Last Friday's Oval Office sit-down between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was one of the most surreal things I have ever seen in politics. It was a real-time, real-life train wreck, the likes of which are seen extraordinarily rarely on the global political stage.

The widespread view prior to the sit-down was that Zelensky had already agreed to a mineral rights-sharing deal that would ensure the U.S. is economically invested in the energy development, and thus general prosperity, of Ukraine. Because Trump has repeatedly made clear that there will be no NATO-style military/physical security guarantee for Ukraine's territorial integrity in any postwar dispensation, the mineral rights deal with the U.S. was—and remains—Zelensky's best shot to ensure the U.S. is directly invested in the fate of his war-torn country.

Instead, Zelensky had other ideas. He stubbornly stuck to his signature sartorial slovenliness, eschewing a suit in favor of his customary vagabond-resembling sweater. When the conversation began, Zelensky quickly began pushing back against Trump and Vance, attempting to renegotiate a largely-already-agreed-to deal before a bemused global international television audience. Trump patiently tried, for a solid half hour or so, to steer the conversation back toward mutual productiveness—the mineral rights-sharing deal and, ultimately, the winding down of the Russia-initiated war in its totality. But Zelensky was having none of it.

It was an astonishing spectacle, truly. And it does raise the obvious question: What in the world was he thinking?

A few guesses come to mind. First, it must be emphasized that Zelensky is a rather unserious person—a former comedian with a frankly amateurish understanding of geopolitics. As the principle known as Hanlon's Razor goes, "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Second, it is likely that many of Zelensky's best allies in Congress—namely, senior Senate Democrats—buttered up his ego before the fateful Oval Office sit-down and convinced him to put on a tough-guy demeanor for the world's cameras. They probably persuaded Zelensky that his support remains strong and thoroughly bipartisan, and not to worry about the recent change in White House occupancy.

Whoops!

In response to Zelensky's historical Oval Office performance, the Trump administration has promptly turned off the profligate spigot of U.S. taxpayer funding flowing into the Ukrainian military's coffers. And Zelensky only has himself to blame. He, and he alone, is responsible for this current state of affairs. Trump didn't "provoke" or "needle" him at the meeting, as the corporate media talking heads insist. Trump is not a "Putin puppet," as they so often risibly claim. He is simply a prudential nationalist seeking a viable off-ramp to one of the bloodiest conflicts of this century—one the American people have, to no small extent, underwritten.

Zelensky is no longer helpful for the cause of peace. (This should have been clear, truthfully, for years now.) Frankly, Zelensky is no longer helpful, either, for the fate of his own countrymen. He should resign posthaste and leave the difficult work of peace to the adults in the room.

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