The Cynical Reason Trump and Vance Wanted the World to See Them Bully Volodymyr Zelensky
I should know better at this point, but there is nevertheless an endlessly optimistic, idealistic Pollyanna inside me that insists, despite ample evidence to the contrary, that the American people are fundamentally good and kind and not incredibly racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and cruel.
Because of this bizarre delusion about my countrymen, when Trump does something objectively terrible, I inexplicably think that it will hurt him in some way.
I’m invariably wrong. When Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in small-town Ohio were eating dogs and cats and pets during his debate with Kamala Harris, I adorably imagined that the racism and dishonesty would turn off voters. I was wrong.
Instead of being repulsed by Trump’s overt racism, voters turned their incandescent white rage toward the fictional plague of non-white immigrants eating Fido and Mittens for lunch.
I adorably felt the same way about Trump insisting, without cause or any evidence whatsoever, that DEI, and by extension, black people, brown people, little people, the disabled, and the LGTBQ, were responsible for a deadly collision between a helicopter and a plane.
I thought people would see through Trump’s lies. I was wrong. When Trump lies about something egregiously, or tells a series of interconnected, overlapping fibs, the public directs their rage towards the people Trump wants them to be mad at rather than being angry at the president for being dishonest, amoral and deeply bigoted.
When I watched Donald Trump and JD Vance try to bully and humiliate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not bending the knee, kissing the ring, giving them everything that they angrily demand, and prostrating himself before Trump’s greatness, I was appalled.
I naively assumed that everyone would be appalled, that even members of Trump’s cult would watch the exchange and be deeply embarrassed for their country and their party.
Oh, how I miss the days when a single brave Republican would find the strength to criticize Trump on any level. Come back, Mitt Romney! All is forgiven!
I wondered why Trump would want the whole world to see him be a uniquely loathable combination of sadistic, dishonest, cynical, mercenary, and transactional. Didn’t he realize how badly he came off?
Incidentally, “Doesn’t Trump realize how badly he comes off?” can be safely answered, “No. No, he does not” in every instance.
Then I thought about it for a moment, and Trump’s actions suddenly became horrifyingly understandable.
Trump wanted the world to see the way that he treated Zelensky. He wasn’t just proud of what he saw as a perfect interaction; he wanted the public to see how he treated people over whom he had power. As the most powerful person in the world (other than Elon Musk, of course), that constitutes just about everybody.
Trump’s viciousness was strategic. He wanted world leaders to see how he and his sidekick treat someone widely hailed as a hero and an underdog for standing up to Putin’s aggression. If this is how he treated someone with the world’s sympathy in public, you can only imagine how cruel and calculating he must be in private.
The president and vice president want Zelensky to serve as a cautionary warning about what happens when you publicly contradict Trump in any way. He didn’t care if it made him look like a thin-skinned bully.
Republicans have always known that Trump was a bully. That’s his whole deal. “You’re fired!” doesn’t become your catchphrase if you’re worried about hurting anyone’s feelings.
Conservatives thought that Trump would be a bully for their side, that he would use the force of his repugnant personality and sociopathic indifference to the feelings of others to help them achieve their goals.
Here’s the thing. Bullies are only ever on their own side. Trump wasn’t representing America and democracy; he was trying to get as much as possible out of Zelensky.
Trump doesn’t understand that you give money to Ukraine because it’s moral, ethical, and a way of fighting authoritarianism and promoting democracy. The idea of doing anything for humanitarian reasons is unfathomable to Trump.
For the 45th and 47th president, you only offer support if you get something concrete out of it. First, Trump wanted dirt on Hunter Biden in exchange for supporting Ukraine.
That didn’t happen. Now, Trump wants Ukraine’s resources in exchange for money and support. Trump is nakedly transactional. He will do something for you if you do something for him. If you don’t do something for him, you automatically become his enemy. You become an obstacle to steamroll.
Trump wanted Republicans who might be tempted to speak out against a particularly appalling action to see what happens when you publicly contradict him. He wants them to know that he will try to destroy you with words and actions, with the whole GOP cheering him on like middle-schoolers egging on the class bully to beat up the transfer student with the hard-to-spell and pronounce last name.
Trump wanted Democrats to see just how cruel he can be towards people who do not show him sufficient deference, who aren’t thankful enough towards a man without a shred of gratitude or appreciation in his black, shriveled little soul. He’s letting the world know that it’s not just good to be sycophantic and flattering when dealing with Trump; it’s essential. Trump doesn’t just want fawning deference; he demands it. When he did not receive it from Zelensky, he went ballistic. Trump was so angry and so insulted that he essentially destroyed a precarious but important relationship over a perceived lack of respect.
Trump is reflexively disrespectful. This is a man who threw a tantrum because he worried that flags flying at half-mast for Jimmy Carter, who is as close to a saint as American politics will ever get, might interfere with the optics of his inauguration.
Respect is a one-way street with Trump. He angrily demands respect but is incapable of respecting others.
Because he is out of touch with reality, Trump undoubtedly saw his actions as a show of strength rather than thin-skinned insecurity. Horrifyingly, the entire Republican Party appeared to agree with him.
Trump isn’t ashamed of how he acted because he is incapable of shame, but also because he doesn't think he did anything wrong. Even more horrifyingly, his supporters don’t think he’s done anything wrong, either.
The president wanted Putin to see how he handled Zelensky. He wanted to show him he could bully, intimidate, and humiliate their shared enemy.
In the eternal battle between the powerful and the powerless, Trump is invariably on the side of the powerful and against the powerless. That’s what we saw during that awful, unfortunately historic meeting.
It was a one-sided seventh-grade schoolyard brawl that Republicans were forced to aggressively defend not just as somehow acceptable but as a master class in deal-making from the greatest deal-maker and leader in the history of the universe.
Nathan needed expensive, life-saving dental implants, and his non-existent dental plan didn’t cover them, so he started a GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-nathans-journey-to-dental-implants. Give if you can!
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