"The status quo sucks." Trump's enemies would rather prolong the Ukraine war than let Trump get credit for ending it.

 Someday, the Ukraine war will end, and the outcome is predictable. Russia will retain Crimea and much of the Donbas. Ukraine will not join NATO but will get security guarantees from the United States and many Western European countries. Russia will promise not to invade its Western neighbors again.

The war can end now on these terms, or the war can stretch on for several years. In the end, however, after the killing has stopped, Russia will hold Crimea and much of the Donbas.

President Trump moved the peace process forward by forcing Ukrainian President Zelensky to face reality. The U.S. is not going to prop up the Ukraine military forever. 

Trump also pressured the Europeans to take more responsibility for their defense and actively participate in peace negotiations. Indeed, the Europeans recently put forward their own peace proposal.

In the U.S., the slimy D.C. swamp dwellers are doing all they can to prevent Trump from getting a peace deal. As I wrote yesterday, President Zelensky met with Senator Chris Murphy only a few minutes before going to the Oval Office to sign a mineral rights agreement with President Trump.

I do not know what was said between Zelensky and Senator Murphy, but the upshot of that meeting was that Zelensky went to the Oval Office, spoke rudely to President Trump, and refused to sign the mineral rights deal.

President Trump's political enemies, led by Senators Murphy, Blumenthal, and Schumer, prefer the status quo in Ukraine to peace. But, as the comedian George Carlin once remarked, "The status quo sucks."

Most Americans support President Trump's efforts to bring peace to Ukraine. If his efforts fail, they will place the blame where it belongs--on the insidious Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

As for Zelensky, he needs to realize that he will be jeopardizing his own safety if the war drags on. Russia launched a new hypersonic missile into Ukraine a while back, a weapon that the Russians claim is nearly impervious to Ukraine's anti-missile defenses. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he might aim his new missile at "decision-making centers" in Ukraine. What do you suppose he meant by that remark?

Senator Chris Murphy plays the demagogue. Photo credit: The Irish Times

Did Senator Chris Murphy sabotage President Trump's Oval Office meeting with President Zelensky to sign an important mineral rights agreement?

 Like an overprotective mother comforting a spoiled child, progressive Democratic politicians were quick to comfort President Vladimir Zelensky after his acrimonious meeting with President Trump last week. 

As widely reported, Zelensky appeared at the Oval Office to sign a mineral rights deal that would pave the way for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Zelenski behaved disrespectfully toward President Trump, and the mineral agreement didn't get signed. Indeed, the President sent Zelensky packing without feeding him lunch.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who never misses an opportunity to show Americans he's a grumpy, superfluous old geezer, said Americans are "embarrassed" and "ashamed' of President Trump for the way the President is handling the Ukraine war. Senator Chuck Schumer accused Trump of "doing Putin's dirty work," disingenuously implying that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are allies in the Ukraine war.

Senator Chris Murphy, whose attack on President Trump verged on hysteria, said this:

[Trump's Oval Office meeting with Zelensky] "was a planned ambush designed to embarrass President Zelensky to benefit Vladimir Putin. That was an embarrassment. That was an abomination. What you watched was American power being destroyed in the world as everybody watches President Trump become a lapdog for a brutal dictator in Moscow.

Indeed, Senator  Murphy may have deliberately undermined President Trump's effort to bring peace to Ukraine when he and perhaps some other Democratic senators met privately with Zelensky just minutes before the Russian president's scheduled meeting with Trump and Vice President Vance. 

According to the New York Post, Senator Murphy may have encouraged the Ukrainian president not to sign the mineral deal, which was the chief reason Zelensky was slated to meet with President Trump less than an hour later.

If the Post's surmise is accurate, then Senator Murphy used his meeting with Zelensky to undermine the Trump administration's diplomatic efforts to end three years of bloodshed in Ukraine.

In my view, Zelensky is a scoundrel, and Senator Murphy is a sneak. I would like to see the Ukrainians kick Zelensky out of office and the U.S. Senate censor Senator Murphy for attempting to sabotage Trump's noble effort to bring peace to Eastern Europe.

Thuggery afoot in Washington, DC

Reality bites: Trump and Vance aren't buying Zelensky's Joan of Arc routine

Yesterday, President Vladimir Zelenskyy arrived at the White House to sign a mineral rights deal with the United States. This deal was intended to be a prelude to a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, and the media was on hand in the Oval Office for the signing.

Zelensky apparently saw the event as an opportunity to chide the Americans for what he regarded as inadequate support for his nation in its war with Russia. Thus, the little Ukrainian showed up at the Oval Office wearing his signature pajama combat fatigues and a What-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude. Zelensky told President Trump and Vice President Vance that he wanted to end Ukraine's war with Russia but only on his terms, which included an open-ended American security guarantee for Ukraine in perpetuity.

Unfortunately, Zelensky overplayed his hand. The meeting imploded in heated recriminations, and Zelensky left the White House without signing the mineral rights agreement. 

The Democrats--never known to pass up an opportunity to bash Trump--chastised the President for mishandling the meeting and for failing to fully back Ukraine in its war with Russia. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy bluntly accused Trump of being "a lapdog" for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Here's my take on this imbroglio. First, the Trump White House should not have allowed the media to view the mineral rights signing event, given the possibility that Zelensky would go off script and embarrass the President.

Second, as several commentators noted, Zelensky failed to read the room. He woefully miscalculated when he lectured President Trump and VP Vance in front of the TV cameras.

Nevertheless, this little kerfuffle will blow over, and the Trump administration will eventually get a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Negotiations often have heated moments when one party or the other breaks off talks and stalks out of the room. Nevertheless, as football coach Darell Royal famously observed, you gotta dance with who brung you. Zelensky arrived at the Russian war with the U.S. by his side. Put another way, President Trump pays the orchestra, and he gets to call the tune.

"Laws are like sausages,' Otto Bismark is said to have remarked. "It is best not to see them being made.” For good or ill, Americans and the world got a glimpse of the messy negotiations to end Ukraine's disastrous war with Russia. We saw how the sausages get made, and it wasn't pretty.

I have confidence in Trump and Vance to end the bloody conflict in Ukraine. I believe a patriot must support our President as he tries to to bring peace and security to Europe.

Now is the time for the Democrats to set rancor aside and support Donald Trump as he deals with Zelensky and Russian President Putin. To undermine our popularly elected President during these delicate peace negotiations is to promote more bloodshed; in my mind, it is treason.