Trump’s lies about the war in Ukraine are a disgrace to America and put the free world in jeopardy. Upset that President Zelensky said President Trump was operating in a “misinformation bubble,” Trump immediately proved Zelensky correct by parroting Russian talking points:
- Trump Lie: Zelensky has only a 4% approval rating
— Actually, Zelensky’s approval rating in Ukraine was 54% at last count, above Trump’s 47% approval in the US - Trump Lie: Zelensky and Biden started the war
— Actually, despite guaranteeing Ukrainian sovereignty when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in the 1990’s, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, laid the groundwork in occupied territories for future operations, then launched a full-scale invasion in 2022
Then Trump fired off this Truth Social Post to double down on his lies:
Here’s some of the lies in this post:
- Trump Lie: US has spent $350 billion dollars supporting Ukraine, $200 billion more that Europe
- Truth: From multiple sources, looks like US has provided more like $120 billion and Europe spent $140 billion. These numbers include both military and humanitarian relief. It should be noted that over half of US spending was spent in America for US military weapons and equipment, which helped us modernize our inventories while shipping the older arms to Ukraine.
- Trump Lie: Europe’s Ukraine support money is guaranteed, and America’s is not
- Truth: Some of latest $50 billion European aid package consists of loans, but repayment depends on Ukraine’s post-war recovery. Also, the U.S. has facilitated financial support through loan guarantees. For example, in December 2024, the U.S. announced a $20 billion loan to benefit Ukraine, structured under the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans initiative. This loan is to be repaid using proceeds earned from immobilized Russian sovereign assets.
- Trump Lie: Zelensky admits that half the money we sent him is missing.
- Truth: Zelensky made no such admission. Rather, he has taken issue with inflated claims about how much US cash Ukraine has received. He said in a February 1 interview with the Associated Press that although people talk about Ukraine getting as much as $200 billion in US aid, Ukraine had received about $76 billion, largely in the form of weapons. Zelensky said he doesn’t know where all the professed additional money has gone and that perhaps these higher figures are correct “on paper,” according to a translation by the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda. Contrary to some viral social media posts this month, that wasn’t a confession that half of the cash that the US sent to Ukraine had vanished. In reality, Zelensky was saying exactly what experts in the US and elsewhere have repeatedly pointed out – that a large chunk of the total US budgetary “response” to the Ukraine war is not in the form of money handed to the Ukrainian government.
- Trump Lie: Zelensky is a “dictator without elections”
- Truth: Zelensky won a free and fair election in 2019. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits holding elections while the country is in a state of martial law. Ukraine is at war with an invading country, so it is unreasonable to lift martial law now.
- Trump lie: Zelensky doesn’t want peace, he “probably wants to keep the gravy train rolling.”
- Truth: Trump is an asshole. Of course, Zelensky wants the slaughter of his people to end. Zelensky is a national hero and patriot. Trump is an idiot, criminal, and psychopath.
May the truth be with you. Keep banging.
Waipahu Bob 