OOPS: Zelensky’s Last Blast Pushed Trump Too Far… Now ‘Z’ Is About To ‘Find Out’

The problem with chest-thumping bravado is that somebody will eventually call your bluff.

Trump was pretty clear what the stakes are in this conflict: find a way to stop the killing without dragging America into World War III with a nuclear power.

For Trump, the path forward for that involved interlinking Ukraine’s economy with Americas. That solves some immediate needs in both countries, and gives America grounds to push back on Russian expansionism that AREN’T wrapped up in historical bad blood between NATO and the old Warsaw Pact rivals.

It’s entirely reasonable for American diplomats to insist that Russian interests NOT blow up America men and women working in Ukrainian industries… and those industries would not represent a military escalation of NATO countries into Russia’s backyard. Win-Win-Win.

But Zelensky — who apparently met with key Democrats before his meeting with Trump — decided it would be a good idea to poke his benefactor in the eye. If Dems coached him to do that, it was perhaps the worst advice they could have given him. (Unless of course, setting Trump up for failure so they could bludgeon him for it was their REAL goal.)

There was already distrust with Zelensky from the fact that he helped Kamala campaign in a battleground state just a few months ago. Further inflaming differences with Trump — especially with a televised spat in a meeting that was supposed to be little more than the official signing of a business contract between both countries was stunningly short-sighted on Zelensky’s part.

Fast forward a couple of days. Zelensky does his world tour. European countries have a grand plan of negotiating without US involvement… offering military and security guarantees. Anyone reading the fine print will notice such guarantees hinge on the involvement of American blood and or treasure.

All of that posturing ignores one critical fact: Trump, whose chief concern is NOT walking into WWIII, set a very clear choice before Zelensky in the Oval office: take a ceasefire and negotiate for peace from there with American help — or keep fighting without American help.

“The problem is I’ve empowered you (turning toward Zelenskyy) to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. And your people are very brave. But you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty, but you’ll fight it out. But you don’t have the cards. But once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing. — HT transcript

When Trump told Zelensky that he didn’t have the cards… that’s EXACTLY what he meant. Zelensky’s bluster presumes upon limitless US aid with no strings attached. And if Zelensky is working at cross purposes with US interests (ie: avoiding an expensive forever war that could precipitate WWIII), he will have to go it alone.

In terms of the ‘FAFO’ equation, Zelensky is doing the F*** Around part here:

The Find Out portion did NOT take long at all:

Trump’s reaction…

Had a policy consequence…

President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine following his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week, a White House official said, deepening the fissure that has opened between the two one-time allies.
[…] “President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” said the official on Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The White House had no immediate comment on the scope and amount of aid affected or how long the pause would last. The Pentagon could not provide further details. —Reuters

Does Zelensky realize that for Trump, avoiding WWIII presents just as urgent a motivation to press Russia hard for peace as his administration has already been pressing Ukraine?

Probably not. If he did, he would have made damned sure he and the White House were on the same page.

Zelensky has openly stated he still imagines a world where he can push Russia back to the pre-war borders. We don’t get to that outcome without bankrupting the country and filling bodybags with American soldiers… and provoking a nuclear power in the process.

If he thinks he can keep fighting forever, he’ll. have to do it without the unwilling cooperation of the American Taxpayer.

When he runs out of bombs and bullets, maybe then he’ll be ready to talk about a negotiated solution. Of course by then, he will have put himself in an even weaker negotiating position and Russia will probably adjust their demands for peace terms accordingly.