Trump unleashes unhinged tirade against ‘dictator’ Zelensky

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy President Donald Trump appeared on Wednesday to throw America’s lot completely in with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the three-year-old war the Russian leader started against Ukraine by issuing a bizarre social media threat against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and accusing him of continuing the war against Moscow as a way to soak American taxpayers. In a post on his Truth Social website, Trump accused Zelensky, who he called a “modestly successful comedian” in a reference to his previous career as a sitcom star and entertainer, of having “talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start.” He also claimed Zelensky — who recent opinion polls show as holding support from a majority of Ukrainians — “refuses to have Elections” and falsely accused the Ukrainian leader of being “very low” in polls. Trump has often taken Putin’s side when it comes to the nearly three-year-old war the Russian leader launched against Ukraine The president continued by suggesting that he and his team are currently “successfully negotiating an end” to the war, a reference to his recent decision to capitulate to the Russian dictator by opening talks for a settlement to the war without Zelensky’s involvement. He added that Moscow is likely “overjoyed by what Donald Trump is saying and what he’s doing” with respect to Ukraine and Zelensky, and said his Republican colleagues “must be put on the record for President Trump’s dangerous and false statements about the war in Ukraine.” Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, also had harsh words for his former boss in a post on X in which he called the president’s comments “some of the most shameful remarks ever made by a U.S. President.” And his former vice president, Mike Pence, was equally condemning of the man with whom he served from 2017 to 2021, writing on X: “Mr.