My favourite quote of last week from trump was during his fake 'cabinet meeting/press conference' presided over by Elon Musk, as the stupified sycophantic Secretaries sat by in dumbfounded silence, when trump called the government "bloated, fat and disgusting." Another window into the demented, childish way his mind works. It's projection.
This was before the debacle of the Oval meeting with Zelensky, after which a celebratory Kremlin statement was released saying that they believed American foreign policy now "shares our vision." I immediately thought about how trump has spent his entire political career calling the Democrats, "Communists" and "Socialists." Who are the Communists now? Irony is dead.
So much ink has been spilled in the last 48 hours on the significance of what happened in the Oval meeting. Does it mean an end to American foreign policy as we have known it since the end of WW2? Does it mean an end to our international alliances? Does it mean an end to the rules-based international order that America established? Does it mean America is now aligned with the Kremlin? It may or may not mean all of those things.
But I'm certain of one thing, trump isn't thinking about any of those things, at least not in the larger sense of having a true understanding of ramifications and consequences. He doesn't care. As I always say, he's incapable of thinking beyond the present moment. Malignant narcissists typically are. It's only ever about satisfying immediate emotional needs. The most revealing moment in the Oval meeting with Zelensky was when trump said, "You're gambling with World War 3." Of course, Zelensky isn't gambling with WW3. Like he answered, "It's not a game (to us)." He's simply trying to defend his country against annihilation. It's trump who is playing the World War 3 'game' by appeasing a tyrant who has designs on expansion. Projection again.
It's not that hard to understand what happened in the Oval:
1. Trump viscerally hates Zelensky. He hates him for causing his first impeachment. That became clear when trump talked about "the phony Russsia, Russia, Russia scam" that Putin, like him, has "endured." He blames Zelensky. As a snob, trump is also probably viscerally repelled by Zelensky's unrefined appearance. He finds his very presence insulting, the way a rich person would find the presence of a poor person. Made all the worse, by the fact that Zelensky is admired and revered all around the world as a hero. Trump is jealous of that, and publicly showing-up the hero, making him be 'thankful', would in trump's warped mind, elevate him.
2. Trump aimed to publicly 'humble' Zelensky because he thinks that's the way to bully him into 'making peace'. He perceives Putin as the strong party and Zelensky as the weak party ("without cards"). The world is divided between the strong and the weak, might makes right, in trump's craven mind. He thinks like a mob boss carving up the streets as 'territory' for drug dealing and a protection racket. A 'peace' can only be reached by forcing the weak party to capitulate to the strong party, or let them "fight it out." It's literally a brutish gangster's view of international relations, like Putin's. Which makes JD Vance's comment about Zelensky not wanting a 'diplomatic solution' doubly ironic. It's actually trump who doesn't believe in diplomacy. Projection again.
3. Trump's way of doing foreign policy, is, as everyone has been saying for the last 9 years transactional. But it's transactional not in the sense of national interests being pursued. Trump is not capable of thinking of the national interest, or rather, he can not distinguish the national interest from his immediate personal interest. 'Friend' or 'foe' to him is determined by an exchange that will benefit him in the moment. Zelensky did not flatter trump (like Starmer did), and would not back down when challenged. This unnerved trump, and Vance's intervention, which I don't believe was premeditated, was him seizing an opportunity to come to the defence of his fragile ego-harmed boss. It was Vance burnishing himself in trump's eyes, demonstrating the extent of his loyalty.
Will the meeting have long-term consequences? Undoubtedly. In the sense that countries all around the world are now quite sure that as long as trump is in office, and is not reined in by his party or Congress, they cannot count on America to be guided by a foreign policy based on common values and principles. It's quite literally based on whatever the demented child-king wants at any moment. For now, the Nobel Peace Prize is off the table, so trump went golfing, again. He's lost interest. Hopefully that pattern will hold, so the damage he does is minimized.
