NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — President Donald Trump’s recent show of hostility toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has opened a rift in Republican circles, with traditional conservatives defending the war-time leader who is struggling to repel Russia’s invasion.
A few days after taking office, Trump noted approvingly that Ukraine was ready to “make a deal” to end a war that began three years ago when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tanks rolling across the border.
Lately, though, Trump has publicly soured on Ukraine. Throughout the week he has treated Zelenskyy as he might a garden-variety political foe, parsing his poll numbers while depicting Ukraine as an obstacle to a peace deal.
The darkening message may reflect Trump’s frustration that Ukraine has resisted his call to let the U.S. tap rare earth minerals the country possesses as compensation for the billions of dollars in aid the U.S. has provided over the years.
Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, hinted at the president’s annoyance during an appearance Friday at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering here outside Washington, D.C.
Waltz, taking questions from a moderator, said that Trump “proposes a deal and sent our Treasury Secretary [Scott Bessent] all the way out to Kyiv to propose it, and then we get this rhetoric in the media.”
All will end well, Waltz predicted. Ukraine will give up the minerals, the war will end and “we’re going to have the Nobel Peace Prize sitting next to the name of Donald J. Trump,” he said.
But first, Trump needs to broker an end to the war — something he once said he would accomplish in the first 24 hours of his term.
In a social media post Wednesday, the president called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections,” and in a reference to the Ukrainian leader’s former career, labeled him a “modestly successful comedian.” Speaking to reporters this week, he also blamed Ukraine’s leaders for starting the war, even though it was Putin who launched the invasion.
Trump stepped up the attacks on Friday, telling Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that Zelenskyy has “no cards” left to play as the war grinds on. “You just get sick of it. And I’ve had it,” he said.
No one would question Trump’s grip on a GOP that has made him its nominee in three successive presidential elections beginning in 2016.
But by targeting Zelenskyy as opposed to Putin, he has opened a fresh split between his MAGA movement and a faction of the party that came of age during Ronald Reagan’s presidency or regards Russia with more suspicion.
Nikki Haley, who served as United Nations ambassador in Trump’s first term and later challenged him for the 2024 GOP nomination, admonished Trump in a social media post: “These are classic Russian talking points. Exactly what Putin wants.”
Another figure from Trump’s first term joined Haley in her condemnation.
“Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war,” Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, wrote on X. “Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.”
Blowback also came from the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post, normally a Trump-friendly outlet. The tabloid’s cover on Friday featured a picture of a stone-faced Putin with the headline: “President Trump: This is a Dictator.”
Conservative commentators Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro also disputed Trump’s historical rewrite this week.
“Russia invaded a sovereign country and tried to take Kyiv and has killed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people,” Shapiro said on his podcast.
Levin, in his radio show, said, “Ukraine did not invade Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine.”
Still, Trump enjoys heartfelt support from his electoral base, as was colorfully evident during CPAC. The meeting of conservative activists has been a multi-day celebration of all-things Trump. People walked through the convention center halls in MAGA hats and shirts. Some wore full-body Trump masks. Five of his supporters lined up in a row and posed for pictures wearing letters spelling out his name: T-R-U-M-P.
In interviews, the attendees said they trusted Trump to end the war responsibly and have no quarrel with his criticism of Zelenskyy.
Eddie Smith, 47, of Henderson, Nevada, said in an interview that he “absolutely” agrees with Trump that Zelenskyy is a dictator.
Smith, too, cited the absence of elections in Ukraine. (Zelenskyy was elected in 2019; the country suspended scheduled elections last year because of the war).
“He cancelled elections,” said Smith, who wore a hat with the numbers “45/47” — a reference to Trump’s two presidencies. “I don’t see too much difference between him and Putin.”
Mark Perkowski, 31, who lives in Maryland, also sounded disenchanted with the Ukrainian leader.
“If he doesn’t want to have an election, we don’t know if the people want him,” Perkowski said. “It looks like Zelenskyy is just begging for money at this point.”
One speaker at the conference was Richard Grenell, whom Trump has made both a special envoy and the interim executive director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. When the moderator asked if Zelenskyy is a “dictator,” Grenell replied: “Well, I think when you reject having elections and you’re not moving toward that way, people get angry about that.”
Grenell’s Q&A lasted about 15 minutes. Nothing he said produced a bigger burst of applause from the audience.
