Bulwark Takes - Trump Blames Zelenskyy for Starting War After Palm Sunday Massacre

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Tim Miller shares his take on Trump blaming Zelensky for starting the war in Ukraine during his Oval Office meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. Tim calls out Trump’s cowardice and psychological envy of Zelensky’s courage and leadership.

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great mission. Total no-brainer. Go to IQBar.com today and enter promo code Keller20 to get 20% off all IQ Bar products plus free shipping. That's IQBar.com, promo code Keller20. Hey guys, Tim Miller for The Bulwark here. We are obviously going to have wall-to-wall coverage of just that ludicrous dystopian Oval Office press conference between Donald Trump and El Salvador President Bukele. And so much, obviously, to get into regarding his refusal to return the man that we wrongfully sent to the El Salvador concentration camp, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. JBL and Andrew had a video immediately reacting that you should check reacting. I talked about Bill Kristol. But I want to focus on this other clip that I don't want to get lost from the press conference where Trump is talking about the war in Ukraine.

And just for context, people haven't seen it. There was potentially the worst civilian casualty event in Ukraine of the entire war on Palm Sunday. Over about 34 dead, hundreds wounded, seriously wounded, missile attack in Sumy. And, you know, this was such a bad attack that even Rick Grinnell, Trump's butt boy, sent out a tweet calling Russia evil over it. Well, I guess he didn't check in with the boss because Donald Trump was discussing this situation with the war with Bukele. And I want to play you this just noxious reaction from our president. President Zelensky's serve out his offer to purchase more Patriot missile batteries. All right. He's always looking to purchase missiles.

You know, he's he's against. Listen, when you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war. You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles. There it is. When you start a war, you got to know you can win a war. You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your, your size. What start a war? What is he talking about? What are you talking about? Like this is such up is down bullshit. I get annoyed with the word gaslighting. This is gaslighting in the most extreme sense.

Zelensky didn't start a war. Trump is doing this, oh, Ukraine's skirt was hiked up a little too high, so you can't blame Russia for raping and pillaging the country, kidnapping children, killing people, bombing, trying to take territory. Like, I just, how can it just be that the president of the United States just advances these blatant, shameful lies and smears that are obviously false. That even his own fucking staff and supporters know are false. Not all supporters,

but, but like everybody knows it. And, and instead he is just trying to do the Trump thing where you have a big lie. You create your own universe where, where there's some other reality. I'm sorry. In this war, there is one bad guy. Putin.

No matter what Trump's envoy wants you to think, no matter how many fucking paintings he brings Trump, Putin has invaded Ukraine. If as a country, we want to decide that we don't want to support Ukraine any longer, I think that would be a horrible decision. I would totally disagree with that. But there are certainly policy arguments you could make that, you know, it's not worth our resources or whatever. There are stupid policy arguments, but they're policy arguments. That's not what this is. Like, this is advancing a total falsehood lie smear that is made up out of thin air to try to create a post-hoc rationalization for abandoning Ukraine, which

is what he wants to do. And here's the thing. There's something more deeply psychological here. Trump knows that Zelensky has shown actual courage. Trump knows that Zelensky is a leader whose people actually love and respect him. And Trump's jealous. Trump is jealous because he knows he's a coward.

We've all seen the video of him getting scared by a little bird back in the apprentice days. He's a coward. He has no personal character or courage. Zelensky does.

And so he must demean him. He must bring him down to his level. His and Putin's level. And make him out to be the bad guy. To rationalize the way that we're treating

and to build Trump up into something that he's not. So, I'm pretty annoyed and dispirited that this fucking male psychodrama and the fact that Donald Trump didn't get hugged as a child

and doesn't have a therapist is going to lead to more death in Ukraine and in a more unstable world. But that's where we stand today. After. You know, it's kind of like now you're going to start making a list. I was about to say one of the most appalling scenes in the history of our local office. We've had so many of those now over the past eight years, on and off, that it now just goes on the list.

So we will keep monitoring everything that is happening with Pukele, with El Salvador, with El Brego Garcia and all the other Venezuelans that were wrongfully sent to El Salvador. And, of course, everything that's happening with the war in Ukraine as well. So subscribe to the feed, tell your friends, stick around. We'll see you soon. This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar. Hi, I'm Will, and I created IQ Bar to empower doers like you

with clean, delicious, low-sugar brain and body fuel. Millions of people rely on our protein bars and hydration mixes to win their day. Turns out Thomas Keller, Michelin star chef of the French Laundry, is one of them. We've teamed up with Chef Keller to craft a bar and hydration mix that marry world-class flavor with exceptional nutrition. Our special edition salted caramel chip bar delivers all the decadence of a fine dining dessert plus protein minus sugar and carbs. And our zero sugar yuzu mango hydration mix packs an authentic citrusy punch and a mental boost from lion's mane and magnesium. The best part? 10% of sales go directly to Chef Keller's

nonprofit that supports aspiring young chefs. Great taste, great nutrition, great mission. Total no-brainer. Go to IQBar.com today and enter promo code KELLER20 to get 20% off all IQBar products plus free shipping. That's IQBar.com, promo code KELLER20.