President Donald J. Trump sent a clear message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week: America First is back, and the days of endless handouts with no gratitude are over.
What was supposed to be a historic signing of a minerals deal—an economic framework that would have bolstered Ukraine’s war-torn economy while recouping billions of American taxpayer dollars—turned into a diplomatic disaster, thanks to Zelenskyy’s combative attitude and refusal to recognize the new reality in Washington.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who was in the room when the confrontation took place, told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that Zelenskyy’s attitude was nothing short of disrespectful.
Leavitt: “It was incredibly tense in that room, and things turned bad and bitter very quickly because, unfortunately, President Zelenskyy refuses to recognize the pragmatic reality about the war that his country is facing. This war has been going on for years. His countrymen are dying.
Most of all, President Zelenskyy failed to recognize that he’s walking into the Oval Office with a new sheriff in town. That sheriff is Donald Trump.
He is a peacemaker-in-chief. He wants this war to end. He understands that his people—the American people—are sick and tired of footing the bill for this war to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
It’s very unfortunate for the Ukrainian people and for President Zelenskyy that he walked in with this mindset of ‘give, give, give’ from the American people, without much gratitude for what they have done for his country over the last few years.
He was on the brink of signing an economic agreement that would have ensured economic prosperity for the Ukrainian people and recouped American tax dollars for funding this war. Instead, because of his rude and antagonistic ways, the deal blew up in his face.
President Trump wants peace. He remains committed to that. But President Zelenskyy either needs to change his attitude or perhaps he can’t make a deal at all.”
Unlike his predecessor, Joe Biden, whose administration funneled over $175 billion to Ukraine with little oversight, President Trump has taken a firm stance that peace, not perpetual war, should be the goal. His administration had worked on an economic deal that would have helped Ukraine while ensuring American taxpayers saw some return on their forced “investment” in the war effort.
However, Zelenskyy—emboldened by years of unchecked U.S. financial support—chose to challenge Trump’s administration rather than work toward a diplomatic solution.
Trump’s response? End the meeting, cancel the scheduled luncheon, and send Zelenskyy packing.
“The President enjoyed the lunch—he figuratively and literally ate President Zelenskyy’s lunch today,” Leavitt quipped. “But it was his decision. He felt as though President Zelenskyy was not in a place to negotiate peace at this point in time.”
Predictably, the left-wing establishment erupted in outrage, with former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice claiming the meeting was a setup. She accused Trump and his allies—particularly Vice President J.D. Vance—of deliberately provoking Zelenskyy to manufacture a political moment.
But Leavitt was quick to shoot down that narrative.
“That’s absolutely not true. President Trump was excited about this economic agreement. It was President Zelenskyy who actually antagonized the Vice President in front of the cameras and picked a fight with him,” she said.
For years, Zelenskyy has positioned himself as a desperate leader fighting for democracy. But with the war dragging on and American patience wearing thin, his welcome in Washington is beginning to expire. Trump’s approach signals that Ukraine must take responsibility for its own future—either by negotiating peace or finding alternative sources of funding.
As Leavitt put it succinctly, “Again, this is not the previous administration. Joe Biden is no longer in that Oval Office. We are no longer going to just write blank checks to a war very far away without real lasting peace. That’s what the President wants.”
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