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OPINION:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered to step down as president of his country if NATO offers Ukraine membership and guarantees its security. This is not the hallmark of a dictator. Mr. Zelenskyy’s gesture to resign in exchange for security assurances demonstrates his commitment to core U.S. values such as democracy and freedom.
Mr. Zelenskyy’s embrace of core U.S. values is what inspired him to seek NATO membership in the first place and why he wants to save Ukrainians in occupied territories instead of abandoning them as part of a peace deal. However, President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance have different value systems. To them, protecting the free world is not about morality. It is about money and power. It is a business transaction aimed at getting a financial return on investment or gaining political capital to ignite their base in the “America First” movement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio made this clear when he announced the administration’s litmus test in January, saying, “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”
The Office of Management and Budget recently clarified the “prosperous” prong by saying, among other things, that “foreign assistance must promote … markets that favor Americans, competition for American partnerships … secure exclusive partnerships, empower trade relationships that benefit U.S. businesses, strengthen American industries, protect American international investments, and create and prioritize opportunities for American workers.”
In other words, democracies that are profitable for the U.S. are worth saving, but others are not. It all depends on the return on investment, measured by dollars, not moral values.
Still, the administration should know that when any nation remains or becomes democratic, free and independent, the answer to all three questions is yes.
Shielding Ukraine’s democracy makes America safer because it tilts the geopolitical chessboard toward the U.S. instead of Russia and China. Preserving Ukraine’s freedom makes the U.S. stronger because she recruits another ally in a world hostile to freedom. Investing in Ukraine’s independence makes the U.S. more prosperous because it maintains our trade relations.
None of these truths is self-evident to the president, however, because Messrs. Zelenskyy and Trump have different values.
Mr. Zelenskyy is focused on preventing the rape of Ukrainian women and the abduction of children by Russian soldiers. Mr. Trump is focused on the expansion of the Trump Organization (as evidenced by his personal ambitions in the Gaza Strip) or how much money foreign aid can generate as a return on investment to the U.S. Treasury.
Mr. Zelenskyy measures success by how many Ukrainians are freed from Russian-occupied territories. Mr. Trump measures success by achieving “peace” without regard to what happens to those Ukrainians imprisoned and enslaved in Russian filtration camps and forced labor zones.
Mr. Zelenskyy and Mr. Trump are also speaking two different languages.
Mr. Zelenskyy is speaking a language based on moral values.
Mr. Trump is speaking a language focused on ‘what’s in it for me’ while discarding core Western values for those who don’t pass a financial litmus test.
This difference in language and values, not Mr. Zelenskyy’s comments or fashion, caused the infamous “failure to communicate” in last week’s White House summit. As such, Mr. Zelenskyy has turned to European nations such as France and England that continue to embrace the same moral Western values that elevated the U.S. as the leader of the free world.
For the moment, what the United States stands for in President Trump’s America is unclear.
“America First” sounds folksy and appeals to disaffected voters, but sacrificing moral values is not the quality of a world leader. Neither people nor nations follow others who place themselves before the greater good.
Mr. Zelenskyy saw this distinction in the language Messrs. Trump and Vance were speaking during their negotiations in the White House, and tragically, the world saw it, too.
Power is perception. The vacuum of America as a world leader leaves an opening, which is more than convenient for Mr. Zelenskyy’s enemies in Moscow and America’s competitors and opponents worldwide.
• Jeffrey Scott Shapiro is a former Washington prosecutor who served as a senior U.S. official in the first Trump administration from 2017-2021. He now serves as a member of The Washington Times editorial board.
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