Russia and Putin · 2024 campaign · № 86

On Russia

Said Zelensky 'should never have let that war start' and called the war 'a loser'

“I think Zelenskyy is one of the greatest salesman I've ever seen. Every time he comes in, we give him $100 billion. Who else got that kind of money in history? There's never been. And that doesn't mean I don't want to help him because I feel very badly for those people, but he should never have let that war start. That war is loser.”
Said
, The PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David (recorded October 16, released October 17, 2024)
Subject
Blaming Zelensky
Type
Ukraine
Topic
Ukraine & Russia
Era
2024 campaign

What happened

Three weeks before the election, Trump told Patrick Bet-David that Zelensky 'should never have let that war start,' that 'Ukraine, remember, is not Ukraine anymore' and that 'this should have been settled before it started.' He said he 'largely' blamed Biden for instigating the war and added, 'there's no angel in Putin.' USA Today reported that he had told a North Carolina rally earlier in the month that the United States kept giving 'billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal.' Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022; Zelensky, at his September 27 meeting with Trump, had said 'Putin can't win, and Ukraine has to prevail.' The Biden administration announced a further $425 million aid package for Ukraine on October 16.

Sources

  1. Interview: Patrick Bet-David Interviews Donald Trump on the PBD Podcast - October 16, 2024 Roll Call / Factba.se, Oct 16, 2024
  2. 'That war is a loser': Donald Trump blames Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia's invasion USA Today, Oct 17, 2024
  3. Trump vows to resolve Ukraine-Russia war 'very quickly' as he meets Zelenskyy The Guardian, Sep 27, 2024