02/28/25
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has been one of the most outspoken advocates for supporting the Ukraine war effort, said he was “devastated” by the heated exchange between President Trump, Vice President Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House Friday.
Graham, who had advocated for the United States to share Ukraine’s mineral wealth in return for its ongoing assistance to the war effort, said the meeting was an “absolute, utter disaster” and any prospect of a deal now appears to be dead.
“Devastated. Everything I … have been working for to try to get a new relationship with the United States around a critical minerals deal beneficial to both of us was completely obliterated today,” Graham said on Fox News’s “America Reports.”
Graham, who met with Zelensky Friday morning along with Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), said he had urged the Ukrainian leader to “stay on message” and “be grateful, be thankful.”
The South Carolina senator advised Zelensky not to press for U.S. security guarantees during the Oval Office meeting with Trump.
Graham said it’s now a major question whether the United States can continue to support Ukraine if Zelensky remains president.
“The question for me is, ‘Is he redeemable in the eyes of Americans?’ Most Americans witnessing what they saw today would not want Zelensky to be their business partner, including me, and I’ve been to Ukraine nine times since the war started,” he said.
Graham said Trump was “upbeat” about the potential minerals deal before the meeting.
He said Zelensky needs to apologize to Trump or “accept the consequences.”
“What I want him to do, I guess, is just to say, ‘I screwed up big time for my country and for the U.S. relationship and if I had to do it over again, I’d have done it differently and I’m sorry,’” Graham advised.
“If he can’t say that, then Ukraine you need to either send us somebody new we can deal with or just accept the consequences,” he said.
Trump scolded Zelensky for not showing enough gratitude for American support in the war, warning him: “You’re right now, not really in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position.”
“You’d don’t have the cards right now,” he added bluntly.
Zelensky shot back: “I’m not playing cards.”
The meeting got so tense that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz asked the Ukrainian delegation to leave and the White House cancelled a planned signing ceremony for the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.
Coons and Klobuchar, who met with Zelensky along with Graham and later posed for a selfie at the White House, had a starkly different reaction to the meeting.
Klobuchar challenged Vice President Vance for asking Zelensky if he had ever “said ‘thank you’ once” for U.S. military and economic aid.
“Answer to Vance: Zelensky has thanked our country over and over again both privately and publicly. And our country thanks HIM and the Ukrainian patriots who have stood up to a dictator, buried their own & stopped Putin from marching right into the rest of Europe. Shame on you,” she posted on the social media site X.
Coons said Zelensky deserved better treatment.
“Every time I’ve met with President Zelensky, he’s thanked the American people for our strong support. We owe him our thanks for leading a nation fighting on the front lines of democracy – not the public berating he received at the White House,” he posted on X.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5169839-trump-zelensky-meeting-devastating
So Graham, a so-called friend of Ukraine believe the mineral deal is more important than an end to this war on just terms. Let’s be honest here, there never was any peace plan by the WH mafia, just an extortion plan and capitulation of Ukraine, but of course Graham has to keep his real thoughts to himself in the land of free speech.
The land of free speech is in danger of being the land of the gag. Some Americans are already afraid to speak what’s on their mind, if it’s a negative one aimed at the orange god.
What I don’t understand is why Graham thinks Zelensky should apologize after being attacked, then hinting Zelensky should step down as the President.
Because Graham surrendered his dignity and morals when he joined the Trump gang.
Everybody who has followed the political side of this war has heard or read numerous times how Zelensky and other Ukrainians have thanked the United States for its support. Even common Ukrainians have thanked us!
About a year and a half ago, I was in Kyiv, viewing destroyed russian military equipment, displayed in front of St. Micheal’s Golden Domed Monastery. There were two Ukrainian soldiers there, collecting donations, a man and a woman. They both spoke English, and so I got into a conversation with them. Soon after, an older woman passerby caught wind that I’m an American. She came over to me, took my hand, looked deeply into my eyes, and thanked me wholeheartedly for the help that America has given. Her eyes were getting wet, and she thanked me again, holding my hand gently.
It was during one of Biden’s phase of not wanting to provoke the ghoul in moskovia … when Biden refused to send something, I forgot what it was. But I do know that I felt ashamed because of the terrible dithering from the White House, and just at this very time period.
I told the woman that I’m not responsible for sending aid, that I don’t work for the government. She said it doesn’t matter. You are an American, and Ukraine is getting help from America … little help, lots of help, that doesn’t really matter. Help … that’s what matters.
Another person, who had stood waiting by the wayside, approached me after the first woman went away and also took my hand and thanked me.
Feeling a bit abashed, I looked at the two soldiers who had witnessed the scenes. With a warm smile, the female one said to me, we all appreciate the help, even if it’s too late and too little. It means that we’re not alone.
This is how every Ukrainian that I know feels like … man, woman, young, old, it doesn’t matter. I’ve never seen more pro-American people in a country than in Ukraine. And this was so even before this war started. How are the feelings now, with Trump in office? I will find out when I return in May.
I often wonder, whatever happened to those people I met that day, the soldiers and civilians. Are they still alive?
Graham has joined my Shit List along with other morons from the White House
Same here. And there’s no turning back.