Told You

It was 19 months ago, following the embarrassing spectacle in the Oval Office in which Donald Trump and his then-equally tubby vice president ambushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that I said in this space that it had become clear that Trump was on Russia’s side in its invasion of Ukraine.

He has now utterly proved it.

On March 5, 2025, I wrote:

Dan Henninger, the calm and perceptive editorial page writer** for the Wall Street Journal, appeared Saturday on the Journal Editorial Report** on Fox News Channel, discussing Friday’s Oval Office bullying of the president of Ukraine by Donald Trump and his pudgy verbal thumb-breaker, J.D. Vance.

I think he is quite willing to abandon Ukraine,” said Henninger. “And I think the message he was sending to Zelenskyy there is that the Ukrainians need to be prepared essentially for surrender. . . .

I think Donald Trump really is more interested in making a grand deal with Russia. He wanted to do that in the first term, he wants to do it in this term. And then he will turn and make a similar deal with the other great power, China.

Trump is essentially dividing the world into these three great superpowers. They will have their own spheres of influence and Ukraine simply doesn’t fit into that equation.”

* It continues at the link*.

* Late last week, Trump cut a deal with Putin that will benefit only Putin. We get nothing, disguised as a few barrels of diesel fuel, not even a week’s worth. The agreement is in violation of federal law, but hey, so was his deal with TikTok, *which Congress had ordered banned. It is also in violation of the Lindsey Graham law sanctioning Russia that he just signed. Law, to Trump, is laughable suggestion. But the deal would give Putin money to murder more Ukrainians.

* Trump* had been after Zelenskyy to stop destroying Russia’s refineries, which action had been effective against Putin and in Trump’s view *therefore had to come to an end. There is nothing (except someone *other than Trump getting earned recognition) that Trump hates more than oil and oil products being destroyed. Trump does not object to the murder and kidnapping of Ukrainian children, but oh, that poor oil, which represents money!

* Over the weekend Trump announced that there was an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine. It was the first that either country had heard of it, and a few hours later Russia bombed some Ukrainian power plants. (Ukraine said it was all for it, if Russia would observe the ceasefire, too. Russia didn’t.) Tuesday night *Russia launched 40 ballistic missiles into Ukrainian power facilities and apartment buildings — so much for the “energy ceasefire.” A dozen people were killed in their homes, without warning.

* Also, Ukraine had its Starlink service throttled so it was of no defensive use. The military version of Starlink, I am reliably told, is under the control of what’s left of the Pentagon. Meanwhile, Ukraine received no notice from the U.S.* of the Russian launches, on which it had been told it could rely, so residents didn’t have an opportunity to seek shelter. But what are dead people to Trump? (The Defense Department Wednesday morning blamed bad weather for its inability to detect the launches. Note to America’s enemies: If you launch when it’s cloudy or rainy or something, you’ll succeed. We’re expected to believe that.)

* Early this week Trump was asked how he had come to the conclusion that the countries had agreed to the pause he had announced. “Because I said, ‘You agree.’ That’s why they agreed, because I said they agree.”* In other words, he made it up. **Neither side had agreed to anything.

* He also announced that Zelenskyy should be replaced, and there we get to one of Trump’s intractable issues.*

* Donald Trump hates Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has hated him since July 2019, when he phoned the Ukrainian president and asked him to announce he had opened* an investigation on Joe Biden. (Which Zelenskyy hadn’t.)

* Zelenskyy, hoping not to get involved in American domestic politics, demurred, and Trump withheld $400 million in aid Congress had voted for Ukraine, releasing it only after it was made known that the then-President was using it as leverage to get what he wanted from Zelenskyy. It would come to light, via American diplomat Bill Taylor, that the aid was contingent upon Zelenskyy announcing an investigation of Biden and his son Hunter. The story is long and like most things involving Trump, sordid. You might remember; there was an impeachment* about it. Trump never forgives someone who refuses to lie for him, **not even a total stranger. All must do what Trump has decreed is good for Trump.

