It was loud and explosive. Plenty of fireworks on TV. Caught us off guard. But when all was said and done, much more was said than done — and everyone involved was worse off.
It’s just as true of the war in Ukraine as it is about the cluster[EXPLETIVE] of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Well, now. That was certainly… something. Can’t recall ever seeing anything quite like that before. Trump was right: “This is going to be great television.”
Sure was! Getcha popcorn ready!
But “great television” isn’t always great politics, and the PR fallout of their on-air tinkle-fest will be considerable. The optics, antics, and outrage are now permanently intertwined with the Trump-Vance brand. In nerd-speak, it’s a cannon event.
And we won’t know where all the chips will land for months. Oh, there’ll be rapid-fire polling, and we’ll be able to gauge a degree of audience reaction, but how we feel on day two will be vastly different than how we feel on week two — or even months from now.
Bizarre moments take time to mentally marinate.
But I suspect it’ll be similar to “The Dress.”
Coincidentally, we’re smackdab in the middle of the tenth anniversary of that viral phenomenon: In late February of 2015, a woman named Cecilia Bleasdale bought a dress for her daughter’s wedding and shared it online.
Half the world said it was black and blue. The other half was convinced it was white and gold. The “dress mystery” confounded our society’s deepest thinkers:
What color is that dress? I see white & gold. Kanye sees black & blue, who is color blind?
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) February 27, 2015
Garsh! When even Kim and Kanye are stumped, you know it’s a real humdinger of a headscratcher! But in fairness to K/K, there’s no scientific consensus for the color conundrum. There were many theories, but no consensus. Yet those who thought the dress was black and blue were 100% convinced they were right — as were those who “knew” it was actually white and gold.
Similarly, how you interpreted the Trump-Zelenskyy kerfuffle will largely depend on how you viewed the participants in the run-up.
If you believed Donald Trump was a crass, venal Russian puppet and Volodymyr Zelenskyy a modern-day Winston Churchill, you saw the event one way: Trump was an arrogant, condescending bully, attacking the victim of Russian aggression! You cringed and covered your eyes, ashamed to be an American. (Well, more than you usually are, I mean.)
According to Gallup, 84% of Democrats have a favorable opinion of Ukraine. But barely any — a miniscule 4%! — approve of Trump. That’s an 80-point buzzsaw. This was an audience that was predisposed to support Zelenskyy and loathe Trump anyway, and what happened in the White House made their mouths froth and heads explode.
(What’s the over-under on how quickly the DNC tries to use this as a fundraising gimmick? I’ll go with, oh… 12 hours. The Dems move like Usain Bolt when there’s money to be made, man.)
But on the other hand, if you viewed the Russia-Ukraine war as a (largely) European problem that America is needlessly bankrolling — and not to mention, a stupidly risky flirtation with nuclear Armageddon — you viewed the White House showdown through a MAGA prism: Finally, an American president is putting his foot down! We REFUSE to get ourselves dragged into another senseless foreign conflict. Billions of our money is still unaccounted for, and none of this is putting America first.
It's “The Dress” all over again.
Each side will insist they’re absolutely, completely, totally right. Neither will understand how anyone could possibly see it differently. Second verse, same as the first.
Trump is president; the buck stops with him. The White House meeting wasn’t successful, and there’ll be a cost attached to it. But the cost will likely be minimal: Yes, feelings were hardened, but after being “literally Hitler” for eight long years, those feelings were already diamonds. The biggest risk for Trump is with independents, where 56% have a favorable opinion of Ukraine.
If nothing further happens, Trump will likely lose the post-event narrative and take a much larger hit: Then, the narrative that takes hold would be that Trump’s temper, ego, and aggression prolonged a war.
But what if next week (or next month), Zelenskyy returns to D.C. and a deal is signed? Then it’s all just “The Art of the Deal,” baby! Sorry your feelings were hurt, but we can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. Forget about the journey; focus on the destination: Peace.
And that’ll make independents very happy.
Because really, that’s the kicker: The long-term PR fallout will be less about what just happened — and more about whatever happens next.
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