Trump’s Meeting With Zelenskiy Went About as Well as You’d Expect

In reality, Trump’s plan would involve Ukraine ceding part of its territory to Russia, a deal that is more or less what the Kremlin is looking for. And Trump is far from a neutral arbitrator. The former president has gone from publicly gushing about Putin to flat-out saying that Zelenskiy should just give in to Russia’s violent invasion. When asked during the debate who exactly he wanted to prevail in the conflict, he wouldn’t deign to say.

Ahead of the meeting Friday, Trump had begun regularly criticizing Zelenskiy during campaign rallies, calling him the “greatest salesman in history” for his ability to acquire defense funding from the US

While speaking about the war in Ukraine on Tuesday, the former president said he doubted anyone could beat Russia. “That’s what they do is they fight wars. As somebody told me the other day, they beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon. “That’s what they do, they fight,” Trump said. Hitler and Napoleon, of course, both invaded Russia—Russia, in this instance, is the aggressor.