Parsing the president’s remarks on Ukraine war

Let’s parse what President Trump said about Ukraine earlier this week at Mar-a-Lago.

The president went on at some length about how many are being killed in the war and how horrible it all was. That part was true. However, he would not blame Russia.

He said the initial talks in Saudi Arabia were “very good” (of course) and opined that “Russia wants to do something — they want to stop the savage barbarism.” Let’s pause here and note that Russia has signed several accords beginning in 1994 — the Budapest Memorandum — promising to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty followed by the 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine, and the Minsk I and II agreements in 2014 and 2015 to stop the fighting in the Donbas. Russia has violated them all.

Let’s also note that the International Criminal Court has charged President Putin with war crimes.

Trump was asked if he would consider removing all U.S. forces from Europe as part of a deal. Trump responded that “no one has brought that up” and that he “wouldn’t want to do that,” but it was not an “absolutely not.”

He was asked if European troops in Ukraine might be part of the deal and the President thought that would be “fine” but no U.S. troops because “we are so far away.” Does the president know this is not the 18th century?

He was asked if he had a message for Ukrainians who are feeling betrayed because they have been left out of the initial talks and the president expressed disappointment in the Ukrainians. He suggested they have “had a seat for the past three years.” He suggested Ukraine could have “easily” made a deal. That is patently untrue unless one is speaking about capitulation. And he made his oft-repeated claim that the Russians would never have invaded if he had been president.

Of course, such statements come from a reality-free zone deep in his mind. Consider: Trump was president for four years while fighting raged in the Donbas and he did nothing to try to stop it. He did try to withhold aid to Ukraine to try to extort political dirt on his rival Joe Biden, and that led to his first impeachment because aides at the National Security Council were so appalled.

The president was asked about Russia forcing Ukraine to hold new presidential elections. President Zelenskyy was elected in April 2019 with 73% of the vote (now THAT’s a mandate) and holding elections when 20% of your country is occupied is, er, problematic. Trump said that Zelenskyy’s polling is down to 4%. The truth is, according to polling his popularity is in the low 50% range, a little higher than President Trump’s.

So, if the Ukrainians did try to hold an election under wartime conditions would Russia interfere, or might Elon Musk bankroll a candidate that the White House thinks is more pliable?

Next Trump claimed that President Zelenskyy does not know where half the U.S. aid to Ukraine has gone (not true) and that the U.S. has given $300-350 billion (not true, it’s $119 billion) and that the Europeans have given about $100 billion (too low, it’s $138 billion).

Then President Trump grew a little testy and said “you’ve (Ukraine) been there for three years. You should have ended it. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal.” Well, that is breathtaking. So, Ukraine started the war? Really? As lies go, that is a whopper. Then he disparaged President Zelenskyy and later in the week called him a “dictator.”

Who in the GOP will call President Trump out on his constant lies?

• Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86. His new book “American Dreams: The Story of the Cyprus Fulbright Commission” is available from Amazon.com.