Malhuret Speech

Totally disgusted. That was my reaction to the conduct of our President and Vice President in their February 28, 2025, White House meeting with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. I heard it all, but I did not get all that Dr. Tim Synder of Yale picked up on. His is a trained and studied eye. He saw extreme antisemitism.

How small Donald Trump has made himself in the world’s view. President Zelenskyy was shouted down and was stopped pointedly from presenting his case.

I had a sense of a true statesman being confronted by two, very small douchebags. But then, Ukraine, says Putin, does not really exist and the world is slap full of wealthy, self-aggrandizing douchebags.

But another theme of the douchebagging propaganda is that Zelenskyy is not actually the president of Ukraine. These two bizarre ideas work together: Ukraine is artificial. It exists due to a Jewish conspiracy.

The fact that a Jew leads Ukraine confirms for Russian fascists both the unreality of Ukraine and the reality of a conspiracy. What we have not considered: in the history of Russia’s pogroms we see the extremes of antisemitism.

Jewish children killed in Russia’s 1906 pogrom. Jews were only allowed to live in the Pale, a region of far western Russia. They could not leave that region.

This Russian regime perspective is implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) antisemitic. Russian propaganda treats Zelenskyy as obsessed with money and as subhuman, i.e., stereotype slurs.

Zelenskyy was elected on a peace platform in 2019, but Putin did not want to talk to him. Putin did not think that Zelenskyy showed him enough deference (obligingness), 5 years after Putin annexed Crimea.

And in the White House on February 28, 2025. Trump and Vance did not want to hear from Zelenskyy. They rudely told him to shut up multiple times in multiple ways. Let me explain that. Trump and Vance had marching orders from Putin. They were there to tell Zelenskyy what Putin said. That was the sucker deal offered by The Boss, Putin.

Putin had annexed Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, and would not withdraw. The Russian regime that ordered the full scale invasion in 2022 is itself a fascist dictatorship. Putin answers only to Putin.

At the White House, Zelenskyy, Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Brian Glenn tied up in battle. Three antisemites faced one Jew. Glenn tied up by regarding with distain Zelenskyy’s attire. As everyone in the room in fact knew, what Zelenskyy was wearing was meant as an expression of solidarity with a people at war. It was not so unlike what Churchill wore in the White House in 1942. (Churchill was not Jewish.)

What Dr. Tim Synder, with studied eye, saw: non-Jews trying to intimidate and humiliate a Jew. Three against one. A roomful against one. An antisemitic scene. Had you even thought that regarding that bizarre, less than diplomatic confrontation? I had not, but I see it now.

Revolting, Repugnant, Repulsive Rubio Revisionism. After this damningly emotional picture of Department of State Secretary Marco Rubio during the meeting hit the airwaves, Rubio knew he was in big trouble with the boss and faced being called “Liddle Marco” again in public.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, until a month ago a hawk on Ukraine, slumped deeply into Vance’s recreational couch as the meeting with Zelenskyy imploded. Rubio appeared to be slumping further into his jacket to hide.

Rubio later the same day berated the Ukrainian president on TV while exalting Trump and Vance for protecting America’s newly contrived unAmerican values.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office devolved into “fiasco”.

The only fiasco was before Zelenskyy arrived, and that turned out to be getting Vance to sit on the couch properly.

Vance unbelievably questioned whether the Ukrainian leader really wants peace in the country’s 3-year war with Russia. That pointed barb, an unfounded and sleazy mischaracterization, is the definition of insanity.

Rubio said on TV that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should apologize after the meeting. I saw the meeting differently.

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Rubio called on Zelenskyy to “apologize for turning this thing into the fiasco for him that it became,”…“There was no need for him to go in there and become antagonistic,” Rubio said Friday on “The Source.”

Zelenskyy neither turned it into a fiasco, nor became antagonistic, though Trump and Vance were so—decidedly antagonistic. (I published on March 4, 2025, the entire transcript in a previous post. Why? I expected them to lie and use hyperbole. It is who they are.) See for yourself.

TRANSCRIPT

“When you start talking about that aggressively – and the president is a deal maker, he made deals his entire life – you’re not going to get people to the table,” Rubio told Collins.

“…talking about that aggressively” was patently not what Zelenskyy did. Having been told to shut up, Zelenskyy was civil and remained composed, like a true statesman. His personal conduct was exemplary.

It was Trump and Vance’s wrongful, highly aggressive, inflammatory conduct that provoked the altercation. Trump and Vance shouted to interrupt Zelenskyy from speaking. They shut Zelenskyy down immediately after Zelenskyy had laid out Putin’s sorry records of reneging on previous cease fire accords with Ukraine.

