While a number of Republicans and a large contingent of traditional U.S. allies have expressed outrage at the White House blowup between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, some Republicans rejoiced at the controversial spectacle.
Despite worldwide condemnation of Trump and Vance’s behavior, many Republicans from around the country were delighted with the showing and used the furore as an opportunity to commend the 47th president.
MAGA Republicans in Congress said the meeting showed off the “America First” point of view. Others saw it as a reason to end American aid to Ukraine.
Republican Kansas Senator Roger Marshall reposted a video of the interaction on X and added: “Not another penny.”
“From the beginning of this war, I’ve made it clear where I stand: Peace. Zelensky has been a bad actor from the start,” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. “What we saw today is the culmination of an arrogant small man’s ego FINALLY meeting world leaders who won’t put up with it. God Bless President Trump and Vice President Vance!!”
“Zelenskyy just learned that Donald Trump and JD Vance are not Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert added.
“Job well done by @realDonaldTrump and our VP @JDVance. Give respect to get respect,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said.
“President Zelenskyy had an epic meltdown in the Oval Office—he crashed and burned,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas argued. “This will go down as one of the most disastrous Oval Office meetings in our nation’s history.”
Two White House officials said Trump asked Zelensky to leave the complex after the botched talks, according to Politico. No mineral deal was signed. The planned press conference was canceled.
At the White House, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters that the meeting was an “utter disaster” and that he had told the Ukrainian leader not to “take the bait” by arguing with the president.
“I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again … The way he handled the meeting, the way he confronted the president was just over the top,” said Graham. “He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with or he needs to change.”
Amid widespread allegations of a “setup” targeting the Ukrainian leader, former U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Daniel Fried, told Politico that “The American side seemed to be intent on provoking a fight.”
Zelensky visited Washington partly to sign a mineral deal that both the Americans and Ukrainians said they planned to complete on Friday.
“To have that kind of a blow up in the Oval Office when you’re getting what you demanded, which is a signature on the minerals deal, cannot be easily explained or understood in terms of American interest,” Fried added.
One White House aide denied that the criticism against Zelensky was pre-meditated.
“Going in, everyone was expecting the exact opposite of what happened in the Oval,” the aide told Politico.
The mineral deal was intended to get Ukraine to share some of the country’s mineral wealth with the U.S., with Zelensky pushing for security guarantees from the U.S. as part of the negotiations. But the chat in front of the cameras in the Oval Office went awry when the vice president stepped in to argue for a diplomatic end to the war.
Zelensky grew angry as he pointed to a number of failed diplomatic attempts to get to a ceasefire in the conflict on eastern Ukraine, which has been ongoing since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula in the Black Sea. Then, Trump and Zelensky began to talk over each other.
“You’re gambling with World War III,” said Trump as Vance pushed Zelensky to show more gratitude for American support.
“Have you said ‘thank you’ once?” Vance asked.
