LEMON DROP | Trump Meets with Putin to Discuss Ukraine -- Are We The Bad Guys Now?
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Why is Don Lemon asking 'Are we the bad guys now' after Trump met Putin?
I need to ask you a difficult and deeply unsettling question. Are we the bad guys now? Have we become the villains? Is America no longer a force for good on the global stage? I repeat, are we the bad guys now? Why am I asking you this? Let me explain. For three years now, the United States has stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine. declaring unwavering support for a sovereign nation fighting for its very survival against an unprovoked and illegal Russian invasion. We sent aid. We sent weapons. We put blue and yellow flags in our front yards. Remember, we said we stand with Ukraine. Well, this week, Donald Trump made it clear that that solidarity, it's over. Let me read to you what he posted on social media.
Think of it. A modestly successful comedian, Vladimir Zelensky, talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion to go into a war that couldn't be won, that never had to start, but a war that he, without the US and Trump, will never be able to settle. The United States has spent $200 billion more than Europe, and Europe's money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn't sleepy Joe Biden demand equalization and that this war is far more important to Europe than it is to us?
How did U.S. solidarity with Ukraine change in Trump’s recent statements?
We have a big, beautiful ocean as separation. On top of this, Zelensky admits to half of the money we sent him is missing. He refuses to have elections, is very low in Ukrainian polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden like a fiddle. A dictator without elections. Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia, something all admit only Trump and the Trump administration can do. Biden never tried. Europe has failed to bring peace, and Zelensky probably wants to keep the gravy train going. I love Ukraine, but Zelensky has done a terrible job. His country is shattered, and millions have unnecessarily died, and so it continues.
What the hell was that? What did I just read? There's so much to unpack here, but I just want to start with one word that Trump used, and that is dictator. He calls Zelensky a dictator? Not Vladimir Putin? Not the man who assassinates political opponents? Not the man who jails dissidents? Not the man who has invaded a sovereign neighbor and is committing war crimes in broad daylight? No, according to Trump, it is Zelensky who is the problem. The man trying to save his country. Now, we can argue about Zelensky's leadership style, but let's be clear here. Zelensky is not a dictator. He was democratically elected. And let's not forget that when Putin's tanks rolled towards Kiev in 2022, when Zelensky was offered a way out, his response was, I need ammunition, not a ride.
That is not a dictator. That is a wartime leader. And again... What's so rich is that Trump refuses, he absolutely refuses to ever apply that term to Vladimir Putin. Why is that?
What arguments did Trump make on social media about Zelensky and U.S. spending?
Why is it that the man who had nothing but praise for Putin, who called him smart and savvy, even as Russian bombs were falling on Ukrainian cities, why is he suddenly finding the language of condemnation when it comes to Ukraine's president? And that's not all. This week he had the gall to claim that Ukraine started the war.
And I think it's going very well. But today I heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine that would have given them almost all of the land Everything, almost all of the land, and no people would have been killed, and no city would have been demolished, and not one dome would have been knocked down. But they chose not to do it that way, and President Biden, in all fairness, he doesn't have a clue what he was so bad.
Are you kidding me? Are you actually kidding me? Ukraine was the aggressor? Ukraine could end the war whenever they wanted? Ukraine was invaded, you... Russia has kidnapped their children, ransacked their cities.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Why is Don Lemon asking 'Are we the bad guys now' after Trump met Putin?
0:00–1:23
2
How did U.S. solidarity with Ukraine change in Trump’s recent statements?
1:23–3:14
3
What arguments did Trump make on social media about Zelensky and U.S. spending?
3:14–9:25
4
Why does Don Lemon say calling Zelensky a 'dictator' is misleading?
9:25–9:29
Speakers
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