John MacDonald: Zelensky will be back at the White House

What we saw at the White House at the weekend was nothing short of vile. But we shouldn’t be surprised.

Watching it, I was blown away. But I wasn’t surprised. And I reckon that, despite all the talk coming from European countries since Saturday, I reckon that Ukraine’s president will realise he has no option but to give Trump what he wants.

But let’s go back to what happened in the Oval Office on Saturday.

And it wasn’t just Donald Trump and JD Vance. There was that clown reporter who asked Volodymyr Zelensky why he wasn’t wearing a suit.

As for Trump and Vance, though, I thought they were like a couple of parents losing their rag with one of the kids.

Have you said thank you? After all we've done for you, you can’t even say thank you.

Talk about cringe. Here were these two guys berating someone who doesn’t even have English as his first language.

And while I thought it was vile. And while I was blown away by it all. I still wasn’t surprised. 

Because what better way to tell European countries that they better get their head around the idea of giving more support for Ukraine’s war with Russia?

Trump’s been telling Europe this. At the weekend he was yelling it. And it seems to have worked. European countries are already making noises about standing firm with Ukraine.

But, as vice-president JD Vance said on Saturday - and this is the one thing I thought he was right on - he said you don’t win wars just thumping your chest. Actions win wars.

So I’ll give him that one. But it was kind of odd that, as soon as he’d said that, he started going on about diplomacy being the answer and when Zelensky asked him what he meant by diplomacy, the vice-president suddenly became very undiplomatic in front of the cameras.

And then Trump joined in and it was a shouting match. At one point Trump did an Andrew Bailey and touched Zelenskyy on the arm during their “animated discussion”.

The question now is, what will happen next?

My pick is that Zelensky, even though he must have felt completely under attack, will lick his wounds and he’ll be back at the White House. Mark my words.

Because, even though he knows Russia has form and that Russia could keep attacking Ukraine, even with the minerals deal in place, Zelensky knows that Europe has form too when it comes to supporting Ukraine.

He knows that European countries talk a lot, but their contribution to the war effort doesn't always match the talk.

So Ukraine still needs America. And Zelensky, if he hasn’t admitted it to himself already, he will eventually.

But Trump is still going to have to tread carefully. As a headline in the New York Times says: “Trump is rootin’ for Putin”.

And while he might think that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is a good guy, most Americans don’t.

But that won’t be enough to stop him. Because, as he said in the Oval Office on Saturday, he and Putin went through a lot together when there was all that talk about Russia interfering in the US elections.

And, as we know, that is one grudge the president will never let go of.

So even if Americans aren’t happy with their president being mates with Putin, he won’t care. 

Zelensky will realise that. And I think he’ll be back at the White House to sign that deal sooner rather than later.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know what we saw at the White House at
the weekend. What we saw at the White House was
nothing short of vile, but we shouldn't be surprised watching it.
I was blown away, but I wasn't surprised. And I
reckon that despite all the talk coming from European countries

(00:33):
since Saturday, I reckon that Ukraine's president will realize he
has no option but to give Trump what he wants.
I'll get to that more on that shortly. First let's
go back to what happened on Saturday in the Oval Office.
And it wasn't just Donald Trump and JD.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Vance.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
There was that clown reporter who asked the Lord of
me Zelensky why he wasn't wearing a suit. As for
Trump and Vance, though I thought they were like a
couple of kids, I thought they were like a couple
of parents. I should say they're like a couple of parents.
Lose their rag with one of the kids. Have you
said thank you after all we've done for you? You can't

(01:12):
even say thank you? Don't talk about cringe. Here were
these two guys, but rating someone who doesn't even have
English as his first language. And while I thought it
was vile, and while I was blown away by it all,
I still wasn't surprised, because what better way to tell

(01:34):
European countries that they better get their head around the
idea of giving more support for Ukraine's war with Russia.
Trump's been telling Europe this on the weekend. He was
yelling it at Europe and it seems to have worked.
European countries already making noises about standing firm with Ukraine.
But as Vice President J. D. Vant said on Saturday,

(01:55):
and this is the one thing I thought he was
right on. He said, you don't win wars just thumping
your chest. Actions win wars. So I'll give them that one.
But it was kind of odd that as soon as
you'd said that, he started going on about diplomacy being
the answer. And when Zelenski asked for Zelenski asked him
what he meant by diploma diplomacy, the Vice President suddenly

(02:16):
became very undiplomatic in front of the cameras, and then
Trump joined in and it was a shouting match. At
one point, Trump did a bit of the old Andrew
Bailey and he touched Zelensky on the arm during their
animated discussion. Now earlier, Mike spoke to Mark Cansi, and
he's a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington, DC, and Mike asked him if

(02:39):
he thought j. D Artz had been planted in the
meeting to be the attack dog, if it was a
premeditated thing.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
He did seem ready to be harshly critical and jumped
very quickly on Zelensky. So my personal suspicion as he
came in ready to be hostile, but hard to see
for sure.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
And here's what Mark Cansion sees Zelenski doing next.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
He will apologize eyes and you know, try to offer
some you know some you know, something to make the
Americans or make the White House feel better. Maybe sign
this trade agreement, this mining agreement. I'm sure we'll see
something to try to repair the relationship. In an extreme situation,

(03:29):
you know, maybe Zelensky would would stand down. I don't
see that happening, but they were clearly pushing for that.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
And that's how I feel too. Even though he must
have felt humiliated, even though he must have felt completely
under attack, this is what happens, Zelensky will lick his
wounds and he'll be back at the White House, mark
my words. Because even though he knows Russia has formed
and that Russia could keep attacking Ukraine even with the
minerals deal in place, he knows that Europe has formed

(03:59):
too when it comes to supporting Ukraine. He knows that
European countries talk a lot, but the contribution to the war,
if it has been nothing like Americas. And granted, there's
a new broom in the White House and Trump was
going on on Saturday about Biden being that stupid president
who gave Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars. Nevertheless, Ukraine
still needs America, and Zelensky, if he hasn't admitted it

(04:22):
to himself already, he will eventually. But Trump himself he's
going to have to tread carefully too, As a headline
in the New York Times are saying today, Trump is
rooting for Putin. And while he might think that Russia's
Vladimir Putin is a good guy, most Americans don't. But
that won't be enough to stop Trump because, as he

(04:43):
said in the Oval Office on Saturday, he and Putin
went through a lot together with all that talk about
Russia interfering in the elections, and as we know that
as one grudge, the president will never let go of.
So even if Americans aren't happy with their president being
mates with Putin, he won't care. And Zelensky needs to
realize that, and I think he will, and I think

(05:03):
he'll be back at the White House to sign that
deal sooner ra than later.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
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