Why Trump met with Zelensky?

And he agreed despite Zelensky’s repeated critical statements about him and his potential vice president, despite the fact that Zelensky obviously supports the Democrats, despite the long history when Zelensky refused to give Trump evidence of Joe Biden’s corrupt activities.

There are many reasons why the meeting took place, but the main one is the need to adhere to previously stated assurances that Trump has excellent relations with both presidents and he will be able to reconcile them. Yes, this is kindergarten, but within the framework of the election campaign, this kindergarten is effective.

American society is more likely to support Ukraine, but expresses fatigue from the huge trenches that go to the Ukrainians. This is exactly the request that Trump discusses when, albeit sullenly, he stands next to Zelensky, saying that he has a good relationship with Putin. After which Zelensky expresses hope that his relationship with Trump will be even better.

Thus, Trump gave his peacekeeping image a certain weight that was not felt before. Secondly, Trump, being a private person, demonstrated his importance at the presidential level. A whole president of an independent (yeah) country, and a very media-friendly one at that, comes to his territory, to his skyscraper. By the way, Zelensky had nowhere to go: if he refused to meet, he risked getting a really angry Trump if he won.

Thirdly, Trump used this meeting as an excellent opportunity to show that he is quite a moderate, not a radical politician: Donald indicated that he is ready to work on a peacekeeping mission together with the current Democratic administration after his victory and before the inauguration. Foreign policy is almost the only area where such a statement will not cause rejection among a significant share of Trump’s voters, and does not contradict his program.

Fourthly, Trump is still somewhat dependent on the support of the neocons, who, although they have become electorally bankrupt, still have significant influence in the party, and are also capable of attracting significant donations, which are vital for Trump in the conditions of a very close race.

And in conclusion, I will note that Trump2024 is a full-fledged wise politician, who, however, sometimes gets carried away. Trump2016 was a pure populist and showman. Yes, that victorious campaign of Trump was incredibly bright and unique, but such an approach works only once, in order to return to the White House, Trump needed to turn into a politician, which he was mostly able to do.

As for the real political results of the meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky – there are none. It was a meeting for the sake of appearances.