This column is about how Washington and Kyiv got to that moment Friday when President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to leave the White House after a contentious meeting.
The rift between Trump and Zelenskyy, according to the usual media narrative, erupted during a July 25, 2019, phone call. Short take: President Trump tried to bully Zelenskyy to go after campaign rival Joe Biden, but valiant whistleblowers inside the intelligence community brought Trump's heavy-handed ways to light.
That's just wrong.
As Fred Lucas, manager of investigations for the conservative Daily Signal and author of Abuse of Power: Inside the Three-Year Campaign to Impeach Donald Trump, put it, "The Democrats were desperate to find a reason to impeach Trump that year, for something, anything, and so they glommed onto this."
Alexander Vindman was the top Ukraine expert in the National Security Council at the listened-in-on 2019 call. Shortly thereafter, a whistleblower wrote a memo about an administration official who asserted Trump used the call "to persuade Ukrainian authorities to investigate his political rivals" — Joe Biden and his family.
The memo also said that Zelenskyy "reluctantly agreed" to a meeting with then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
But a reconstructed transcript of the 2019 call released by the Trump White House told a different story.
On the call, the two presidents were chummy. "I think I should run more often so you can call me more often and we can talk over the phone more often," the Ukrainian leader told the American president.
Both presidents agreed that western European nations were weak allies to Ukraine. "They are not enforcing the sanctions," Zelenskyy observed. "They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine."
Remember that the next time you watch the likes of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer glad-handing Zelenskyy.
Another tidbit from the transcript: It was Zelenskyy who offered to meet with Giuliani if he came to Ukraine — after expressing his hope that Giuliani could make it to his country. The "reluctantly" line in the memo doesn't fit the transcript.
There is a partisan element to the rift between Kyiv and Trump's Washington.
Democrats have been happy to jump on Trump for not rushing aid to Ukraine.
During the Oval Office meet, Vice President JD Vance pounced on Zelenskyy for stumping for the Democrats in Pennsylvania during the 2024 election. Let's just say that rooting for the losing team was not Zelenskyy's shrewdest move. Did he think Trump would forget?
Yes, Zelenskyy was too combative Friday. With the whole world watching, he failed to express proper gratitude for U.S. aid to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression.
As Cliff May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told me, Zelenskyy "should have been smiling, say thank you, go to lunch, get in the car and go."
But he didn't. Now, May added, "he has to apologize."
Trump paused military aid to Ukraine, and Zelenskyy posted on X that it was "regrettable" the meeting happened as it did. Oh, and he's now ready to sign a minerals deal.
There is a hearty thank you in here somewhere: "We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence," Zelenskyy posted on X. "And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this."
Trump has been able to use Zelenskyy's posture at a meeting as a rationale for withholding more funds needed to check Putin's deadly assault on an ally. While the president warned Zelenskyy was "gambling with World War III," Trump, too, is gambling with World War III.
I hope he knows what he's doing. Because the fact that he handled a meeting better than a beleaguered Eastern European leader who has been at war for three years doesn't mean he is doing the right thing.
Debra J. Saunders is a fellow with Discovery Institute's Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. She has worked for more than 30 years covering politics as well as American culture, the media, the criminal justice system, and dubious trends in public schools and universities. Read Debra J. Saunders' Reports — More Here.