The least the media can do is not help him

PHILLIPS P. OBRIEN

OCT 17

Q. Do you know what it means to have Irish Alzheimers?

A. You forget everything except the grudges.

Growing up in a part Irish-American household near Boston Massachusetts, I can confidently assure you that this was a regular joke. It struck a real chord amongst certain Irish Bostonians which would usually result in stories of different local characters who will, thankfully, go nameless even as their intense grudges and desire for revenge in some cases lived on after their passing.

The joke emerged from the depths of memory yesterday as Trump returned obsessively, as he often does these days, to his fervent wish to have his enemies punished. Standing in front of of the top law enforcement team in the nation, the Attorney General Pam Biondi and FBI director Kash Patel, the president declared in this instance that Jack Smith, the special prosecutor legally appointed to investigate his crimes, needs to be charged and convicted for doing his job. “Deranged Jack Smith, in my opinion, is a criminal” the President exclaimed, as Biondi and Patel nodded in agreement. A few hours later, it was announced that another of Trump’s enemies, John Bolton, had been indicted for other non-existent crimes as part of Trump’s desire for revenge.

Trump Seems To Be Tormenting Zelensky

What does this have to do with Ukraine? Well, to understand his view of Zelensky in particular (and through that Ukraine as a whole) you have to understand that Trump sees them as one of his long-time enemies. He believes that the Ukrainian president personally betrayed him by not helping provide evidence that Trump could have used to charge the Biden family. This is the main reason that Trump, as soon as he started his second term, started agitating for Ukrainian elections so that he could help get rid of Zelensky (a position that Trump completely shared with Vladimir Putin).

Trump and Putin: Aligning over Ukrainian Elections

In other words, in Trump’s world Zelensky is as much an enemy as Jack Smith or John Bolton—and while Trump cannot charge Zelensky with crimes and try to imprison him, he would love to see Zelensky destroyed.

Understanding this might help explain why Trump seems to be actively tormenting Ukraine—giving the Ukrainians false hopes that he might help them in a real way and then always, always crushing these hopes in a brutal way. 

The issue of Tomahawk missiles is only the most recent of these. For months now we have heard that Trump was mulling whether to send these powerful weapons to Ukraine, weapons that would materially help the Ukrainian ranged campaign against Russian strategic industries. Only five days ago, Trump was publicly dangling the possibility of sending Ukraine Tomahawks. One of the best Trump quotes on the matter was:

“I might say, ‘Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I may send [Ukraine] Tomahawks.’ Russia doesn’t need that. I think it is appropriate to bring that up,”

And this kind of language by Trump was definitely heard in Ukraine. One day after Trump said he may send Ukraine Tomahawks, Zelensky wrote about how getting support for “long-ranged capabilities” was a key part of his Washington agenda.

Zelensky was living in a world of hope and expectation. Sadly for him it was a world that did not exist.

As I’ve been trying to make clear for months, Trump was never going to send Ukraine Tomahawks. Trump does not want to damage Russia in reality and does not want to help Ukraine in any material way. He also despises Zelensky—his enemy. For political reasons Trump was trying to present himself as being more open to helping Ukraine than he was. 

Once Trump and Putin had their phone call, the American president could stop lying for a little while and admit that he was not going to give Ukraine Tomahawks. After saying his sweet goodbyes to Putin, Trump turned around and said that, actually, the US has no spare missiles. His exact words last night about giving Ukraine Tomahawks were:

“We need Tomahawks for the United States of America too. We have a lot of them but we need them. I mean, we can’t deplete for our country,” 

“I don’t know what we can do about that,”

And Zelensky was instantly deflated and seems to have understood the truth. The Ukrainian president is no longer talking hopefully about getting ranged support, but left pleading publicly for more anti-air weapons to help his population which is getting battered nightly by Russian ranged weapons. This was a tweet of his after arriving in Washington.

And so, once again, Trump has been allowed to shape the narrative, and first raise and then crush Ukrainian hopes (deliberately it seems) partly because of the way this story has been reported.

Though at no time was it ever likely (I would say possible) that Trump would send Ukraine Tomahawks, for the last two weeks we have had an orgy or stories about this happening, complete with “analyses” of what having Tomahawks might do for Ukraine. The Washington Post, which has its head rather far up Trump’s derriere these days, published one of the most breathless pieces about Tomahawks for Ukraine—including this Bon Mot.

The weapon would be a boon to Ukrainian forces, which is increasingly focusing on long-distance missiles and drones to strike deep into Russia. Kyiv’s priority now is attacking Russian energy infrastructure, with markets showing a demonstrable impact.

There was no admission in the story that Trump was almost certainly not going to send the weapons, that he hates Zelensky, wants to work with Putin, etc. Instead it was all reported completely credulously and hopefully. There was even an analysis that if Ukraine had Tomahawks, Russia would be so damaged it would have to negotiate.

What every story about Trump claiming he “might” or “may” do something should be prefaced by is a statement of reality. If Trump wants to do something—he just does it. He does not ask permission, he does not worry about legal niceties—he does exactly what he wants when he wants. If he does not want to do something, that is when he says he might or may do it in the future. Anytime he says he might do something in the future is most likely an admission that he does not want to do it. 

Its been that way since the second term began—with threats about possible sanctions against Russia starting 9 months ago. etc. etc. And guess what—no sanctions!

So the reality is that this influence operation by Trump was set up possibly deliberately to crush Ukrainian hopes and help him work better with Putin. The media needs to be more honest about how he operates and stop letting him do this.

© 2025 Phillips P. OBrien
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104