Letters to the Editor | March 7, 2025

Inquirer readers responded strongly to the Feb. 28 White House meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Below are some of their letters.

The behavior of our elected leaders in the Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a disgrace. Yelling at a man fighting for his country? Breaking every rule of diplomacy, including having a subordinate (Vice President JD Vance) there to be an attack dog while the leader of the free world parrots Vladimir Putin’s talking points? And at least as disgraceful: Republican senators and representatives calling Donald Trump’s actions “strong” instead of deranged. Trump’s statements about others are often projections of what he would do. Saying Zelensky will start World War III should give even Republicans pause. The entire Republican Party has become a cesspool of ignorance of history, of cowardice, and of betrayal of the ideals on which this country was founded.

Meg Berlin, Philadelphia

Ben Shahn, an American political lithographer, once created a poster reading, “Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By.” In that spirit, I must stand up to denounce the absolutely despicable, ignorant, and juvenile behavior of Donald Trump and JD Vance toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sadly, neither Trump nor Vance know very much about history and are more interested in perceived petty political alliances than they are in respectfully governing or leading responsible global negotiations against the tyranny of Russia’s dictator. I am incensed by their abhorrent behavior and hope only for Zelensky and his people to know many Americans wholeheartedly apologize for the treatment he received. We appreciate the valiant resistance over these years that he and his devoted people have waged against Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion. Playing rough and reckless with dictators used to be below the leaders of the free world.

Marilyn Frazier, Ambler

It is now obvious Donald Trump is unhinged — as is his puppet, JD Vance — after their appalling treatment of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. There no longer can be a shadow of a doubt that Trump is a Russian agent after his adoption of Russian talking points that were created in bizarro world. Just as Trump promised to lower prices on his first day in office, yet they continue to soar, so, too, did he claim that he could end the war in a day. He just made it more likely the United States will have to go to war — unless we cower in a bunker, as Trump did in his first term, while Russia and China carve up the world. We should be practicing duck and cover, hiding under our desks, as I did when I was in elementary school. And while we’re down there, we can kiss our country goodbye.

Stephen Perloff, Langhorne

After learning about JD Vance’s animated displeasure with Volodymyr Zelensky for “lecturing” him and Donald Trump about who started the war (it was Russia), my heart sank. Zelensky correcting lies should be commended, not disparaged. Seeking U.S. guarantees that America will support Ukraine after an eventual ceasefire is a reasonable expectation given Vladimir Putin’s penchant for routinely violating negotiated agreements. What I find even more repugnant than Trump and Vance’s willful disregard for veracity when discussing the origins of this three-year-old conflict is Republican leadership (see: Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Hagerty) doubling down on the wrongheaded notion that America was the disrespected party at the White House clash.

Revisionist history has long been a staple of Trump’s playbook and, at long last, a true statesman had the courage to call him on it. Not surprisingly, the Trump loyalists took umbrage and responded with petulance and feigned feelings of outrage. When the second Trump administration ends, historians will record what happened after critically analyzing evidence of past events. Morally bankrupt Republican senators would be wise to withhold their gnashing of teeth until the historiographers’ ink has dried.

James L. DeBoy, Lancaster

I don’t know if Donald Trump is capable of recognizing the irony regarding his comments about the outrageous behavior he and JD Vance exhibited in his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday — particularly the statement the Ukrainian leader had “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office.” Yet, almost everything Trump has done and said, all of his executive orders, appointments, and statements since he was inaugurated, have shown far more disrespect for this country and our Constitution than anything Zelensky did in attempting to push back against the would-be king and his junior henchman. We can only hope this will be clearer than ever after this most recent outburst.

Marc Inver, Lafayette Hill

Volodymyr Zelensky is understandably a desperate man, striving to save his nation from Russian aggression. So he may be forgiven for how he dresses, yet his attire was deemed an appropriate matter for comment. English is not his native tongue, but no one listening these past three years could have missed the numerous, heartfelt expressions of gratitude to the U.S. for its support — including more than once during his visit to the White House. Similarly, any sentient observer could not have overlooked the other contrived criticisms and simply childishly petty remarks spouted by JD Vance and Donald Trump (a.k.a. Elon Musk’s puppet), including the lie that the U.S. gave Ukraine “$350 billion” and “you got to be more thankful, because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards.”

Vance’s diplomatic acumen, not to mention lawyerly chops, was epitomized when the Yale Law grad interrogated Zelensky with a question every first-year law student anywhere would agree is akin to asking, “When did you stop beating your wife?” when he asked, “Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” With friends like these two …

Robert M. Haas Jr., Devon

The coverage in The Inquirer of the “contentious” White House meeting completely left out the most absurd but also most telling remarks by President Donald Trump: that he and Vladimir Putin were the victims and had suffered “terribly” together, not Ukraine and its people. It would have been comical if it hadn’t been so serious. It showed clearly that this shocking and disgraceful affair had everything to do with revenge, retribution, and intimidation as well as “great television,” as Trump put it. It also had the desired effect of getting those senators who had so effusively praised Volodymyr Zelensky just that morning to get in line with Trump against Zelensky. “World War III,” as Trump ominously later threatened, may frighteningly come about, but from Trump’s banding with the murderous dictator Putin, not from Zelensky defending his people and the democratic country of Ukraine.

Mark Bernstein, Warminster

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