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Welcome to The Logoff. Right now I’m specializing in a disastrous assembly between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The hostile dialog had fast penalties for Ukraine’s struggle effort and revealed a lot about how Trump sees the US’s new world function.
What occurred as a substitute? What started as a well mannered assembly devolved right into a de facto ambush after Zelenskyy questioned what would occur if Russia’s Vladimir Putin have been to interrupt a ceasefire. With cameras rolling, Trump and Vance berated Zelenskyy within the Oval Workplace, accusing him of ingratitude for US help. After the assembly, Zelenskyy left the White Home with the minerals deal unsigned, and Trump launched an announcement saying the Ukrainian may “come again when he’s prepared for Peace.”
What now? Trump says he’s nonetheless pursuing a peace deal, however after Friday, Ukraine appears prone to have even much less leverage. Ukraine’s key ask is a safety assure from the US — a request Putin opposes and Trump has resisted. Zelenskyy’s prospects are absolutely worse now than when he wakened this morning.
What’s the massive image? The assembly was a stunning show of Trump’s posture towards the world — and the unconventional break he represents from the US’s earlier function within the world order. In a matter of some extremely charged minutes, he flouted the delicate US-Ukraine alliance, publicly humiliated a overseas chief, sure himself much more tightly to Putin, and summed all of it up with: “That is gonna be nice tv — I’ll say that.”
And with that, it’s time to log out …
Watching that Trump-Vance-Zelenskyy video introduced me perilously near an anxiety-driven YouTube scroll session. I used to be rescued by Vox’s Right now, Defined podcast, which has an enchanting episode concerning the Oscars’ overseas movies class. Particularly, it’s a few “German” movie that was really (and secretly) filmed in Iran with Iranian actors and an Iranian director. I hope you get an opportunity to get pleasure from it.
Lastly, because of everybody who signed up for our new Saturday “Good Information” e-newsletter. In case you missed it yesterday, it’s a weekly dose of hope for these troubled instances. You can join right here. Have weekend, and I’ll see you again right here on Monday.
