The Trump Show

I watched in disbelief as Trump and Vance scolded Zelenskyy like he was a naughty schoolboy when he tried to set the record straight. It was a gross admonishment and if I didn't see through Trump I might not suspect that the whole situation in the oval office was scripted for The Trump show. This is exactly what it is; a new kind of twisted reality show. Perhaps I have grown so distrustful of him that I can't help but think that this whole interaction was very purposefully done in front of the press, and I might add, the press that Trump allows in, but it's kind of obvious. He even said it would make "great TV".

What is also obvious is that Trump and his cohorts are despicably exploiting Zelenskyy's position, He made it very clear. " Without us, you don't have any cards." Trump said suggesting the Ukraine was playing a game.

He doesn't like being disagreed with particularly in the public eye and you could clearly see that when Vance's tone got loud and forceful, it incited Trump and vice versa. They escalated the more Zelenskyy spoke. They caused a division that was never there before and blamed it on Zelenskyy because he was trying to relay the facts of the situation. It was a horrendous means of "diplomacy", or moreover, public humiliation and intimidation, and was truly disgusting to watch the so called "leader of the free world" treat a dignitary, friend and ally in this manner.

It is clearly important to Trump that he be above everyone else. There is no equality in his eyes, no equal ground. No leader to leader. It's just a game to him, knowing that he holds a better position than the Ukraine and other, smaller countries and he is willing to exploit them for it. I can't express my disdain for both Trump and Vance adequately now. They are both bringing so much hate and division into this world and twisting it to say everyone else (particularly those that disagree with them) are the haters and dividers. It's a psychological game show and they have an awful lot of people who have been fooled in to playing it.

Imagine a world where the US was no longer a western ally which is certainly what it's shaping up to look like, and we are the direct neighbour. We have to share and cooperate with them. How do you cooperate though, with someone who doesn't seem to understand the meaning of that word? Who only sees strength in strong arming and brute force; who sees regular channels of diplomacy as weak. How do you deal with someone like that? Zelenskyy must have known he was making a deal with the devil. He never looked comfortable with the minerals deal especially considering there were no security guarantees from the US. One could clearly see he didn't feel right about it. And rightly so.

The Ukraine used to have nuclear weapons. In fact, they had the third largest nuclear weapon cache in the world. They denuclearized in 1994 in exchange for economic compensation and assurances from Russia, the US and the UK to respect Ukrainian independence and sovereignty, with security assurances expected. Years later, Russia would invade them. If Ukraine had have kept their weapons, they may not be in this position today. If the US or Russia had have respected the treaty made, we would also, not be where we are today, but Russia invaded then, and again in 2014, disregarding the treaty proving that the word of Russia means nothing under Putin's rule and the word of the US is now in question too.

Now, with the mineral deal dying, the US seems to have bowed out of helping Ukraine in any approximation, bringing the rest of the western world together in unity against it, but with the US being the super power that it is, we still have to find a path to diplomacy. It feels a bit like groveling at this point to be honest, but thankfully, Canadians don't grovel and neither do Ukrainians. Our governments, despite their precarious positions, have been hard at work trying to reach sensical counterparts and those that still value cooperation. Those that may see the danger in the road the US is on.

It is so obvious now that this is exactly what Putin wants and probably has planned all along, by stroking the Donald's ego and whispering sweet nothings of being an emperor, or king; to divide the West. We are steadfast though, and we are resilient, and our leaders have come together to fight this new evil alight in the world. Zelenskyy does not stand alone as Trump so fervently suggested. His was a sickening display of psychological warfare which is exactly what Trump has imposed on half of the population of the states. Half, or maybe more than half now, disagree with Trump. We need to remember that, and keep our anger from getting to our own humanity as hard as that may be in the face of the treatment we and other countries around the world have received thus far. As the Dalai Lama explains though, anger can serve a purpose especially in the case of injustice. As much as I wanted to see a peace deal for the Ukrainian people, I also hoped that Zelenskyy would tell the Donald to eat sh*t with his proposed mineral deal. He and the Ukrainian people deserve better. They are not only fighting for themselves, but they are fighting for the free world. At the very least, we should help them.

Now in Canada's case, we are staring down the barrel of punishing tariffs that keep changing over the course of these long four weeks. Government officials are scrambling from meeting to meeting in Washington, imploring law makers and politicians to see the nonsense these tariffs will cause. Lost jobs, rising prices, not to mention a heavy loss of trust and fresh divisions, even among their own people, let alone us. Mark Miller, our Canadian Immigration Minister said today that there was "a demystification process" that is happening when our leaders visit the states. Some of their leaders have no idea how interconnected our trade and our relationship really is. In essence- they've been mystified to use his own words. Or hoodwinked as I see it. These policies will impose a great amount of suffering on both sides of the border and will weaken our position against Russia and China. What I see happening now that we've shown our solidarity with Ukraine, the UK and France among others, is despite the economic absurdity these policies display, he will impose tariffs anyway to get back at us for uniting with them and to make him feel tough. Time will tell. His latest Truth Social post just suggested that we "have fun!" (with the tariffs)What an asshole. The Trump Show is on full display.

There can be no denying that we are on a precipice. Democracy is at stake. I'd hoped that we would never see war, economic or otherwise in our lifetimes, but it seems closer than ever before despite all of the lessons our collective people have fought and died together learning. Of course, I pray that never happens but my gut tells me we are on a knife's edge.