To understand the role of President Zelensky in the fate of Ukraine, one must point out, as J.D. Vance noted in the White House meeting, that Zelensky had campaigned for Kamala Harris in the swing state of Pennsylvania. That was a fatal mistake by Zelensky that can only be rectified by his stepping down or being replaced.

Politically, Zelensky chose the wrong, the losing, side. Now his country is losing under his presidency because he performed like a buffoon in the White House a week ago in front of the whole world.

Zelensky has only himself to blame, and I have noticed that many supporters of Ukraine are making the same mistake. They trusted the same political party in this difficult matter that abandoned South Vietnam to communism.

Pointing the finger at Trump, calling him a Russian agent, or saying he is a victim of Russian disinformation are all charges and actions that divert attention away from the serious problems in the government of Ukraine—foremost among them Zelensky—who thought he could support Kamala Harris and then, if Trump won, it would be business as usual. That was an egregious miscalculation on his part.

The supporters of Ukraine who put their faith in Zelensky want to ignore the fact that he functioned as a lackey of the Democrats, even though they never provided him enough to win the war.

In front of Trump, he was demanding of too much – American blood and American treasure.

Simply put, America can’t afford it, and that is the platform that Trump got elected on. Zelensky should have been smart enough to understand this fact.

The Europeans could have done far more to help over the course of the last ten years but many are deadbeats who depended on Uncle Sam. Now they are rallying around Zelensky, once again sounding tough but acting like the milquetoasts they are.

The Democrats created the current mess. They blame Trump when they know they laid the groundwork for Ukraine’s demise under Zelensky. They used Zelensky as a prop during the campaign before J.D. Vance held them accountable in front of the entire world. Of course, Democrats don’t want to talk about this kind of “foreign interference” in American political campaigns. Vance has done so. At the very least, Zelensky should have apologized for his partisan campaigning against the Trump/Vance ticket.

This kind of thing has been a problem for Ukraine going back many years—trusting that the Democrats would save them from the Russians.

When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, President Obama did almost nothing. Before that, as a Senator, he had worked with Richard Lugar, the globalist Republican, in a bipartisan project to eliminate Ukraine’s conventional weapons. Ukraine went along with them—trusted them, another mistake.

Before that, of course, Democrat President Bill Clinton arranged for Ukraine to give its Russian nuclear weapons back to Moscow. Ukraine agreed to that, too—another mistake. That set the stage for Biden (in his words) to excuse a minor Russian “incursion” in 2022 that became a full-scale war that Ukraine is not winning three years later.

In the middle of all this—between Obama and Biden—Trump was in the White House and gave Ukraine anti-tank weapons that helped slow the Russian advance. During the Friday White House meeting, Trump mentioned this several times, noting that Obama gave Ukraine sheets and Trump gave them the anti-tank weapons, known as Javelins. But Zelensky didn’t seem appreciative and acted in an ungrateful manner.

Zelensky must understand that Ukraine has no right to make a claim on the resources of the American people. Trump wanted to give him an economic deal that would benefit both the U.S. and Ukraine, but that wasn’t enough for Zelensky.

That economic deal would have given Zelensky some financial resources to bolster his own defenses. He wanted more—an assurance that American military men and women would back up European peacekeepers.

Zelensky was begging Trump for “security guarantees” beyond the economic deal he was promised, and left the White House with nothing. It was another stupid mistake on his part, comparable to his campaigning for Kamala. He thinks he is somehow entitled to American support. He was wrong, again.

These are the kinds of mistakes by a national leader that can spell the difference between survival and outright defeat. Zelensky didn’t apologize for anything, another mistake.

I have been a supporter of Ukraine’s anti-communist struggle from the start. But when Zelensky campaigned for Kamala, I was so astounded that I wrote a column wondering if Zelensky had been a Russian agent all along.

Remember that Zelensky had inserted himself into the U.S. presidential election, on the side of Kamala Harris, by appearing in swing-state Pennsylvania, cheering on local workers making ammunition for the war. He was joined by Democrat Senator Bob Casey, running for re-election, and the Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro. Republicans were excluded.

By visiting the ammunition plant in Pennsylvania, he was putting his faith in an administration that made the war possible, when Biden said a minor “incursion” into Ukraine by Russia might be tolerated. I wrote at the time that Zelensky had lost his sense of purpose and must be replaced. He was not serving America’s interest or that of Ukraine.

The case for replacing Zelensky is stronger than ever. But that effort must come from the people of Ukraine and the country’s supporters here, many of them Democrats making all kinds of baseless charges against Trump, as if “Russia-gate” had never been investigated and dismissed during his first term.

They are willing to believe the worst about Trump but give Zelensky a pass for his serious mistakes in judgment.

Zelensky and these backers seem unable to understand the fact that Democrats are not really on the side of Ukraine in this war. They talk tough, beating their chest, as Vance pointed out, but just keep the war going and more people dying.

The Democratic Party doesn’t care if Ukraine falls to the Russians, any more than they cared about communists taking South Vietnam after they terminated aid to the regime in Saigon.

Republican Senator Bob Dole, a World War Two veteran, once remarked that Democrats are good at starting and losing wars. Ukraine stands as an example of this fact.

Personally, I favor regime change in Moscow and criminal prosecutions of Putin and his comrades. I want Ukraine to win this war or at least survive as a sovereign state. But Zelensky is not the leader Ukraine needs. He has made too many mistakes.

By staying in office, Zelensky plays into the hands of the Russians. I am sure there must be an alternative, perhaps a patriotic General in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who will step forward and lead a coup against Zelensky.