Worldwide, Zelenskyy has become a hero for standing up to and fighting to a standstill a totalitarian dictatorship superpower. He has the support of the majority of Americans.

After Vance said the path toward peace and prosperity “is, maybe, engaging in diplomacy,” Zelensky had responded by rattling off a series of diplomatic engagements Putin participated in and reneged on before his 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskyy laid out the events only, then asked, “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?”

Red-faced Vance turned belligerent and loudly called Ukraine’s leader “disrespectful” for trying “to litigate this in front of the American media.” Vance deflected to protect Putin and to keep Zelenskyy from revealing more.

Vance DID NOT answer Zelenskyy’s question. Vance deflected and turned obnoxiously accusatory: castigating Zelenskyy for using conscripts as if in wartime that is a negative. Asinine. My summary take is bulleted below, my source at the button.

CASUALTIES

Russian soldiers killed and wounded:

• 200,000 killed

• 700,000 wounded

Ukraine soldiers killed and wounded:

• 80,000 killed

• 400,000 wounded

Ukraine has returned half of its wounded to the battlefield, more seasoned warfighters.

Sorry, but the meeting transcript trumps revisionist Rubio’s revolting lies.

• Vance: Have you said thank you once?

• Zelenskyy: A lot of times.

• Vance: No, in this entire meeting, have you said thank you? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.

• Zelenskyy: Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly…

• Trump: He is not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.

• Zelenskyy: I know. Can I ask…

• Trump (interrupting): No, no, you’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.

It is at that point where Zelenskyy should have slapped Trump’s face, imo. Zelenskyy had been able to do very little talking. I should count the words to show the stark imbalance, but it is so visually obvious by looking at the provided transcript.

You see, Trump and Vance had marching orders from Putin and could not let Zelenskyy speak truth because the truth is too damning. It is obviously Putin’s sucker deal that Trump and Vance were there to try and shove down Zelenskyy’s throat.

So Vance attacked Zelenskyy to shut him up quickly. In that manner, Vance could keep Zelenskyy from going further down the rabbit hole of showing Putin not keeping any agreements with Ukraine. Vance did not want that aired in front of the American people, and said so directly. But Vance said the negative, mischaracterizing words “litigate that”. Exposing historical facts is not litigating diddly-squat.

There is damning information worldwide that says Putin is a crook; that Putin is a murderer; that Putin is an empiric invader of other countries; that Putin is an assassin of political opponents and dissidents; that Putin does not keep his word; and that Putin sponsors oligarchy. And Trump and Vance came armed with only Putin’s sucker deal from the meeting in Saudi Arabia. Egregious diplomacy!

It has been obvious since 2018 that Trump answers to Putin. To put America in this embarrassing situation is a moral travesty played out on the world stage. Our NATO allies saw it and are moving on it.

Our European allies quickly filled in the void. They know Zelenskyy and Ukraine have eaten Russia’s lunch, and that has made each of the NATO countries more secure.

To knock Zelenskyy into submissiveness during the meeting, Trump and Vance castigated the Ukrainian leader for a contrived fault: insufficient gratitude for the aid the US has already provided for Ukraine. I call BS. Zelenskyy has been demonstrably grateful.

They also accused Zelenskyy of over-playing his ability to negotiate. You know. The “You don’t have the cards.” routine. Zelenskyy has only held Russia to a stalemate for 3 years. I call BS again. Ukraine has absorbed and depleted Russia’s conventional warfare might, and Russia has had to infill its depleted ranks with North Korean troops.

Rubio said the meeting went “off the rails”. “That active, open undermining of efforts to bring about peace is deeply frustrating for everyone who’s been involved in communications with them leading up to today, and I think he should apologize for wasting our time for a meeting that was going to end the way it did,” the secretary said.

“Active, open undermining of efforts”? Trump and Vance did that, not Zelenskyy. “Wasting our time” Zelenskyy was stripped of his time by overbearingly rude hosts. “Was going to end the way it did”? Who could foresee Trump and Vance’s malicious misconduct and their huge gaffes.

Please. “That active, open undermining of efforts to bring about peace” is seen only in the bombastic actions of Donald Trump and JD Vance.

To get Vladimir Putin to a table to discuss whether there’s an opportunity for peace, Rubio said. “You’re not going to do it by calling them names.” The transcript has no Putin name calling at all. None. Zero. Nada. So much for Revolting, Repugnant, Repulsive Rubio Revisionism, aka blatant sycophancy. I remain disgusted with America’s most senior “diplomats”. I get sick even calling them diplomats.

