Even GOP’s Biggest Ukraine Booster Thinks Zelenskyy Overplayed His Hand
Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a historically staunch defender of Ukraine, scrutinized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following his heated shouting match with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
Trump and Vance got into the explosive showdown in the Oval Office Friday after Zelenskyy accused the U.S. leaders of not truly “engaging in diplomacy” since it had not stopped Russia from continuing its aggression against his nation. Following the incident, Graham told Fox News that Zelenskyy “obliterated” the U.S.’s efforts to increase its diplomatic relations with Ukraine and that he may be “irredeemable” in the eyes of the American people.
“Everything I and many have been working for to try and get a new relationship with the United States around our critical minerals deal [that] is beneficial to both of us was completely obliterated today,” Graham said. “I met with Zelenskyy this morning, I urged him to be on message, be grateful, be thankful, we’ll talk about details and security guarantees later. Keep it up, keep it positive. It was an absolute, utter disaster,” Graham said. “The question for me is, is he redeemable in the eyes of Americans?”
“Most Americans, after what they saw today, would not want Zelenskyy to be their business partner, including me and I’ve been to Ukraine nine times since the war started. I met with him this morning. President Trump [who] I talked to last night was very upbeat about the deal,” the senator continued.
WATCH:
The U.S. and Ukraine finalized a deal for mineral extraction and had planned to sign the agreement at the White House. After the meeting in the Oval Office, Trump canceled the signing of the deal and the scheduled joint press conference between the two world leaders.
Graham praised Trump and Vance’s performance during the meeting and suggested that Ukraine may need a new leader for the two countries’ relationship to move forward. The senator said Trump “gave a masterclass” in how a leader should stand up for their nation.
“Zelenskyy’s got a chip on his shoulder. Every European leader applauds him for standing up to Trump. All I can say is a missed opportunity doesn’t even begin to explain it and Zelenskyy is either gonna have to fundamentally change or go,” Graham said. “I can’t believe most Americans, after what they saw today, would want to be partners with Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s an important ally, they’ve fought like tigers, I don’t want Putin to win. I want to help Ukraine, but it’s hard to help people who seemed unable to realize the moment they’re in and President Trump handled it in a fashion [where] if I’m China, I’m Iran, I’m any would-be adversary, I’d be worried about [him] right now. He gave a masterclass in how to stand up for America.”
Trump told Zelenskyy he was being “disrespectful” to the U.S. and the American people by being critical of its response to the Russia-Ukraine war. The president said in a Truth Social post that Zelenskyy “is not ready for peace” because U.S. involvement grants him a “big advantage in negotiations.”
“You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you’ll have the cards. You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with a lot of lives and millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III, you’re gambling with World War III and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country. It’s backed you far more than a lot people say it should have,” Trump told Zelenskyy during the meeting.
Graham said he is unsure whether the damage created between the U.S. and Ukraine can be repaired and expressed hope that Zelenskyy will apologize for the events that occurred in the Oval Office.
The South Carolina senator has backed Congress spending billions of dollars of taxpayer money on Ukraine, going so far as to call it “the best money [the U.S. has] ever spent” in a May 2023 statement. The statement caused outraged Russian officials to issue an arrest warrant against Graham.
Graham even called for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a March 2022 statement.
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The war hawks say that if we don’t stop Putin in Ukraine, then Poland or some other country will be next. What nonsense. As if 30 NATO nations wouldn’t be enough to stop Putin when he can’t even take Ukraine. Of course nothing justifies Putin invading Ukraine but I have read several commentaries that Putin’s fear of Ukraine joining NATO is just Russian propaganda because he didn’t object to Finland or Sweden or any of the Baltic countries joining NATO. Those people obviously don’t know or understand history. Finland or Sweden were never part of Russia, but Ukraine was since 1921 up until the USSR was dissolved in 1991. Putin has always objected to NATO’s continuing aggression in continually adding new member states, but has also said unequivocally that Ukraine was his “red line” when it came to countries that were former Soviet states joining NATO. Why? Because Ukraine is second in size only to Russia and its border of 1300 miles with Russia dwarfs any other Baltic state or country except for Russia’s border with China. And, as a side note, China is now firmly allied with Russia because of Biden’s dumping 200 billion of our tax dollars into a never ending war that Ukraine can’t win, has killed way over a million people and has created a new refugee crisis in Europe.
Ukraine is also rich in natural resources and oil & gas and has several strategic ports on the Black Sea. And there is a large Russian speaking population in eastern Ukraine. Historically, Ukraine and Russia have always had a contested and “verge of war” relationship and both countries are ranked #1 and #2 in terms of corruption and that’s why multiple countries actually in NATO never wanted Ukraine to join. And did you forget that Putin took Crimea in 2012 and nobody, including President Obama cared and he even refused to send weapons to help Ukraine. Why? Because, the Ukraine/Russia conflict is essentially a civil war that was and has never been in the strategic interests of the United States and that’s way we shouldn’t be engaged in a proxy war there any more than we would be involved in a civil war in Africa. The only way to end this horrific and unnecessary war is a negotiated peace and, yes, that will require ceding some territory to Russia and a guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO. Trump’s idea of profiting off of mineral rights in Ukraine actually will help protect them by putting U.S. business in Ukraine but the petulant dictator Zelensky seems to think that Trump should continue sending unending billions for a war that he can’t win without starting WWIII. Clearly that’s not going to happen and his only option is to come crawling back to Trump or be thrown out by his own people who’s nation has been destroyed, a whole generation killed and 7 million Ukrainian refugees sent to Europe.