President Trump and Vice President JD Vance met with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Friday, February 28th, 2025. Chaos ensued shortly after the first interaction between them.
President Zelensky came to the United States’ Oval Office to meet with President Trump and Vice President Vance. President Trump greeted him once he got out of his car, immediately asking about his choice in attire – scorning him for wearing casual clothes and not a suit.
The point of this meeting between the two countries’ diplomats was to discuss a plan for peace – having the United States back up Ukraine through their tough times. However, President Trump and Vice President Vance called Mr. Zelensky out for not being grateful enough for the United States’s support for Ukraine’s war with Russia.
Was it really right of President Trump to embarrass President Zelensky like this? President Zelensky didn’t want to show the citizens of his nation that he was enjoying his time while they were in their miseries, fighting for their lives.
President Trump was very aggressive towards Ukraine’s leader, and threatened to abandon Ukraine during their time of need. As a leader of the United States, the one person with the most authority, did President Trump truly handle this well? Is this really the picture Americans want the rest of the world to see the U.S. as? Bullies?
After asking an anonymous 11th grader at Clinton, “How do you feel about the current relationship between the US and other countries?” She said, “I believe it will impact us heavily since we have close relationships with European countries. Our alliances allow our world to function. Knowing how the US disrespected Ukraine will heavily impact our alliances with other countries. The world probably sees the US as a country that doesn’t value democracy. I think we will have closer ties with Russia and China and this will defeat our whole history- we are going to become friends with our past enemies”.
New York is a very liberal, accepting environment, so New Yorkers’ views of the current situation may be skewed from the rest of the world. An anonymous student said, “I would say NYC is a liberal environment compared to the rest of the state, however, everyone still has different perspectives within our city. This ties to our school because everyone has different perspectives, which comes down to whether you are a Trump supporter or not. This has been and will continue to cause a divide between Clinton students.”
Do we really want to see Clinton, our community, be torn apart because of ridiculous politics that we as students can’t control? You, as Clintonians, have the power to advocate for change. Vote when you are able to.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world”- Gandhi.