In the meeting when Zelenskyy said things that were true, he was immediately cut off mid-sentence and shouted down. Zelenskyy was called a propagandist by Vice President Vance. The Americans portrayed themselves as the real heroes because they provided some of the weapons, but it was Zelenskyy in the battle facing the guns who cried out courageously, “I need ammunition, not a ride!” Real courage.

In this meeting, suffering of Ukrainians went unmentioned, though Zelenskyy invited Vance to visit Ukraine. The government in Kyiv estimates that at least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported and forcibly displaced from their homes to Russia and Russian-occupied territories since the full scale invasion began in February 2022, and of those only 388 have returned home.

Declining the visit invitation, Vance insultingly countered he was not interested in “propaganda tours”. Does that sound like a diplomat to you?

Vance portrayed Americans as the real victims having paid for weapons given as aid to Ukraine. It was all, bizarrely, about money. Trump himself made up the amount “owed”, $350 billion. Rubio’s Department of State says Ukraine has been given approximately $69.2 billion in U.S. military assistance since Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

Trump and Vance portrayed Zelenskyy as a beggar taking our cash, giving us nothing in return, ripping us off. Zelenskyy was also mocked for not knowing how to dress for the space, as not belonging. Childish, schoolyard behavior, an embarrassing and unwarranted attack on a courageous soldier.

Zelenskyy’s deference (obliging) was demanded. Yes, demanded by one who was not wanting to “litigate this before the American people and the media”. Trying to paint Zelenskyy negatively as an ingrate, Vance asked "Have you said thank you once?" "Offer some words of appreciation." For Vance, that was in fact “…to litigate this before the American people and the media.” I call BS again.

As always with antisemitism, facts are no defense. Zelenskyy consistently thanks Americans. He is the elected president of an at-war country that is a democratic republic under a constitution. Zelenskyy won the last election with 73% of the vote. His current approval rating is 68%. In another election, he would undoubtedly win.

Then Zelenskyy was thrown out of the White House, and told to resign his office as president of Ukraine. From Thom Hartmann:

Columnist Thomas Friedman noted on Joe Scarborough‘s TV program yesterday that he believes there’s some sort of a “dirty deal” between Trump and Putin around Ukraine. We may have just seen the first stages of it: Trump ordered the UK and the three other “Five Eyes” English-speaking nations (Canada, New Zealand, Australia) that share intelligence with the United States to not give any information derived from American intelligence sources to Ukraine to help them ward off missile or land-based attacks by the bloodthirsty dictator in Moscow.

Trump then had a delegation visit Zelenskyy’s two opposition opponents in Ukraine to try to entice them to hold elections. Ukraine has no appetite for elections until martial law is lifted. That is Ukraine’s business, not ours, and I do not think we should interfere in their sovereignty.

Ukrainians suffering, sadly, is all too real. Russian torture chambers and mass graves from the executions are documented. The kidnapped children must be returned and the destroyed cities require remediation.

Zelenskyy has been personally courageous. He stayed in Kyiv when everyone expected him to flee. He visits the front on a regular basis.

The U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine were aid, and aid is not a loan. Trump wants to mischaracterize the aid to underpin a classic Trump grift. You owe me! Trump might can turn this into a buck.

To conclude that the scene in the White House was antisemitic, one does not need to know much. It's all right there: the demand for deference (obliging), the obsession with money, the claims of corruption and dishonesty, the encirclement, the loud voices, the bizarre grievances, the shout-down, double-team yelling, the underlying sense that a Jewish person does not fit, must be silenced, and must be expelled. The content and context were evocative enough, recalling in those the same ones seen as the historical markers of antisemitism.

Jewish origins; and the particular way Zelenskyy was treated by non-Jews requires examining each of the non-Jew individuals who sought to humiliate Zelenskyy. This provides further clarity:

• Antisemite Brian Glenn, the far-right conspiracy theorist who questioned Zelenskyy’s attire, has ties to Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for promoting fringe theories and defending Russian propaganda.

• Antisemite JD Vance, who accused Zelenskyy of propaganda and demanded deference (obliging), had recently endorsed Germany’s far-right movement. Vance’s portrayal of Zelenskyy as corrupt and a propagandist lacks evidence, relying instead on internet-driven narratives.

• Antisemite Donald Trump, who framed Americans as the true heroes, has made controversial statements, including holding Jews accountable for electoral outcomes.

• Antisemite Elon Musk, who supports far-right movements globally and has adapted his platform to accommodate extremist views, has propagated antisemitic tropes by labeling Zelenskyy a grifter.

These people collectively reflect a broader pattern of hostility and misinformation against Jews. There are more in U.S. leadership.

