Recently, ex-President Donald Trump released one of his most tone-deaf and frankly nauseating statements with regard to the ongoing, devastating war Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging against the country of Ukraine when he called on Ukraine to sit down and work out “some kind of an agreement” with Russia to bring an end to the brutal invasion and attack.
“It doesn’t make sense that Russia and Ukraine aren’t sitting down and working out some kind of an agreement,” Trump wrote in a Save America statement released on Twitter by his spokeswoman Liz Harrington. “If they don’t do it soon, there will be nothing left but death, destruction, and carnage. This is a war that never should have happened, but it did. The solution can never be as good as it would have been before the shooting started, but there is a solution, and it should be figured out now—not later—when everyone will be DEAD!”
The statement left a lot of Americans seeing red, as it certainly felt as though the disgraced ex-president was essentially calling on Ukraine and its people to pretty much give up and give in to his pal Putin to make the war end.
Trump has spent the entirety of this cataclysmic war trying to make himself the center of attention and repeatedly asserting that it never would have even happened if he’d been given the second presidential term he still believes and claims he won and deserves. This statement was certainly no exception, as it read as though he knows what’s best and everything would be fine and dandy if everyone would just listen to him.
With all that being said, a video clip has now resurfaced of an 18-minute media availability featuring then-President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy on September 25th, 2019 — the very same day that news of Trump’s “Perfect Call” to Zelenskyy that would go on to serve as the driving force behind his first impeachment in the House hit the media cycle — and it’s serving as a stark reminder, on the heels of his new statement, of what President Zelenskyy has seemingly always thought of America’s 45th president.
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The footage shows President Zelenskyy looking rather horrified during the 2019 media availability between the two world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York after Trump told the Ukrainian president, “I really hope that you and President Putin can get together and solve your problem.”
At the time, Vox reporter Aaron Rupar tweeted a thread of several video clips from the media availability, noting that Donald Trump spent the event shamelessly calling on Zelenskyy to “‘stop corruption in Ukraine’ – a phrase he’s used as code to investigate Biden.”
“I know a lot of people from Ukraine,” then-President Trump said. “They’re great people. I owned something called the Miss Universe pageants years ago … we had a winner from Ukraine … it’s a country with tremendous potential.”
The cringe-inducing resurfaced clip has now been viewed millions of times:
I forgot about this 😬 https://t.co/4diQGABzmW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 19, 2022
Rupar noted that Zelenskyy explained “on camera why he’s unwilling to do oppo research for Trump,” going on to add that it was “total madness” and was “hard not to feel somewhat sorry for the guy.”
that look when POTUS urges you to get together with the leader of a country that illegally invaded yours and is still occupying your territory pic.twitter.com/md8AIWsj1N
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2019
Several people on Twitter have pointed out how badly this already terrible interaction has aged, given the state of things now:
This is so freaking brutal from today’s vantage point. https://t.co/umSiYNPQQb
— Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) (@HC_Richardson) April 19, 2022
Everyone seems to be focusing on Zelenskyy’s face when all I can think of is where we’d be if that incompetent asshole was POTUS right now. And where Ukraine would be. https://t.co/tLg73KQA5p
— Bearded Boomer 🐻 🇺🇦 (@barefootboomer) April 19, 2022
People saying this looks bad now, I gotta tell ya, it did then too! https://t.co/sG1KhKkXH2
— zeddy (@Zeddary) April 19, 2022
Imagine Russian asset #Trump in the White House now… https://t.co/4HDjWd6FX8
— #My2CentsPolitics #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 (@AntiConfirmati1) April 20, 2022
— David M (@capdmoser2000) April 19, 2022
Look at them now… pic.twitter.com/h1IXmKqdW8
— some guy 🇺🇲 🇺🇦 (@plurality16) April 19, 2022
Never forget what Republican leadership looks like. America, how is this even on the table again? #MorningJoe https://t.co/MM3LxMSe3e
— Vader67 (@Vader671) April 20, 2022
That one didn’t age well, did it:https://t.co/TwQANbRos4@ketu0n @glashuettner
— MaxiTB (@_MaxiTB) April 20, 2022
All I can say is, thank God we are not under that man’s leadership right now. God only knows what mess we would be in.
Featured image via screen capture