* So Trump hopes to destroy Zelenskyy, and if a million Ukrainians are killed in the process, all the better: Nothing makes a man seem more powerful in Trump’s eyes than having the power over life and death, especially if someone else does the wet work. But betraying Zelenskyy and Ukraine is fun, too, *as we are learning anew this week.

* (You might remember Trump speaking at the funeral of Charlie Kirk, after Kirk’s wife had spoken and said she had had forgiven his assassin. “He did not hate his opponents,” said Trump of Kirk. “He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them.” We should remember that Trump is mostly illiterate, and getting more so by the day. Which is okay with his supporters — they are, too.)*

* As I wrote on March 5 last year, “It is no surprise to hear Trump praise Vladimir Putin* —- calling him ‘genius’ —- for having invaded Ukraine, and verbally abuse the president of Ukraine. He has spoken approvingly** of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. (Perhaps he envies Kim’s power to colorfully execute anyone in North Korea who refuses to believe that Kim’s father took up golf and in his very first round scored 11 holes-in-one*.)” Trump is now talking about another get-together with Kim. If anyone in North Korea notices Kim’s lies, that person is executed forthwith. Trump would like that kind of power. *Though he’d have to execute most of the country, because everyone knows that just about everything he says is a lie. He’s a poor liar despite frequent practice.

* He’ll be lucky to face the new year with a Republican Senate. The House is already gone because the country, 70 percent of whom would like to see Trump go away, is about to fire a bunch of Trump’s cowards in the House of Representatives. The secretary of pretending to be a man, Pete Hegseth, is all excited about live streaming the execution of a terrorist (who richly deserves the execution if not the martyr-making TV show). I think the country wouldn’t mind adding a few more names to the list, following trial and conviction of course, and it might even go far toward reducing Trump’s budget deficit if it were offered on pay-per-view.*

* Trump also hates Zelenskyy because Zelenskyy is respected throughout the world, and Trump is respected in the occasional barroom or rasslin’ arena and nowhere else and by no one else. He may believe he has the respect of Putin and China’s Xi, but they simply know that if they flatter Trump they’ll get what they want. They respect Zelenskyy more than they do Trump. (They respect the cockroaches under the kitchen sink more than they do Trump, too.) *

* If Trump had a religion, no one but himself would be allowed to stand before the altar — a mirror bordered by that police booking picture of Trump that he believes makes him look like a tough guy. *

* Russia has continued to attack Ukraine which has tried to go along with Trump’s phony ceasefire, just to prove its good will. And Russia has both announced that Trump can take his ceasefire and go pound sand and has said publicly* that Zelenskyy has been insufficiently subservient to Trump.**

* A side benefit in Trump’s estimation, no doubt, is that it all distracts from his ill-begotten war in the Mideast, which has spread to Saudi Arabia and Wednesday morning Qatar announced it would be in Qatar soon. Meanwhile, as Trump lies that the U.S. has full control of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran sank two container ships there this week, killing 12. World leaders are condemning him, most recently Italy’s Giorgia Meloni. *Someone needs to explain to Trump the difference between respect and contempt.

* Anyone who has been paying attention has to be horrified and fearful. Trump’s approval rating is hovering around 30 percent, and knowing what he’s done in the past, we have to wonder how unglued he’ll become when the election November 3 doesn’t go his way. He’s already acting like a desperate man. A couple of weeks ago he said that if the “Republicans” — Trumpians — win both houses of Congress he will send $5000 to every adult in the country. Really*.

* Things have turned out pretty much as I predicted.*

* But now I’m genuinely* fearful.**

* He can’t pardon his way out of the impeachment that is sure to come, and it’s not clear whether he can pardon himself at all. Expect to hear “Constitutional crisis” a lot in the coming months.*

* Followed *perhaps by “treason.”

* Because as the reports of Starlink disruption in Ukraine continue, it becomes ever more likely that Trump has thrown his weight behind Russia defeating Ukraine by election day.*

* Unless he plans to block the election, which in Trump’s case is entirely possible.[]