'Sycophants': Expert slams politicians for backing Trump’s 'egregious' and 'shocking' behavior
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 28, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
President Donald Trump’s contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “egregious,” an international relations expert said Monday. Alexander Vindman, who was previously the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, explained Zelenskyy's position following antagonism from Trump.
CNN host Dana Bash began the interview by asking Vindman about “another escalation by President Trump when it comes to Zelenskyy,” which he posted on Truth Social in response to Zelenskyy saying they could be far away from a ceasefire deal. “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and this is the key and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump posted.
“I think Trump is doubling down on regime change, not talking about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Vindman said. “The Biden Administration, right or wrong, day late dollar short, called Putin a dictator. They're now talking about regime change in Ukraine, our ally, and not the inveterate enemy that has threatened us with nuclear weapons, that has been aggressively attacking us internally here.”
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“And it's a shocking turn of events that this is an administration that is in line, according to the Russians, and according to the Kremlin's own statements, with their policies, their views of the world, are converging and breaking burning bridges as soon as they get to them, with our allies,” he added.
Vindman was referring to pressure the U.S. has been putting on Zelenskyy to resign from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-N.C.), Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.
“Lindsey Graham mentioned it almost immediately afterwards, then that it got picked up by the White House. Marco Rubio kind of alluded to something similar. Mike Waltz, these are supposed to be the adults in the second administration. They're all… sycophants to a certain extent.”
“They knew when they were signing up, they would have to bend over backwards to not just do what the President wants, but… suck up to him. So in order to do that, they need to go ahead and damn the person that somehow slighted him, Zelenskyy, who was in that room to sign a deal, a deal that both he and President Trump wanted, but was not in a position to look weak. Why? Because he's a leader of a nation at war.”
“So you don’t think he had any choice but to push back,” Bash said.
“He had no choice [but] to push back on the most egregious developments that occurred in that meeting,” Vindman said. "It wasn't just the fact that President Trump was looking for a thank you… The reason he pushed back is because Trump was saying, or just said, that Zelenskyy was a dictator, he was saying that Russia was not the aggressor. And Zelenskyy had just finished showing him pictures of troops that were being abused, the POWs, and talked about 20,000 children that were kidnapped. He could not accept a situation in which the narrative was completely changing, and he's the leader of a country that's the subject of those attacks. He had no choice.”
“The only lasting peace for Ukraine is one in which there are some sort of security guarantees on the back end that the Europeans that the US is going to be there to ensure that Russia doesn't take a pause and reinvade,” he added. “Mainly, [Zelenskyy] was holding his ground defending the narrative that Russians are their aggressors. Ukraine is defending itself, which shouldn't be up for discussion, but it is.”
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