Can Ukraine Survive?

What happens to the country if Trump betrays Zelensky for Putin

During his 4+ years as President, Donald Trump perpetrated a countless series of regular (or so they became) outrages, along with a few dozen instances of Hall-of-Fame wickedness. But for sheer gut-wrenching, repulsive, run-for-the-exits putrescence, Trump’s Oval Office lambasting of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky feels like perhaps the single most repugnant Trump moment we have ever witnessed.

The tape will be studied by generations of historians for its classic Trump cocktail of vanity, grievance, mendacity, and flat-out surrealism. And it will be lampooned within hours. I’m looking forward to SNL’s Mikey Day playing Zelensky, growing increasingly incredulous at Trump’s nasty patter and little by little letting his bafflement and contempt show.

But as an ambushed Zelensky burst out when Trump tried to bully him by telling him he had “no cards,” “I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr. President.”

In a fireworks-like 10-minute display of socio- and psycho-pathologies, Trump brought shame on the country and made the world less stable.

After watching the episode, I canvassed a series of writers and commentators I respect to read their takes. A few of their comments:

Jon Alter: ”It was mortifying. It shamed the United States in the eyes of the world. It revealed us as a country that for the present has lost its sense of decency and respect for the good opinion of mankind as described in the Declaration of Independence.”

David Axelrod: “I love my country with all my heart and I've never been more embarrassed for America than the spectacle… in the oval office.”

Liz Cheney: "History will remember this day—when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for."

David Frum: “The pro-Trump party exposed its face to the world in the Oval Office today. Nobody who saw that face will ever forget the grotesque sight.

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On a practical level, Trump’s hysteria left us wondering what the abandonment of a brave ally and the embrace of a warmongering thug mean for Ukraine’s survival, let alone the subsequent safety of neighboring NATO countries. The dominant assessment of who won the dustup among Trump, Vance, and Zelensky was Vladimir Putin. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page summed it up: “Putin Wins the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office Spectacle.”

We do periodic foreign policy episodes for the Talking Feds podcast. As it happens, we published the most recent one last week. It’s a really terrific roundtable with Anne Applebaum, Michael McFaul, and Steve Sestanovich. And we got into an issue that today’s debacle brings to the forefront—namely, whether Ukraine can survive if Trump withdraws U.S. support. The answer from this great group of experts turns out to be more nuanced, and somewhat more heartening, than I had assumed. (One of the more fun aspects of hosting the podcast is learning something new and important in real time.) We are reproducing that part of the podcast here for those who want to learn more about the likely on-the-ground repercussions of Trump’s betrayal.

There are a few areas where we’ve passed the break-glass point and are living in an authoritarian regime. Foreign policy is now one of them.

Stay informed; stick to your guns; call out the lies.

Talk to you later.