Friday’s televised spat in the Oval Office—the first in history— was between two presidents who owe their political success and place on the world stage to their time as hokey stars of the small screen.
As everyone in America knows, Donald Trump was the major figure in The Apprentice and then The Celebrity Apprentice from 2004 to 2015. The sibling reality shows projected a not-at-all-real image of Trump as a brilliant businessman and master artist of the deal. The illusion put him in the White House in 2016.
And, as everyone in Ukraine knows, Volodymyr Zelensky created, produced, and starred in the scripted show Servant of the People from 2015 to 2019. Zelensky’s character was a high school history teacher who is elevated to the nation’s president after one of his students makes a viral video of him denouncing widespread political corruption. Reality imitated art when Zelensky parlayed his fame into the presidency in 2019, winning by the biggest landslide in Ukrainian history.
Trump called the newly elected Zelensky and congratulated him on “a great victory.” Zelensky did not miss an opportunity to flatter the world’s most powerful narcissist, saying, “I would like to confess to you that I had an opportunity to learn from you. We used quite a few of your skills and knowledge and were able to use it as an example for our elections.”
For his part, Trump did not miss an opportunity to suggest that Zelensky assist former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in investigating Hunter Biden’s supposed crooked business dealings in Ukraine. Trump appeared to threaten to withhold military aid appropriated by Congress unless Zelensky cooperated.
Afterward, Trump described his conversation with Zelensky as a “perfect call.” The Democrats used it as a basis to impeach him. That joined Trump’s list of well-nursed grievances, along with his second impeachment and what he continues to insist was not a defeat in the “rigged” 2020 election. Trump’s seeming dislike of Zelensky was apparent when the two men sat down before news cameras in the Oval Office on Friday.
But Zelensky is no longer just a TV star who was anxious to please and quick to flatter. He has become the leader of a brave and determined nation desperately trying to defend itself against a murderous dictator.
“A killer,” Zelensky rightly calls Vladimir Putin.
Trump is still the Trump of The Apprentice—a TV guy more than anything, a showman and a show himself. He has boasted that he can end the war in Ukraine quickly through his magical dealmaking powers. He is seeking to do that by essentially giving Putin what he wants: let Russia keep the land it has seized and turn the front lines into a new border.
Also present was Vice President J.D. Vance, who had been a fledgling senator from Ohio when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.
“I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” Vance said at the time.
Vance now told Zelensky “the path to peace and the path to prosperity is, maybe, engaging in diplomacy.”
“What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy,” Vance added. “That’s what President Trump is doing.”
Zelensky said he had signed a cease-fire deal with Putin back in 2019, during an extended time of conflict before the all-out invasion.
“But after that, he broke the cease-fire,” Zelensky said. “He killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners, but he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, J.D., are you speaking about? What do you mean?”
Vance was, as always, ready to turn indignant.
“Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” he told Zelensky. “You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”
Here actual diplomacy would have called for Zelensky to immediately thank, thank, thank Trump, just as he repeatedly thanked Vance for American support when he met with the vice president at the Munich Security Conference two weeks ago.
But the moment passed. Trump decided he could not just let Zelensky “disrespect” him in the Oval Office. The meeting ended and Zelensky was asked to depart the White House and his subsequent thank-yous would not likely change anything. Trump asked the press to leave the Oval Office.
“I think we’ve seen enough,” Trump said.
The one-time star of The Apprentice then said of his meeting with the one-time star of Servant of the People, “This is going to be great television, I will say that.”
