Donald Trump's abrupt reversal at the United Nations, where he appeared to throw his full support behind Ukraine, while harshly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin caught observers by surprise at his sudden change of teams.
Trump, long allied with Putin, called Russia a “paper tiger” when speaking with reporters after his U.N. address and added that he now believes Ukraine can “win” the war Russia started as well as take back occupied territories — far cry from his notorious meeting in the Oval Office with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy where he and Vice President J.D. Vance bullied the Ukrainian leader before reporters.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” longtime columnist David Ignatius admitted he was being cynical, but added that he thinks Zelenskyy figured out Trump’s weak spot and is taking advantage of it.
“This is a president who has made clear that he wants to win Nobel Peace Prize,” he observed.
"One way to read what happened yesterday is the one person who could nominate Donald Trump effectively for the Nobel Peace Prize is Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” the Washington Post columnist pointed out. “That's the one nomination that might really carry some weight in Oslo.”
He added, “And if Zelenskyy truly is convinced that the president who spoke with him, not to the United Nations General Assembly, is the real man, that's going to be, you know, as Zelenskyy put it about Trump, maybe a game changer. That's, forgive a cynical view of what happened, but that may be behind it.”