By Askold Lozynskyj
The Summit at the White House between President Trump and President Zelensky on October 17, 2025 deserves further comment. At least in my life time, and I am 73 years old, I have never witnessed more offensive and, yes, more obscene behavior by an American President. The President even used the “F” bomb during the press conference and the VP Hillbilly Just Dance Vance found it amusing. I am sure that Trump’s Evangelical sycophants beginning with Speaker Mike Johnson found it endearing.
If America today is Animal Farm then the White House fits right in with Trump, Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio. President Zelensky, not unlike at the Oval office meeting in February, looked like a lamb led to slaughter. He was compelled to praise Trump on his questionable, and certainly not definitive, Middle East efforts and suggest that Trump bring his tremendous leadership to bear on the war in Ukraine. I often wonder how Zelensky does this with a straight face when inside he must be saying, this guy is such a jerk. Zelensky is an actor and deeply concerned about his people and his country. His body language and facial expressions are a well rehearsed act.
As an American I often cringe when I hear Trump speak before an international audience. His offensive disparaging statements about his predecessor, President Joe Biden, pervade almost every speech he makes. I don’t recall President Biden being offensive especially on the international stage about his predecessor. In fact, in a democracy, the common decorum requires that at the very least in an international setting one is silent about other Americans no matter what the disagreement factor may be. But Trump is a sick, psychotic, vengeful pig like Napoleon in Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”
And then there are his self-gratifying remarks which are peppered throughout every one of his speeches. At Cabinet meetings as in “Animal Farm” the sycophants rise and heap more praise pursuant to a script. Trump’s level of education, including his failures at his initial college, his redemption through his father’s financial wherewithal which resulted in a Bachelors of Arts diploma in real estate (certainly not something to boast about even if it was purchased at the prestigious Wharton’s School of Economic), his failed businesses resulting in six or seven bankruptcies as well as his own failures in public office should lend a modicum of humility. More than fifty percent of his net worth today was made within the last eight months because of corrupt practices. He is the only president of the United States who was impeached twice. This could happen again after the 2026 midterm elections.
In my last commentary I wrote about American dystopia. This was not hyperbolic. I was born and raised in America. My parents were immigrants, but became part of the American electorate after naturalization. They were Republicans. General Eisenhower was a war hero for them even though they were displaced. Americans led by General Eisenhower freed my father from a Nazi concentration camp. President emeritus Eisenhower was the guest of honor at the most significant event of the Ukrainian American community in America, the unveiling of a monument in Washington to the Ukrainian bard Taras Shevchenko in 1963.
Frankly, Nixon and Kissinger cured me of my Republican roots. Even so, I voted for many Republican candidates. Some were better than others. That applied to Democrats as well. But nothing in history or my lifetime prepared me for the America of today. I still love the American people, educated and uneducated, although I prefer that education be given priority. I could not understand why people like Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point scoffed at the importance of education.
It’s not about partisan politics. It’s about morality and ethics and, in my case, support for the people of Ukraine who in the war with Russia represent what is moral and good, defending themselves against evil. Good versus evil, right versus wrong, moral versus immoral or amoral are the issues that deserve our consideration.
President Trump often dismisses the war in Ukraine as antipathy between Zelensky and Putin or between Ukrainians and Russians. I hate when I hear that because it is so inaccurate and because it once again highlights the primitivity of Donald J. Trump. My condolences go out to President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine who persist in addressing real issues and sacrificing their lives for their existence when one of their channels of survival is represented by an offensive and obscene Napoleon the Pig currently sitting in the White House.
October 18, 2025
