Amid his global campaign to garner support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was recently interviewed by Newsmax — an infamously right-wing outlet. During the chat, Zelenskyy tamped down on a suggestion from interviewer Rob Schmitt that Trump still being in office would’ve somehow meant Russia never launched its currently unfolding invasion.
“Do you think that different American leadership, do you think that different Western leadership, may have prevented this aggression?” Schmitt asked. He then made his point clear: “There are many Americans that believe that if somebody like Donald Trump was still in the White House that this invasion would not have happened. What is your position?” Well, whether there are “many” Americans who actively believe such a thing is debatable, but Zelenskyy has more pressing priorities than playing politics. Zelenskyy replied as follows:
‘Well, I believe what’s the most important is the assistance from the people of the United States. They are paying the taxes, and the money being allocated to support Ukraine comes from taxes, and it’s all of that humanitarian, financial, military support to Ukraine. So I am grateful to the current president of the United States as well as to those in the political parties that support us. I am sorry if I’ll be saying something that you don’t like, but for us as the country in war, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Democrats or Republicans. It’s the people of the United States that support us.’
In the new interview, Zelenskyy also stated: “I don’t know what would happen if the president, if Donald Trump would be the president of the United States for this situation, so I cannot predict what would happen.” Check out Zelenskyy’s comments below:
Trump — who was infamous in office for his consistent apparent interest in capitulating to the interests of Russian leader Vladimir Putin — has explicitly claimed (without, of course, any particularly compelling real-world evidence to back him up) that a second Trump term would have somehow meant the currently unfolding Russian invasion of Ukraine not happening. “If I were in Office, this deadly Ukraine situation would never have happened!” Trump claimed back in February. Not only was Trump known for his tacit Putin support, he also never displayed particular aptitude for foreign policy matters. He met more than once with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and that hardly went anywhere… at all.
And Trump’s own comments have discredited the notion that him still being in office would’ve somehow meant the prevention of the war. At a Georgia rally this year, the disgraced ex-commander-in-chief claimed that (when in office as president) he told a fellow world leader involved in NATO that the U.S. wouldn’t honor its treaty obligations associated with the alliance to participate in the defense of a member country in the event of an attack by Russia if that country had unpaid “bills.” Besides the issue that representing NATO members as somehow living large with unpaid bills doesn’t accurately reflect the facts, Russian leadership would no doubt love to hear of the possibility of a U.S. president essentially abandoning allies to Russian aggression. While Ukraine isn’t a member of NATO, the general sense of empowerment potentially provided to Russia in another Trump term seems clear.
