Breathe
By Gabriela Sotomayor
As usual I was watching the news and suddenly I was listening to the meeting of the President of the United States Donald Trump with the first president of Ukraine Volodymir Zelensky. Everything seemed to be just another meeting with the press in which journalists shout (literally) their questions and officials answer the ones that suit them. But suddenly the meeting began to escalate, until it came to shouting and slapping. One of the reporters, if you can even call it that, asked Zelenski why he was dressed like that to go to the Oval Office of the White House. What else could go wrong? Well, the Republican vice-president, an admirer of the extreme right-wing ideology, got into the conversation and, in addition to showing off, demonstrated his ineptitude, his lack of practice for multilateral meetings and his total ignorance of what diplomacy is all about. Here I rescue part of the dialogue so that we never forget the day when the president and vice president of the United States humiliated and bullied the president of Ukraine, one of its most necessary allies because of its border with Russia, and worked in favor of the Soviet dictator Vladimir Putin.
Zelenski "Can I ask you something?"
Vance: "Of course. Yes."
Zelenski: "OK. So he (Putin) occupied parts of our country, large parts of Ukraine, parts of the east and Crimea. So he occupied them in 2014. For many years - I'm not just talking about Biden, back then there was (Barack) Obama, then President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, now President Trump. And God bless that now President Trump will stop it. But during 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. You know what -?"
Trump: "2015?"
Zelenski: "2014."
Trump: "Oh, 2014? I wasn't here."
Vance: "Exactly."
Zelenski: "Yes, but from 2014 to 2022, the situation has been the same: people have been dying on the contact line. Nobody stopped him. You know we had conversations with him, many conversations, my bilateral conversations. And we signed with him, I, as you, president, in 2019, I signed an agreement with him. I signed it with him, with (French President Emmanuel) Macron and (former German Chancellor Angela) Merkel. We signed a ceasefire. Ceasefire. Everybody told me he would never move forward..... But after that, he broke the ceasefire, killed our people and did not exchange prisoners. We signed the prisoner exchange. But he didn't. What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you talking about? What do you mean?"
Vance: "I'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that will end the destruction of your country. Mr. President, with all due respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to discuss this in front of the American media. Right now, you are sending recruits to the front line because you are having personnel problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to end this conflict."
Zelenski: "Have you ever been to Ukraine to say what problems we have?"
Vance: "I've been in-"
Zelenski: "Come once."
Vance: "In fact, I've seen and followed the stories, and I know that what they do is bring people in, take them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you dispute that they've had trouble recruiting people for their army?"
Zelenski: "We have problems-"
Vance: "And you think it's respectful to come into the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?"
Zelenski: "First of all, during the war, everyone has problems, even you. But you have a nice ocean and you don't feel it now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless you-"
Trump: "You don't know that. You don't know that. Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel."
Zelenski: "I'm not telling them. I'm answering these questions."
Trump: "Because you're not in a position to dictate that."
Vance: "That's exactly what you're doing."
Trump: "You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel. We're going to feel great."
Zelenski "They will be influenced."
Trump: "We will feel very good and very strong."
Zelenski: "I'm telling you. They will be influenced."
Trump: "Right now, you're not in a good position. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position-"
Zelenski: "Since the beginning of the war-"
Trump: "You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start holding cards."
Zelenski: "I am not playing cards. I am very serious, Mr. President. I am very serious."
Trump: "You're playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III."
J.D. Vance: "For four years, in the United States of America, we had a president who stood up at press conferences and talked tough about Vladimir Putin, and then Putin invaded Ukraine and destroyed a significant part of the country. The path to peace and prosperity perhaps is to engage in diplomacy. We tried the Joe Biden path, that of beating our chests and pretending that the words of the President of the United States mattered more than his actions. What makes America a good country is engaging in diplomacy. That's what President Trump is doing."
Volodymyr Zelenski: "He [Putin] occupied several parts of Ukraine in 2014. At that time, it was President Obama, then President Trump, then President Biden, and now it is President Trump and he will stop him [Putin]. But in 2014, nobody stopped him. He just occupied and took. He killed people. From 2014 to 2022, the situation was the same: people have been dying on the line of contact and nobody stopped him. We had many conversations with him, including a bilateral conversation. As a new president in 2019, I signed a ceasefire agreement with him together with Macron and Merkel. They all told me that it would never move forward. We also signed a gas contract with him. But after all that, he broke the ceasefire. He killed our people and did not exchange prisoners. We signed the prisoner exchange, but he didn't. What kind of diplomacy are you talking about, J.D. What do you mean?"
Vance: "I'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that will end the destruction of your country." (Zelenski begins to respond) "Mr. President, with all due respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to debate this in front of the American media. Right now, you are sending recruits to the front line because you are having personnel problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to end this conflict."
Zelenski: "Have you ever been to Ukraine to see what problems we have? Come once."
Vance: "In fact, I've seen and followed the stories, and I know what's going on is that they're bringing people on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you dispute that they've had trouble recruiting people for their military? And do you think it's respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that's trying to prevent the destruction of your country?"
And here, in this part of the heated discussion, is where Vance comes off as both a fool and terribly disrespectful to the figure of the president of the United States. Regardless of whether he likes Biden or not, the official should have absolute respect for the institution of the president of the most powerful country on Earth.
Zelenski: "I'm not doing it. I'm answering the question that..."
Trump: "You're in no position to dictate how we're going to feel. We're going to feel great."
Zelenski: "They are going to be influenced..."
Trump: "We're going to feel very good and very strong. Right now, you're not in a good position. You've allowed yourself to be put in a very bad position. You don't hold the cards right now with us." (Zelensky continues speaking) "You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World War III and what you're doing is very disrespectful to this country that has backed you far more than many people think it should have."
Vance: "Have you ever said thank you?"
Zelenski: "Many times."
Vance: "No, in this whole meeting, have you said thank you? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer a word of appreciation to the United States of America and the president who is trying to save your country."
Zelenski: "Please, if you think that speaking out loud..."
Trump: "You're not speaking out loud. Your country is in big trouble."
Zelenski: "I know. May I ask...?"
Trump: "No, no, you've talked too much. Your country is in big trouble."
Zelenski: "I know."
Trump: "You're not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out of this well because of us."
Zelenski: "Mr. President, we stand strong in our country. Since the beginning of the war we have been alone and we are thankful. I said thank you in this cabinet."
Trump: "We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment. Your men are brave, but they used our military equipment. If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks."
Zelenski: "In three days, yes. I heard it from Putin."
Trump: "It's going to be very difficult to do business this way."
Vance: "Just say thank you."
