Obama administration veteran and former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice doesn’t play around. She is about as experienced as any politician out there and most certainly has a nose for issues and folly. The Obama people were so much smarter than their critics and they remained wholly loyal to him over eight years, allowing much of the “No drama Obama” meme to hold true. It is Rice who came up with an observation that feels exactly right. I am mad that I didn’t write on it earlier on my own. According to Rice, the whole fight in the Oval Office was staged for Trump’s political purposes. Yes…
As I have written over and over again, JD Vance is the instigator of all this. Even though it was Trump who said the most troubling stuff and did so with the most anger, it was Vance who initially took the matter to an uncomfortable level. But it looked unnatural. Vice Presidents don’t interrupt state visits. Indeed, they are rarely heard from about anything. This one looked, well – staged, as Vance moved in. Rice noticed. From a report in Rawstory’
“Well, Wolf, in my estimation, it was a setup,” said Rice on Friday. “Let’s recall the sequence here. Zelensky reluctantly agreed to a bad deal regarding his mineral wealth for which he got nothing in exchange. Not as bad a deal as the original one that the Trump administration proposed, but still nothing in it for Ukraine. He nonetheless was prepared to sign it… So he came, hat in hand, to the Oval Office. Donald Trump kept the pool spray in there for 40 minutes, and was saying things that were outrageous that like, you know, Ukraine started the war and Russia is not the aggressor.”
If any part of that fight is going to really stick in history it will be Trump lecturing Zelensky about gambling with starting World War III – something that is wholly on Putin. And yet Putin gets praised.
“You clowns are up to the same old tired crap,” the ex-diplomat said. “When your guy screws up and royally embarrasses himself and the U.S., you try to change the subject and lie about a favorite target to distract and deflect. For the record, I have never met Zelenskyy and never spoken to him. Ever. Or advised him or anybody around him. It’s a shame that you contend that it is in the U.S. national interest to sell out Ukraine and suck up to Putin.”
You clowns are up to the same old tired crap. When your guy screws up and royally embarrasses himself and the U.S., you try to change the subject and lie about a favorite target to distract and deflect.
For the record, I have never met Zelenskyy and never spoken to him. Ever.… https://t.co/UHJHL1jrZR
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) March 1, 2025
The only troubling element in asserting that all this was staged is the fact that it went so far beyond anything anyone expected that it had a major impact on the EU, Canada, and Japan, with the U.K. and Germany both coming out in whole favor of Ukraine and pledging aid going forward. It is possible that Putin wanted something much lower-key in order to keep this moving toward what people think is an agreed on global settlement. We are nowhere close right now. But if you are going to stage a fight, one might want to think through the consequences. Still, it feels staged.
Nice job, Ambassador.
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I’ve seen stuff that indicates ‘Pootie’ isn’t pleased with what happened. He both wants and needs for NATO and the EU to be weakened to the point where infighting begins. Now, Trump has suddenly UNITED them! I think he learned his lesson after starting the war. One of his main goals was to break up NATO over time, and instead he caused two major countries which had famously stayed neutral to join NATO. Putin is old, and while at one point we thought he was dying he pulled through and is at least not dying anytime soon unless someone decides to give him a ‘9mm headache.’ Patience isn’t his virtue but with Trump back in the WH offering pretty much “thoughts and prayers” Europe and NATO wouldn’t be sure how to handle things.
That’s all over as of Friday. Europe KNOWS Trump and the U.S. can no longer be counted on. Drafts of contingency plans made during Trump’s first term will be dusted off and updated. And Europe has largely weaned itself off Russian energy so Putin can’t use that particular weapon against them with the same effect he could several years ago. NOT winning the war in Ukraine isn’t much better for Putin and Russia as admitting they lost and getting the hell out. Add in European leaders who at times in recent decades grown tired of idiot U.S. Presidents (don’t forget Bush 43) and they might well be ready to remove the U.S. and its President from the seat at the head of the table.
Putin wanted to sow division and provide enough ‘plausible deniability’ of coordination with Trump to take over Ukraine and then additional countries that were a “threat” to Russia. Trump went and pissed all that way in a matter of minutes.
Yes, it was a set up.I wrote that yesterday on this blog.
And it does nothing to help Trump. These guys think they’re so clever. They are so unmoored to any sense of dignity or decency that, they haven’t the slightest idea how things come across to theist majority of people in the world, who are more or less normal. They ‘re just digging the hole deeper.