property to negotiate peace, and does not invite you to attend the talks, plus really, what gives him the right to do talks without permission about YOUR property????????
Then, the deal the US proposed, which understandably Zelensky might have considered just to get Russia to stop not only demanded that Zelensky give the US 50 percent of some natural resources but also provided NOTHING ELSE, including no security guarantees. Interfax-Ukraine
“The document was very clear. It was clear only about one thing: we have to give up 50% of what is listed in the document. By the way, we are not afraid of this, and I am ready for the publicity of this document,” he said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
According to the head of state, he suggested that the United States write security guarantees, and Ukraine will write the percentage of fossils it can provide.
“You will write some guarantees, and we will write some percentages in the memorandum. I was told only 50. I said ok, no. And let the lawyers work. So, there is something they have not finalized, I am not working on the details of this document,” he said.
Does Ukraine have to have elections in wartime? Who says, besides Putin and Trump? (Satire: Borowitz Report) UK’s Prime Minister doesn’t think so – Starmer supports Zelenskyy’s decision not to hold presidential elections during war in Ukraine
How much money has been spent by America vs Europe
Did Zelensky say money went missing? Trump is the only one saying this.
In the Wednesday social media post, Trump falsely claimed that Zelensky “admits that half of the money we sent him is ‘MISSING.’” He made a similar claim to reporters on Tuesday.
But Zelensky has made no such admission. Rather, he has taken issue with inflated claims about how much US cash Ukraine has received.
He said in a February 1 interview with the Associated Press that although people talk about Ukraine getting as much as $200 billion in US aid, Ukraine had received about $76 billion, largely in the form of weapons. Zelensky said he doesn’t know where all the professed additional money has gone and that perhaps these higher figures are correct “on paper,” according to a translation by the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
Contrary to some viral social media posts this month, that wasn’t a confession that half of the cash that the US sent to Ukraine had vanished. In reality, Zelensky was saying exactly what experts in the US and elsewhere have repeatedly pointed out – that a large chunk of the total US budgetary “response” to the Ukraine war is not in the form of money handed to the Ukrainian government.
For example, experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank wrote last May: “The notion of ‘aid to Ukraine’ is a misnomer. Despite images of ‘pallets of cash’ being sent to Ukraine, about 72 percent of this money overall and 86 percent of the military aid will be spent in the United States. The reason for this high percentage is that weapons going to Ukraine are produced in U.S. factories, payments to U.S. service members are mostly spent in the United States, and even some piece of the humanitarian aid is spent in the United States.”
Does Trump think he is popular and, fragile little bird, has to compare his supposed popularity with Zellensky?
In the same Tuesday remarks, Trump called for a new Ukrainian election – last year’s previously scheduled presidential election was called off because the country is under martial law – and falsely claimed Zelensky is “down at 4% percent approval rating.”
That 4% figure is not even close to accurate.
The latest survey from a leading Ukrainian pollster, conducted earlier this month, found that 57% of Ukrainians said they trusted Zelensky. That was up from 52% in December – and 52% was Zelensky’s lowest wartime figure in this series of trust surveys. In addition, an approval survey conducted from late November to early January found 63% of Ukrainians either approved fully or tended to approve of Zelensky’s actions as president.
Is supporting Europe being invaded by Russia merely a Europe problem that has nothing to do with the US? That[s not how our foreign policy has been, at least during my own lifetime. Trump’s slam of Zelensky is a remarkable moment in US foreign policy
Remember that Trump’s surreptitious call with Zelensky back in Trump’s first term, in which he tried to get Zelensky to go against Biden “I would like you to do us a favor though” Before this call, Trump suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid that Congress had appropriated.
Mr Trump pressing a foreign leader to investigate discredited allegations against Mr Biden was significant. If he wins the Democratic nomination, Mr Biden would be the man facing Mr Trump for the presidency in November 2020.
As Mr Biden is a leading rival for the presidency, it opened Mr Trump up to claims he was working with a foreign power to influence the election. This – crucially – is against the law.
This was not the first time Mr Trump has been scrutinised over his foreign connections. His 2016 election campaign was investigated over its alleged ties to Russia. The inquiry didn’t establish a criminal conspiracy to influence the election, but it also didn’t exonerate the president of obstructing justice.
The Democrats launched a formal inquiry into the Ukraine affair and a number of officials were called to testify. They included the US government’s special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, who turned over a trove of text messages and other communications.
