Zelensky, With Oval Office Petulance, Fails the Churchill Test
He did precisely the one thing against which the British prime minister long-ago warned.
President Zelensky falls short of the Churchillian when it comes to convincing America to save his country. Following today’s meeting at the White House, President Trump charges that the Ukrainian “disrespected” the Oval Office and America and could only “come back when he is ready for peace.”
The White House had planned to host the Ukrainians for lunch. Instead, Fox News reported that the Ukrainians were sent home hungry and the spread was served to the press. Foes of Mr. Trump are already blaming him. Blame, though, matters little to Ukrainians fighting and dying to resist Russia.
The diplomatic failure was clear in the way Ukraine’s ambassador, Oksana Markarova, reacted to Mr. Zelensky’s bullying, interruptions, and sarcasm. She buried her face in her hands and shook her head as he talked over Mr. Trump and Vice President Vance, choosing to argue rather than listen.
Ms. Markarova’s facepalm said that she, like Churchill, understood what Mr. Zelensky did not. An American president may be mocked and raged at in private. In public, though, with the fate of nations hanging in the balance, it’s best to “walk small,” as they said in the Old West.
Mr. Zelensky’s job at Washington was not to pout and lay down the law to Mr. Trump. Yet he crossed his arms in annoyance and threatened that America “will feel” Russia’s wrath if he doesn’t get what he wants. “Don’t tell us what we’re gonna feel,” Mr. Trump retorted. “We’re trying to solve a problem.”
Accused of being “aligned” with Russia, Mr. Trump bristled. “I’m not aligned with anybody,” he said. “I’m aligned with the United States of America. For the good of the world … I want to get this thing over with.” He said Mr. Zelenzy was not “acting at all thankful” and was “gambling with World War III.”
This echoed President Truman’s rebuke when he fired the Korean War commander, General Douglas MacArthur, who wanted to unleash nuclear weapons on Communist China. American soldiers lamented they were being asked to “die for a tie,” not total victory, but Truman avoided nuclear war by conceding territory.
“Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America,” Mr. Vance said as Mr. Zelensky listed his complaints, “and the president who’s trying to save your country, please.” The guest scoffed. “Have you ever been to Ukraine?” he asked. “Have you seen the problems we have? Come once.”
It’s hard to imagine something more counterproductive from Ukraine’s perspective — spraying the Oval Office with vinegar instead of honey. “I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy,” Mr. Trump said, “and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States. You’re either gonna make a deal or we’re out.”
That statement might have chastened a wiser man than Mr. Zelensky. Instead, he sank his teeth into the hand that feeds him. Mr. Vance said that the Ukrainian wanted to “litigate” his cause “in front of the American media,” something Churchill would never have done.
Churchill vented his frustrations with America and President Franklin Roosevelt in private. He urged “the Great Republic” to take a hard line against Adolf Hitler to no avail. He suffered years of Roosevelt’s ambassador to London, Joseph Kennedy — President Kennedy’s father — backing the Nazis at Britain’s expense.
Throughout the war, Churchill had to massage Roosevelt’s ego and prod him to do what was right for his cause. That was the price of Britain needing America more than America needed it. Mr. Zelensky is in the same position, but acts like the situations are reversed.
In 1943, at the Tehran Conference, Churchill saw Roosevelt tilting to Moscow the way Mr. Zelensky fears is happening under Mr. Trump. Roosevelt, who disliked the British Empire, mocked Churchill to curry favor with the Soviet party boss, Joseph Stalin. Churchill was hurt, but he had to grin and bear it.
It was this “realpolitik,” as I called it in the Sun on Tuesday, that Mr. Zelensky ought to have been prepared to face at Washington. Instead, he hurt his cause by being petulant. He seems to have learned his lesson. He tweeted “thank you” to Americans and Mr. Trump after the Oval Office disaster.
It’s unfair to burden anyone with being Churchill. Since Mr. Zelensky embraces the comparison, though, he ought to take the British bulldog’s advice before his next visit to the White House. “Never,” Churchill told Parliament upon his retirement in 1955, “be separated from the Americans.”
