US President Donald Trump and his vice president J.D. Vance hate Volodymyr Zelensky and will not visit Ukraine. There are three reasons for this, writes The Hill.
American historian and professor of political science Alexander Motyl writes ironically that God is even on the side of the fearless Trump, saving him from a bullet during an election rally in Pennsylvania. He and J.D. Vance behave like fearless politicians. Why then, even though Zelensky invited them to visit Ukraine, they do not do it?
The first reason is discomfort. Life at Mar-a-Lago has spoiled Trump, and it is much more pleasant for him to play golf in Florida than to go to a country where the Russian army carried out a full-scale invasion more than three years ago. It is far better and safer to shed crocodile tears over Russian “mistakes” – like the bombing of the center of Sumy on Palm Sunday – from the comfort of the White House.
The second reason is Trump and Vance's personal dislike of Ukrainian President Zelensky. They hate him. First – because Zelensky refused to cooperate in the case against Hunter Biden, and second – because in the eyes of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance he is a know-it-all who thinks he knows Ukraine better than them and does not hesitate to say so. After all, Trump is a genius and a know-it-all by definition.
The third reason has to do with the fear of God. Both Trump and Vance know enough about Christianity to appreciate that the Ten Commandments are not empty words but a set of moral precepts. And they should know that one of the commandments is about murder. They know deep down that by playing nice with an accused war criminal like Putin, a warmonger and genocidal instigator, they are effectively supporting the mass murder of Ukrainians.
To claim that both Russia and Ukraine have comparable and therefore morally neutral “strategic goals“ is absurd. Russia's goal is the destruction of Ukraine, while Ukraine's goal is survival. Trump and Vance would rather stay thousands of miles away from death and destruction. To sit in the cozy Oval Office, from which they can only read the statistics of the people killed.
Ultimately, all three factors play a role: Trump and Vance prefer comfort to hardship, dislike Ukraine, and feel some guilt for the crimes they openly support.
Don't expect them in Kiev anytime soon. Expect them in Moscow.