Comment: The horror show in the Oval Office forces Europe to act

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Comment: The horror show in the Oval Office forces Europe to act Berthold Kohler • 2 hours • 4 minutes reading time The only thing missing was for Trump to shout "You're fired!" before throwing Selensky out of the White House, as he did for years on the TV show "The Apprentice". The American president ultimately said that what he and his vice president had performed in the Oval Office in front of the eyes of the world was "good television". In fact, however, it was a political catastrophe, for Ukraine, for Europe and ultimately for America. Trump, his people and his supporters will probably not understand this even when the consequences of this darkest hour of a dark presidency become apparent. The war in Ukraine, which Trump is supposedly so keen to end quickly, continues even after the scandal in the White House. Putin, who certainly couldn't believe what he saw, will now wage it with all his brutality. Thanks to Trump, he sees himself on the road to victory. As if Zelensky were sitting with Putin in the Kremlin The already damaged relationship between Trump and Zelensky has finally broken down in the Oval Office because the Ukrainian president did not want to listen to propaganda and accusations without protest, as if he were sitting with Putin in the Kremlin. Whether the American government thought things should have turned out exactly as they did, or whether the scandal was just the almost inevitable consequence of the populist revolution in the United States, is secondary. ITrump had already had to be corrected by French President Macron and British Prime Minister Starmer, without, of course, abandoning his "alternative" figures. Trump and his agitator Vance expected Zelensky to submissively swallow everything that was thrown at him in Washington. But Zelensky had not even wanted to bow to the original attempt to blackmail him over raw materials, as Washington had demanded. And then the famously vengeful Trump also had a personal score to settle with Zelensky, who in 2019 had refused to allow an investigation in Ukraine into Hunter Biden, the son of Trump's rival Joe Biden, to whom Trump then lost the election the following year. Trump never forgets such things. He also remembered Biden and his son when settling scores in the Oval Office. An unbearable reversal of perpetrator and victim Trump and Vance wanted nothing more than a public kowtow from Zelensky. It would probably have been better for the Ukrainian president and his country if he had thrown himself on the ground before Putin's friend Trump and signed an agreement to hand over Ukraine's natural resources to America even without security guarantees - as unbearable as Trump's reversal of perpetrator and victim was and is. The USA has so far been Ukraine's most powerful supporter, even if Trump exaggerated the American contribution as always - and also from Putin's point of view the most decisive one. But now there is an acute danger that the duped dealmaker, offended by Zelensky's "disrespect", will stop supporting him - in order to force Kiev to sign after all, but also to increase the domestic political pressure in Ukraine on the "dictator" Zelensky, whose head Putin has long wanted on his trophy wall. The American president is at the mercy of the warmonger in the Kremlin, whom Trump now sees as the victim of a "witch hunt" like himself, as if he were a puppet of the Russians. It is becoming increasingly difficult to explain this solely with the American goal of getting Russia on its side in order to weaken China. Europe must massively rearm - immediately No price is obviously too high for Trump to establish friendly relations with Putin. The freedom, security and right of self-determination of Ukraine and the rest of Europe are not dear to the American president anyway. With his recent comments about the EU, Trump not only underlined once again that he has no idea about Europe and its history. It also expresses his contempt for a political entity that does not want to submit to or even join Trumpism. Trump's comment that Putin can do whatever he wants with Europe was serious. But the Europeans must not allow Putin to do whatever he wants with Ukraine. Because it is true that the freedom and security of all of Europe is being defended there. America is no longer taking part in this. The Europeans must close this huge hole in the front against Putin. They must immediately increase financial and military support for Ukraine to prevent Moscow from winning its war there.