About a week ago, Sen. Tom Cotton appeared on Fox News and said opponents of Russia’s war in Ukraine have nothing to fear from a Donald Trump victory in the fall. “[Former] President Trump has said that he strongly supports Ukraine’s strength and survival,” the Arkansas Republican said, adding that Trump “had a strong relationship when he was in office with President Zelenskyy.”
All things considered, “strong” was probably the wrong adjective. After all, Trump tried to extort Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019 — “I would like you do us a favor, though” lingers in the mind — and the resulting scandal resulted in the Republican’s first impeachment.
Three years later, I suspect Zelenskyy was also not altogether impressed when Trump described Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius” and “very savvy.”
But I’m also curious whether Cotton saw the former president’s remarks in Michigan over the weekend. Politico reported:
[A]fter the Biden administration at the G7 in Italy this week extended long-term security guarantees to Ukraine, Trump ripped into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him “maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that’s ever lived.”
In context, the Republican was condemning the Green New Deal agenda as “one of the greatest scams in history.” This, evidently, reminded the former president of something else he also considers a scam.
“I think Zelenskyy is maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that’s ever lived,” Trump said. Raising his voice and volume, the presumptive GOP nominee quickly added, “Every time he comes to our country, he walks away with $60 billion.”
Trump interrupted himself to say that he “likes” Zelenskyy before he returned to his critique of the Ukrainian leader. “He just left four days ago with $60 billion, and he gets home, and he announces that he needs another $60 billion. It never ends. It never ends.”
In apparent reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Trump concluded that he’ll “settle” the crisis during his post-election presidential transition period. “Gotta stop it,” he said.
Trump attacks Zelenskyy: "He's the greatest salesman of all time … he announces he needs another $60 billion. It never ends. It never ends. I will have that settled prior to taking the White House as president-elect. It's gotta stop." pic.twitter.com/uxGhEJBcc8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 15, 2024
As for how, exactly, the Republican intends to “settle” the war, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Trump in March and said soon after the former American president told him he would cut off U.S. military aid to Ukraine in an effort to end the conflict.
A month later, The Washington Post ran a related report on Trump’s “secret” plan to bring the war to an end, which noted that the presumptive GOP nominee intends to push Ukrainian officials to give Russia parts of their country.
It’s an approach likely to gain favor with the Kremlin, less so with the Ukrainian leader whom Trump allegedly has “a strong relationship” with.
