Our View: Spartz takes Trump's side in Zelenskyy ambush
Embarrassing. Cringe-worthy. Shortsighted. Shameful.
These adjectives apply not just to the Donald Trump-JD Vance tag-team bullying of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday at the White House, but also to the comments of U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz about the episode.
A few hours after Trump and Vance publicly harangued Zelenskyy about his perceived lack of gratitude for the United States' military and monetary support in his country's war against the invading Russians, Spartz, who represents the Madison County area, sat for an interview at The Herald Bulletin.
The interview had been arranged to gauge Spartz's thoughts about the recent plight of her native land, Ukraine, as the three-year war with Russia drags on. We wanted to know her take on Trump's surreal assertion that Ukraine had started the war and her reaction to Trump's collaboration with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to award Russia parts of Ukrainian territory in a 'peace agreement.'
It's no secret that Spartz has been hypercritical of Zelenskyy, saying that he's a weak leader who failed to prepare his country for war.
But still, one could reasonably expect Spartz to stand up for her homeland just as you would expect anyone born and raised on American soil to defend the U.S. president if he were publicly ambushed by the leaders of another nation.
Even taking Spartz's personal ties to Ukraine out of the mix, couldn't we expect any independent-thinking member of Congress to condemn Trump and Vance for their petulant harassment of Zelenskyy?
Instead, here's what Spartz had to say: 'I don't think it's good for the Ukrainian people when their president (is) insulting and being offensive to the president of the United States. It's insulting to the American people. So I think it was a terrible idea. ... President Zelenskyy, himself, engaged in all that without having a reason to.'
OK, so what interview was Spartz watching?
From any objective viewpoint, Trump and Vance were clearly the aggressors and antagonists, springing a public trap and excoriating Zelenskyy. They essentially took an opportunity for good diplomacy and turned it into an unprovoked attack.
The Trump administration's handling of the war in Ukraine has been an outrage to American interests, emboldening Putin in this military conflict and encouraging future Russian land grabs.
The United States should be steadfastly on Ukraine's side. The Russians have gambled all along that American resolve to help Ukraine stave off the invasion would wane. But even Putin could only dream that the U.S. would become actively complicit in his international crimes.
The blind support of GOP leaders like Spartz enable Trump's preposterous, reality-bending politics.
Hoosiers demand better of their representatives in Congress.
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