Thread by @ChrisMurphyCT

MAGA is making the claim that if you watch the entire 50 minute video, Zelensky is the antagonist.

This isn't true. At all. I was with Zelensky before this meeting and it's important to know his mindset heading in.

1/ A short 🧵on how the entire ambush went down.

2/ You cannot erase the context. Trump has been calling Zelensky a corrupt dictator and spreading Russian propaganda that Russia didn't invade Ukraine.

All these lies are Trump's pretext to sign a deal with Russia that hands Ukraine to Putin. Zelensky knows this.

3/ Zelensky - who's been cut out of the talks - knows what Trump and Putin are scheming. A "ceasefire" without any guarantee for Ukraine's future security is a trap. Trump's deal will require Ukrainian forces to withdraw, and when they do, Putin will pounce. It's a set up.

4/ So it's true that the first 40 minutes or so of the meeting LOOK cordial.

But listen to Trump. He keeps repeating that he's going to impose on Zelensky this fake "ceasefire", without any new weapons to Ukraine, without any security guarantee, without any way to enforce it.

4/ So at the 40 minute mark, Vance chimes in. He appears agitated. He says that Trump's fake "ceasefire" is the only way.

All that happens at this point is that Zelensky asks Vance a simple, calm question. Zelensky isn't being rude. And here's the essence of the question:

5/ "Putin has signed many agreements about Ukraine and he hasn't honored any of them. Aren't you worried Putin will violate the terms of this ceasefire?"

That's it. That's the question.

And this is where Vance and Trump explode. The trap was set and now the ambush starts.

6/ Vance - visibly angry - calls Zelensky "disrespectful" for asking his simple question. And then starts listing Russian talking points about how weak the Ukrainian army is how poor a leader Zelensky is.

It's Vance that takes a cordial meeting to a hostile one.

7/ You've seen the clips that follow. But the whole meeting is a set up.

By pushing this plan to hand Ukraine to Putin (IN FRONT OF ZELENSKY!), Trump is trying to either humiliate or provoke Zelensky.

But he does neither, and so Vance has to light the match.

8/ Of course Zelensky had to make his point that Putin won't honor the "ceasefire". He does it diplomatically with a question to Vance (likely so as to not directly confront Trump on TV).

And then Vance see his chance. He commences the ambush.

The whole thing was a set up.