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John MacDonald: Zelensky will be back at the White House

Author
John MacDonald,
Publish Date
Mon, 3 Mar 2025, 12:27pm

John MacDonald: Zelensky will be back at the White House

Author
John MacDonald,
Publish Date
Mon, 3 Mar 2025, 12:27pm

What we saw at the White House at the weekend was nothing short of vile. But we shouldn鈥檛 be surprised.

Watching it, I was blown away. But I wasn鈥檛 surprised. And I reckon that, despite all the talk coming from European countries since Saturday, I reckon that Ukraine鈥檚 president will realise he has no option but to give Trump what he wants.

But let鈥檚 go back to what happened in the Oval Office on Saturday.

And it wasn鈥檛 just Donald Trump and JD Vance. There was that clown reporter who asked Volodymyr Zelensky why he wasn鈥檛 wearing a suit.

As for Trump and Vance, though, I thought they were like a couple of parents losing their rag with one of the kids.

Have you said thank you? After all we've done for you, you can鈥檛 even say thank you.

Talk about cringe. Here were these two guys berating someone who doesn鈥檛 even have English as his first language.

And while I thought it was vile. And while I was blown away by it all. I still wasn鈥檛 surprised. 

Because what better way to tell European countries that they better get their head around the idea of giving more support for Ukraine鈥檚 war with Russia?

Trump鈥檚 been telling Europe this. At the weekend he was yelling it. And it seems to have worked. European countries are already making noises about standing firm with Ukraine.

But, as vice-president JD Vance said on Saturday - and this is the one thing I thought he was right on - he said you don鈥檛 win wars just thumping your chest. Actions win wars.

So I鈥檒l give him that one. But it was kind of odd that, as soon as he鈥檇 said that, he started going on about diplomacy being the answer and when Zelensky asked him what he meant by diplomacy, the vice-president suddenly became very undiplomatic in front of the cameras.

And then Trump joined in and it was a shouting match. At one point Trump did an Andrew Bailey and touched Zelenskyy on the arm during their 鈥渁nimated discussion鈥.

The question now is, what will happen next?

My pick is that Zelensky, even though he must have felt completely under attack, will lick his wounds and he鈥檒l be back at the White House. Mark my words.

Because, even though he knows Russia has form and that Russia could keep attacking Ukraine, even with the minerals deal in place, Zelensky knows that Europe has form too when it comes to supporting Ukraine.

He knows that European countries talk a lot, but their contribution to the war effort doesn't always match the talk.

So Ukraine still needs America. And Zelensky, if he hasn鈥檛 admitted it to himself already, he will eventually.

But Trump is still going to have to tread carefully. As a headline in the New York Times says: 鈥淭rump is rootin鈥 for Putin鈥.

And while he might think that Russia鈥檚 Vladimir Putin is a good guy, most Americans don鈥檛.

But that won鈥檛 be enough to stop him. Because, as he said in the Oval Office on Saturday, he and Putin went through a lot together when there was all that talk about Russia interfering in the US elections.

And, as we know, that is one grudge the president will never let go of.

So even if Americans aren鈥檛 happy with their president being mates with Putin, he won鈥檛 care. 

Zelensky will realise that. And I think he鈥檒l be back at the White House to sign that deal sooner rather than later.

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