Summary
Trump and Zelenskyy’s confrontational Oval Office meeting advanced “mob boss foreign policy” serving Russian interests.
Trump and Vance bullied Zelenskyy when he refused their “extortionate” minerals deal or to thank them despite Trump’s stated intent to reduce support for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy effectively countered their claims by noting Russia’s 2014 invasion and correcting historical inaccuracies, which angered the Americans.
This represents the first openly “anti-US, anti-Western, anti-democracy foreign policy in American history.” Russians embraced it, and Putin ally and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev celebrated the exchange.
I’m not. I keep reminding people that “dismantling the administrative state” has been a priority for our Conservatives for quite a while now. What makes this different, though, is that they are choosing to do it quickly and illegally even though they have the votes to do it the regular way. That is what makes this different. They are sending the message, on purpose, that laws dont matter anymore, across the whole thing. Prior administrations might have skirted legal boundaries from time to time, but not on all fronts like this one has.
So it’s not that Europe can’t rely on Trump’s USA. It’s that Europe can’t rely on the American government respecting its own laws. And even if they throw this lot out in 4 years, it can all come back if we don’t get out shit together as a country. That will be impossible to do while Trump is still around. I fear. Even if he can’t manage to get past the 2-term limit every Republican will be subservient to him until God exercises His Ultimate Recall Vote.