Tom Minear: The alarming truth about Trump’s shot at Zelensky

Vladimir Putin is the dictator responsible for the war in Ukraine, but not according to Donald Trump. Tom Minear argues there is a worrying reason for his offensive crack on Volodymyr Zelensky.

A dictator who refuses to hold elections, who is responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, and who is only successful at playing a US president “like a fiddle”.

That’s Russia’s Vladimir Putin to a tee. But not to Donald Trump, who has hurled these insults at Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, a US ally and the victim of Russia’s illegal invasion.

There are no prizes for guessing what sparked the US President’s social media tirade. Hours earlier, Mr Zelensky decided to point out some home truths, after Mr Trump’s officials began negotiating an end to the war with their Russian counterparts while cutting out Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump before last year’s US election. Picture: Alex Kent / Getty Images /AFP

The US President had turned criticism of this decision into a shot at Mr Zelensky, poking at his popularity, pushing him to hold elections and, most offensively, blaming him for the war.

“This could have been settled very easily. You should have never started it. You should have made a deal,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Zelensky, while expressing “great respect” for Mr Trump, decided to push back for the first time since the Republican’s return, suggesting he “lives in this disinformation space”.

He was right, of course, and he could have been far more forceful in his response. And yet that was still enough to trigger the US President, who took to his Truth Social website to say Mr Zelensky had “done a terrible job” and had only succeeded at manipulating Joe Biden.

“A Dictator without Elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Mr Trump said.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin during a meeting in 2018. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

For years, the 78-year-old has raged about the so-called “Russia hoax”, the claim that he colluded with Moscow to secure victory in the 2016 presidential election. His complaints were valid in the sense that while Russia did interfere, this direct link was never proven.

But it is no wonder that many still question Mr Trump’s relationship with Mr Putin.

Before formal negotiations to end the war begin, he has already made huge concessions to Russia – blocking Ukraine’s inclusion in NATO, refusing to send US peacekeepers, even inviting the Russian President to Washington DC – while receiving nothing in return.

Mr Trump is also musing about a historic economic partnership with one of America’s most threatening adversaries, at the same time as he stokes trade wars with his closest allies.

The only other explanation for any of this is that the US President is an unprincipled fool.