Reporters protecting the Feb. 28, 2025, Oval Place of work assembly between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described it as a “jaw-dropping” “spectacle” and a “striking breach of Oval Office comity.” Slate’s Fred Kaplan asserted, “Nobody has ever seen anything like it.”
Other folks shouldn’t were shocked.
The Oval Place of work come upon used to be anticipated to be an on-camera assembly between the president and the Ukrainian head of state ahead of the signing of a a very powerful minerals deal between the 2 nations that used to be supposed to be a key step towards finishing the battle in Ukraine.
However as journalists described it, the to begin with regimen assembly devolved right into a “fiery exchange” through which Trump and Vice President JD Vance “berated” and “harangued” Zelenskyy after he driven again on Vance’s statement that Trump’s diplomatic abilities would make sure that Russian President Vladimir Putin would honor a ceasefire settlement.
Trump’s compulsion to dominate each allies and enemies turns out to have brought about him to jettison the negotiation the instant that Zelenskyy declined to accomplish subservient fealty. The assembly, which used to be ended through Trump without a settlement signed, illustrated why authoritarians are awful dealmakers, in particular when autocratic instincts are exacerbated through what’s referred to as poisonous masculinity.
Poisonous masculinity is a model of masculinity that daunts empathy, expresses power thru dominance, normalizes violence towards ladies and colleagues management with white patriarchy. It devalues behaviors thought to be to be “feminine” and means that the right way to earn others’ recognize is to accrue energy and standing.
As a conversation pupil who research gender and politics, I’ve written about Trump’s presentations of poisonous masculinity and authoritarian inclinations in various scenarios, right through and after his first presidential time period.
Trump’s response to Zelenskyy within the Oval Place of work illustrates how those tendencies stymie the president’s purported dealmaking skills, undermine democratic values and make the sector a extra bad position.
Excerpts from the Feb. 28 Oval Place of work assembly, that includes U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Diplomat, dealmaker or mafia don?
Trump staged the general public Oval Place of work assembly with Zelenskyy to show off his ostensible prowess as – in his phrases – an “arbitrator” and “mediator.” Trump insisted right through the primary 40 mins that “my whole life is deals” and asserted that he has what it takes to make Putin comply with a peace settlement with an embattled Ukraine.
It appears desperate to mission a personality as a a hit diplomat and robust dealmaker, Trump rejected a reporter’s recommendation that “you align yourself too much with Putin” and no longer with democratic values.
Trump contended that in an effort to effectively negotiate, he couldn’t alienate both Putin or Zelenskyy. “If I didn’t align myself with both of them,” he mentioned, “you’d never have a deal.” As a substitute, he claimed, “I’m aligned with the United States of America and for the good of the world. I’m aligned with the world.”
Vance to begin with echoed Trump’s message, casting Trump as a consummate diplomat and arguing, “What makes America a good country is America engaging in diplomacy.”
However Vance’s tone shifted the instant Zelenskyy challenged Trump’s framing.
Zelenskyy supplied ancient examples of U.S. diplomatic screw ups and noticed that Trump and different presidents have been not able to include Putin. Vance replied through castigating Zelenskyy for no longer “thanking the president” and time and again steered him to “say thank you” because the trade grew extra unstable.
Trump, reputedly angered after Vance identified Zelenskyy’s loss of deference, dropped his diplomatic tone and knowledgeable Zelenskyy, “You’ve got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards.”
After the assembly, each the New York Instances columnist Thomas Friedman and Slate’s Kaplan when compared Trump to a mafia don. The Day-to-day Beast creator David Rothkopf prompt he used to be extra like “the Luca Brasi for mob boss Vladimir Putin,” invoking Don Corleone’s henchman within the film “The Godfather.”
The comparability to well-known fictional mafiosos used to be apt. As a pupil who research each movie and politics, I’ve noticed how each fictionalized depictions of the mafia and MAGA Republicanism are deeply patriarchal and autocratic cultures that call for loyalty, breed abuse and foster corruption.
After Trump suspended negotiations, canceled lunch and expelled the Ukrainian delegation from the White Area, Reuters reported that “most Republicans rallied behind Trump and Vance.”
Democrats, a couple of Republican outliers and the vast majority of Eu leaders subsidized Zelenskyy.
President Donald Trump, heart, and Vice President JD Vance meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the White Area on Feb. 28, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures
The artwork of the deal’s loss of life
Donald Trump cemented his recognition as an achieved dealmaker within the Nineteen Eighties, when he revealed the in large part ghostwritten New York Instances bestseller “Trump: The Art of the Deal.”
Lots of his supporters voted for Trump in 2016 as a result of they sought after a “dealmaker in chief,” as one ballot characterised it, who may get issues completed in a fractured Congress.
In his 2d time period, in spite of having a Republican congressional majority, Trump has established himself because the country’s sole authority, embracing poisonous masculinity’s concept of energy and recognize. Doing an finish run round Congress and flouting the regulation, Trump initiated rankings of coverage adjustments by means of govt order and asserted that neither lawmakers nor judges have the authority to problem or constrain him.
Trump’s blow-up at Zelenskyy is a lot more than a overseas coverage snafu. It’s a preview of what’s going to occur when poisonous masculinity drives U.S. overseas coverage.
Poisonous masculinity at the international level
A screenshot of more than a few U.Ok. newspapers’ headlines concerning the Oval Place of work assembly.
CBS Night time Information
In his assembly with Trump, Zelenskyy modeled a model of masculine power characterised through empathy, self-discipline and mutual recognize. Specializing in the desires of his other folks, Zelenskyy confirmed Trump photos of Ukrainian prisoners of battle abused in Russian custody and advocated for the go back of 1000’s of Ukrainian kids abducted through Russia.
Trump to begin with stated that Russian abuses have been “tough stuff,” however fear for Ukrainians turns out to have vanished after Zelenskyy with courtesy challenged Trump.
Decrying Zelenskyy’s inadequate gratitude and escalating the warfare, Trump asserted, “You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have.”
Vance in a similar way shifted center of attention from the desires of Ukrainian civilians to reminiscent of Trump, not easy that Zelenskyy “offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who is trying to save your country.”
A commonplace tactic hired through abusers is to call for that the individual they’re bullying display them gratitude.
Of their berating, bullying and humiliation of Zelenskyy, the president and vice chairman of the USA used the language and rhetoric of abusers in an obvious strive to check out to power the proud and dignified chief of a rustic at battle to grovel and get in line.
Their loss of self-discipline and decorum additionally upended the negotiation, jeopardizing a deal aimed toward halting the combating in Ukraine and advancing U.S. pursuits.
Personally, the poisonous masculinity on show within the Oval Place of work on Feb. 28, 2025, used to be a bald demonstration of one thing new and alarming to a public conversant in decorum and international relations in that formal environment.
For lots of, the long-lasting symbol of that assembly is an worried Zelenskyy being hectored through a livid Trump.
However there’s every other symbol that captures similarly neatly the dynamic unfolding within the room. Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova sat in a chair simply in entrance of the assembled participants of the click. Papers held stable in her lap with one hand, the most often unflappable member of the diplomatic corps buried her head in her different hand, not able to even take a look at what used to be going down.
