Nobody Likes a Bully (or Bullies)

The decision of the Donald Trump and JD Vance tag team to take down Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on live TV on Feb. 28 has backfired.

While Twould like to wash their hands of all things connected to Ukraine, their repulsive attack on Zelensky has powered a dramatic rise in American support for his embattled country.

Piqued that the heroic Ukrainian did not grovel before them in gratitude for US military and financial support, the dynamic duo launched a vicious tirade at Zelensky. Trump then posted on Truth Social that the Ukrainian disrespected the USA in “its own cherished Oval Office." Give us a break.

Gallup released a poll on March 18, which was conducted after the White House smackdown, showing that 46 percent of respondents do not think the US is doing enough to support Ukraine.

That was a 15 point surge from a December poll, and the most support for the country since the 38 percent level that it received in the August 2022 survey.

A majority (53 percent) of the respondents support Ukraine’s effort to reclaim land that Russia seized during the invasion. That’s up five points from the earlier poll.

The Gallup respondents are very wary about Russian leader Putin’s holding up his end of a potential peace deal. About eight-in-ten (79 percent) are very, or somewhat concerned that Putin would violate the terms of any agreement.

We apparently don’t have to worry about that, at the moment. Putin gave Trump nada in their well-publicized phone call on March 18.

He even upped the ante with a series of nonsensical demands on the Ukrainians in return for a ceasefire.

Our masterful dealmaker, however, did not come home empty. Putin promised his buddy that he would look into allowing a couple of hockey games between Russia and the US.

US retreats from global media battle. Trump’s disgraceful move to kill the Voice of America puts an end to this country’s 80-year heritage of supporting the free flow of information, and providing news to those who are censored in autocratic hellholes throughout the world.

Oddly, the best reason to continue VoA funding comes from an editorial in Global Times, which is the mouthpiece of the Chinese government.

GT took the VoA to task for reporting on human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province, supporting the Hong Kong rioters pressing for freedom, “hyping” China’s weaponization of the South Sea, outing the country's efforts to flood the world with cheap goods in order to spur growth at home, and exposing COVID-19 links to the Wuhan virus factory.

That’s a roster of worthy accomplishments, though GT begs to differ. “Almost every malicious falsehood about China has VoA fingerprints all over it,” it screams.

What did you expect? The Wall Street Journal ran an story about “The Collateral Damage of Trump’s Firing Spree.”

The story noted that rapid worker cutbacks have “impeded work at government sites across the country and spawning unintended consequences for services that Americans rely on.”

Did the editors at the WSJ think that places like the Depts. of Health and Human Services, Energy or Veterans Affairs run on auto-pilot.

It’s the 2.4M civilian employees who make the US government work. Get ready for the backlash to Musk's decimation of the federal workforce.