“Oh, you’re all dressed up.”

The world looked on in shades of shock, awe, and/or pride as an American president did what had not been seen in their lifetimes – a president looking out for the best interests of Americans.

I’m referring to the showdown last week in the Oval Office between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. To get the meeting off on the wrong foot, the Ukrainian president showed up in casual dress wear, prompting Trump to sarcastically greet him with, “Oh, you’re all dressed up.”  

The White House was under the impression Zelenskyy was coming to discuss a deal for rare earth minerals. When it became apparent Zelenskyy was there instead with his hand out for more money to conduct war, the proverbial excrement hit the fan and Zelenskyy was tossed out on his ear. He was emphatically told to come back when he was prepared to discuss a peace settlement.

At one point in the conversation, Zelenskyy belligerently asked Vance, “”What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?”

Vance fired back, “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media…You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

In an interview later with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Vance stated it was Zelenskyy that forced the confrontation to the media for the world to see. Badly misjudging America’s mood, and perhaps affection for Trump, Zelenskyy specifically pushed for the American people to see their discussion. Perhaps Zelenskyy had been reading too much of America’s liberal media publications.

Vance told Hannity that he said to Zelenskyy, “This thing cannot go on forever. There aren’t enough Ukrainian lives…enough American money… and…enough ammunition to fund this thing indefinitely. The only realistic pathway to bring this to a settlement is President Trump’s pathway. We encourage both Zelensky and Putin to follow that path.”

After Zelenskyy flippantly remarked, “You have nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you will feel it in the future,” Trump accused Zelenskyy of gambling with World War III. He would follow that up by suspending all US military aid to Ukraine until Zelenskyy committed to good-faith peace negotiations.

Of course the world, used to a never-ending supply of US taxpayer money, sided with Zelenskyy, claiming Russian president Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace, a fact they couldn’t possibly know. Trump states his Administration has been in talks with Russia. 

NATO allies, also used to Americans largess, are frustrated with Trump’s comments about Ukraine. It should be noted, Trump has demanded other NATO countries share more of the financial burden with Ukraine. Currently, the US has paid about 41% of the money to Ukraine’s cause.

The chief diplomat of the European Union, Kaja Kallas from Estonia rebuked Trump, saying, “We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the aggressor. Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader…it’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.” Estonia, with a population of 1.3 million people is about the same size as Vermont and New Hampshire combined.

France, Great Britain, Norway, Poland, Germany, and Canada all sided with Zelenskyy and Ukraine, forgetting how it was the US that saved their collective back sides on numerous occasions in the past century. Their hubris with this matter is astonishing.  

Depending on who is doing the reporting, we taxpayers have shelled out somewhere between $182 and $300 billion thus far to fight Russia. The true figure is probably somewhere in the middle, but it defies logic that we don’t know exactly how much of our money was funneled into the war. Even the corrupt Ukrainian government cannot account for all the money. How much was siphoned off by Ukrainian officials? The liberal media and fact checkers like to claim the number is toward the lower side, although they can’t possibly have the insights Trump has.

I can partially understand why Zelenskyy feels he must continue to fight, as it was Russia that tried to gobble them up and killed a million Ukrainian soldiers while ripping families apart. But Vance was right, at some point the killing and the money has to stop.

Zelenskyy needs to buy a suit and tie and get his backside to the Oval Office ready to enter into peace negotiations, because the money spigot is has been turned off and the European Union can’t afford it.