Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

I felt sorry for Zelensky watching that and I think because English is not his native language made things very tough for him to speak diplomatically and try soften the atmosphere.

I haven't been following Trump, anyone be so kind as to give a quick rundown what the hell happened?

To my knowledge Zelensky was there to sign a deal to allow US access to the natural resources. What are the differences between the two men? Trump wants Ukraine to accept the new borders and not be allowed in Nato? Is Zelensky wanting to keep fighting until the old borders are restored?

Clueless is all I will say. The repercussions of this are huge.

One is a Russian stooge while the other is fighting for his country

Calling Zelensky a dictator while never bad mouthing his best mate Putin

Zelensky knows well the Russians will never keep their promise and wants insurances from USA that they will help when the Russians break the deal

Seems perfectly reasonable

What repercuassions?

WW3 doesn't happen as Zelenskyy wants?

For all the blathering and bollox spouting the conservatives in America do about free speech Reuters and the AP were banned from covering inside the Oval Office today yet a Russian run state “news” outlet was in attendance.

That JD Vance tramp has attacked Europe a lot recently for no free speech apparently while a news organisation was banned from the White House for not calling the Gulf of Mexico the made up term. When are reporters etc over there going to grow a set of balls and push back against the nonsense and point out the hypocrisy. The press over there are a joke.

Usa siding with putin and turning its back on its allies. Jesus christ why am I even responding to this. The whole world order changes. USA are basically Europe's enemy now.

Usa are no longer an ally and Russian influences have flipped the world order.

Just to comment on how significantly Zelensky is handling the PR game, in the last few hours the heads of several countries have expressed solidarity with Ukraine. So too has the EU Commission President Von der Leyen. And Zelensky is thanking each one of the individually as they post their support on Twitter. Country after country after country.

This after Vance trying to put Zelensky on the spot today suggesting he didn't say thanks when he should have.

Today was an epic day in the narrative of global politics. And for the first time in my lifetime, America actually looks isolated. That will be short term no doubt, but I've never seen it before.

And in the background, I think it was reported today that the economy has actually had negative growth for the last month. This is what the MAGA'ts voted for! Let there be no confusion about that, everyone saw what Trump was bringing to the party, the party is now in full flow.

No they're not.

Trump doesn't want anymore bullets fired or further lifes lost.

How can you argue that?

Because Trump doesn't give a sh*t about lives lost or the manner in which that happens.

If he did he wouldn't be treating Gaza like an abandoned building site and talking about moving the 2M people who wish to call it home to some other arbitrary spot.

And he wouldn't threaten people with things like "All hell breaking loose" if they didn't do what he wanted like he did over the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.

The amount of actual lives Trump gives a toss about are numbered in the low 3 digits.

I am coming to the opinion that Zelensky was told to pull the plug. Macron and Starmer were over and tried to reason with Trump. Trump wants Ukrainian natural resources but refused to commit a peace keeping force. Did Starmer and Macron say F@@k this.

Very unusual that Micheal Martin's itinerary changes yesterday. Information like that would not be relayed over a phone line.

Very interesting to hear Micheal Martin tonight on the LLS. Saying how the EU has significant sactions on Russia and that Russia was not as strong as many believed.

Russia has a population of 150 million, the EU 450 million. The EU has a much bigger industrial base that Russia. In the American Civil war, at the start the Confederates had the better army and leaders, but it did not have a significant industrial base. The North had the population and industrial base. There was ever going to be one winner

There are a large number of countries who would love to tell Trump and Vance to shag off. The reasons that they don't is because of the economic and military might of the US. The US is at a tipping point and the next elections are vital. If they continue to follow the Trump/Vance route with tariffs, America First etc., the US and Europe will end up as rival superpowers. If sense prevails, they will continue as allies. I never thought it would come to this, that a country which has been the leader of the free world, would side with Russia over an ally.

Carla Sands Republican on BBC had a journalist shaking his head in disbelief when he asked her “Who caused the war in Ukraine?”

Sands answered “Joe Biden!”

Zelenskyy has a higher work load than Trump and Vance combined and an ego smaller than the parts that make Trump and Vance male.

A clearly planned dressing down by Trump and Vance, despite Vance's lawyerly accusation that Zelenskyy was trying to litigate in front of the media. I expected a meeting between the capitals to get the Trump deal finalized only to see Trump has arranged a public lynching of Zelenskyy in front of the world media in the Oval Office.

Since a few days ago, the media only gets access to the Trump White House and Air Force One with Trumps permission.