Since last Friday, Republican leaders have increasingly scapegoated Zelenskyy, reinforcing narratives that align with antisemitic tropes. They have blamed Zelenskyy for decisions they themselves made, such as withholding weapons and intelligence from Ukraine, actions that benefit Russia and endanger Ukrainian lives. This scapegoating takes on an antisemitic tone, ludicrously framing Zelenskyy’s appearance and demeanor as justification for strategic choices, while shifting responsibility onto him as a Jewish leader. Media figures and political leaders have questioned Zelenskyy’s legitimacy, called for his resignation, and amplified demands for his removal.

Elon Musk has joined in, using derogatory language and advocating for Zelenskyy’s replacement. These actions reflect a troubling pattern of targeting Zelenskyy, both in form and content, while deflecting accountability for their own antisemitism and policies.

Musk makes no secret of his sentiments.

At the core of this situation lies a deeply flawed assumption that is both antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian: the belief that Zelenskyy’s resignation would end the war. It would not. It is only the instigators—aggressors Putin and Russia—that can end this war. How? Withdraw.

The deeply-flawed Putin-Trump-Vance coalition’s narrative ignores reality: Ukrainians are actively defending their homeland from an invader. Ukrainians play defense, responding to an unprovoked invasion by an imperialistic aggressor.

Zelenskyy himself has emphasized that he is but one part of a larger struggle, and his potential removal—whether through resignation or assassination—would not halt Ukraine’s resistance.

The war is driven by Russian aggression, not by Zelenskyy’s leadership. Putin is grossly at fault for an unprovoked invasion. End of story.

If we want peace, it must be demanded from Vladimir Putin. Seems quite obvious to us in Alabama.

This convergence of American and Russian false narratives seeks to legitimize Russian aggression and to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty. Not buying those false narratives, they are propaganda.

Seeing that for exactly what it is, Ukrainians and Europeans have reacted to the treatment of President Zelenskyy as their sign to reevaluate and to restructure the European security envelope. They see clearly the current unreliability of the United States, and the obvious cause thereof.

What became obvious in Helsinki (2018) was Putin gives directives to the subservient Trump, and that is much more in the open now, much more obvious. Our allies see it clearly.

America and Russia now combine their power to kill Ukrainians right now, and this is against the American people’s will. Both spew propaganda, the false narratives, at the American public. We are not that stupid.

Disgusting is the President of the United States spewing this propaganda and undermining Ukraine’s defensive war. Costs of this emerging Russian-American combined assault will be terrible for Ukraine.

Ukraine will not immediately collapse, nor will the Ukrainian population turn against Zelenskyy. Russia's primary objective in its aggression against Ukraine is seeking regime change, aiming to replace the democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a more Putin-compliant figure. That undermines Ukraine's national identity, and suggests wrongly that Ukrainians want a Russian leader.

Our NATO allies have their eyes wide open. They know what they must do. The UK and France are nuclear powers and will not be attacked. All the NATO allies will provide weapons and financial aid to Ukraine. They have seen foldup America’s security umbrella that covered them for 79 years, since December 1941. They are increasing their internal military expenditures substantially. If you need assurances, watch and listen to French Senator Claude Malhuret address the French Senate about Ukraine and European Security. Button below.

MALHURET SPEECH

English Transcript of French Senator Claude Malhuret on Ukraine and European security

March 4, 2025

French Senate

Mr President,

Mr Prime Minister

Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers,

My dear colleagues,

Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is slipping away, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.

Washington became Nero's court, an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled buffoon charged with purging the civil service.

It is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump's message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.

The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is. He thinks he is going to intimidate China by lying down in front of Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a disaster, is undoubtedly accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.

Never in history has a president of the United States capitulated to the enemy. No one has ever supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed the judges who could prevent them, suddenly dismissed the military staff, weakened all counter-powers and taken control of social networks.

This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it only took one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.

I have confidence in the strength of American democracy and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war against a dictator, now we are fighting against a dictator supported by a traitor.

Eight days ago, just as Trump was putting his hand behind Macron's back at the White House, the United States was voting at the UN with Russia and North Korea against the Europeans demanding the departure of Russian troops.

Two days later, in the Oval Office, the military service hideout gave moral and strategy lessons to war hero Zelensky before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign.

Last night, he took another step into infamy by stopping the promised delivery of weapons. What to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: cope.

And first of all, don't make a mistake. The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia, Moldova are already on the list. Putin's goal is the return to Yalta where half of the continent was ceded to Stalin.

The countries of the South are waiting for the outcome of the conflict to decide whether they should continue to respect Europe or whether they are now free to trample on it.

What Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States and its allies 80 years ago, with as its first principle the prohibition of acquiring territories by force.

This idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to the spheres of influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries.

Greenland, Panama and Canada are mine, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eastern Europe are yours, Taiwan and the China Sea are his.

This is called, in the evenings of the Gulf oligarchs of Mar-a-Lago, “diplomatic realism”.

So we are alone. But the narrative that Putin cannot be resisted is false. Contrary to Kremlin propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In three years, the so-called second army in the world has only managed to grab crumbs from a country three times less populated.

Interest rates at 25%, the collapse of currency and gold reserves, and demographic collapse show that it is on the brink of the abyss. America's nudge to Putin is the greatest strategic mistake ever made in war.

The shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of denial. They understood in one day in Munich that the survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are in their hands and that they have three imperatives.

Accelerate military aid to Ukraine to compensate for American neglect, so that it can hold on, and of course to impose its presence and that of Europe in any negotiation.

It will be expensive. We must put an end to the taboo of using frozen Russian assets. It will be necessary to circumvent Moscow's accomplices within Europe itself by a coalition of only willing countries, with of course the United Kingdom.

Second, demand that any agreement be accompanied by the return of kidnapped children, prisoners and absolute security guarantees. After Budapest, Georgia and Minsk, we know what agreements with Putin are worth. These guarantees require sufficient military force to prevent a new invasion.

Finally, and this is the most urgent, because it is what will take the longest, we must build the European defense that has been neglected, for the benefit of the American umbrella since 1945 and scuttled since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It is a Herculean task, but it is on its success or failure that the leaders of today's democratic Europe will be judged in the history books.

Friedrich Merz has just declared that Europe needs its own military alliance. It recognizes that France has been right for decades in pleading for strategic autonomy.

It remains to be built. It will be necessary to invest massively, strengthen the European Defense Fund outside the Maastricht debt criteria, harmonize weapons and munitions systems, accelerate the entry into the Union of Ukraine, which is today the leading European army, rethink the place and conditions of nuclear deterrence based on French and British capabilities, relaunch the anti-missile shield and satellite programs.

The plan announced yesterday by Ursula von der Leyen is a very good starting point. And it will take a lot more.

Europe will only become a military power again by becoming an industrial power again. In a word, the Draghi report will have to be applied. For good.

But the real rearmament of Europe is its moral rearmament.

We must convince public opinion in the face of weariness and fear of war, and especially in the face of Putin's cronies, the extreme right and the extreme left.

They pleaded again yesterday in the National Assembly, Mr Prime Minister, before you, against European unity, against European defense.

They say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump are saying is that their peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain following Putin.

Peace for the collaborators who have refused any aid to the Ukrainians for three years.

Is this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in recent days, Zelensky's public humiliation and all the crazy decisions taken over the past month have finally made the Americans react.

The polls are falling. Republican elected officials are greeted by hostile crowds in their constituencies. Even Fox News is getting critical.

The Trumpists are no longer in majesty. They control the executive, Parliament, the Supreme Court and social media.

But in American history, those who favor freedom have always won. They start to raise their heads.

The fate of Ukraine is being played out in the trenches, but it also depends on those in the United States who want to defend democracy, and here on our ability to unite Europeans, to find the means of their common defense, and to remake Europe into the power that it once was in history and that it hesitates to become again.

Our parents defeated fascism and communism at the cost of all sacrifices.

The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.

Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.

No doubt they understand where they are and what they must do. We had before we entered WWI volunteer Americans go to France and fight for the French. I see a European Army mustering soon, and I see it deployed in Ukraine. American volunteers will be there, I have no doubt. We have good reasons to go.

The antisemitic undertones are there. Russia implies that a leader of Jewish heritage, like Zelenskyy, cannot hold the highest political position. I call BS. Zelenskyy’s religion is not and never has been an aspect of current Ukrainian politics. They could care less. He is first Ukrainian. His religion is only a significant point of focus in Russia and for others with antisemitic sentiments.

I saw none of the antisemitic sentiments as my eye is not trained to see it. Dr. Timothy Synder at Yale, what a gift to us he is. He provided most of those insights to this post. I must acknowledge his brilliance more and his contribution here in this essay. 

The Road Ahead. Trump already asked our military to shoot our citizens on the streets, “Can we shoot them in the legs?”), but the military refused. Now he plans to arrest protestors. You know how far with this that Trump will go. The next fork in the road, no one knows what will unfold.

Grab a flashlight, we are at a dark fork on this American road.

Know where we are. Know what fork in the road is coming. We have serious work to do to regurgitate ourselves and overcome the coup attempt. On the streets, people. On the streets. We have no choice now.

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