President Donald Trump is not the first US leader to have lost his temper with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as it happened in the fiery Oval Office spat that was seen around the world Friday. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had become furious with President Zelenskyy over a phone call in June 2022, just months after the Russian invasion in February.
NBC News reported at the time that Biden had called Zelenskyy to let him know he had just cleared $1 billion in military assistance for Ukraine. But even before he had finished speaking, Zelenskyy began rattling off all the additional help and items that he needed.
Biden lost his temper and told Zelenskyy, as reported by NBC, the people were being quite generous, and his administration and the US military were working hard to help Ukraine. And, he added, raising his voice, that Zelenskyy could show a little more gratitude. President Trump made the same point to Zelenskyy on Friday. There are more similarities.
Tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy had been building over as it had been between Biden and Zelenskyy in 2022. President Biden and his top aides had been frustrated that they were doing as much as they could, and as quickly as they could, but Zelenskyy had publicly focussed on things he had not received. This frustration came out on the phone call. But that call did not turn into a heated exchange like on Friday.
Tensions had been building between Trump and Zelenskyy in recent weeks. Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator”, accusing him of clinging to power without calling for elections. The Ukrainian leader had responded accusing Trump of living in “disinformation space”. Trump had pulled back and feigned loss of recall, having said that when asked at a news conference ahead of his meeting with Zelenskyy.
There is one crucial difference between the two blowouts. Zelenskyy showed contrition after the 2022 phone call. “I had an important conversation with US President Biden today” he had said in videotaped remarks. “I am grateful for this support. It is especially important for our defence in Donbas”. But on Friday, when asked about the Oval Office blowout, he told a Fox News host, he had done nothing “bad”, although he did concede the spat “was not good”
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