Unlike the characters in the “Bizarro World” of DC Comics who can’t help but see everything backwards, Politico’s Catherine Kim knew exactly what she was doing when she presented an upside-down portrayal of European leaders’ motives for meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday.
In Monday’s “Politico Nightly” piece, “Europe stages a family intervention,” Assistant Editor Kim uses baseless speculation and radical interpretations to claim that “seven European heavyweights accompanied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his meeting with Trump” because they wanted to rebuke Trump and set him straight regarding foreign affairs, like ending the Ukraine-Russia war.
Kim contends, without evidence, that the European leaders wanted to gang up on Trump because he’s fawning over Russian President Vladimir Putin, siding with Russia in the peace negotiations and threatening relations with NATO.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Pres. Trump didn’t roll out the “literal red carpet” for Putin when they met in Alaska Friday because he favored the Russian leader. He did it because he was hosting the head of another country – and he did the same for the European leaders, including Zelenskyy, on Monday.
What’s more, Trump didn’t go to the Kremlin for the summit.
European leaders, like Putin, came to Trump, in the United States. And, they didn’t do it “to show solidarity and intervene” against him; they did it to show solidarity and cooperate with him. In their public comments, both before and after their meeting, they had nothing but praise for Trump accomplishing what was feared impossible: getting the ball rolling on peace negotiations.
Kim even uses a baseless claim to try to resurrect the long-dead and thoroughly-debunked Trump-Russia Collusion hoax:
“Concern over Trump’s friendly relationship with Putin isn’t exactly new — it’s been brewing ever since his first term, when in 2018 Trump shocked the world by meeting Putin in Helsinki, Finland, and announcing that he trusted the Russian over his own intelligence agencies.”
But, anyone who bothers to click on Kim’s link can clearly see that Trump was expressing distrust of those in the U.S. intelligence community who were concocting and pushing the Trump-Russia hoax.
Kim even baselessly claims that Trump was nicer to Zelenskyy on Monday, than he was during their meeting in February, because Ukraine’s president “had the backing of seven major leaders” who “sent a strong message to Trump.”
Actually, Trump was likely more cordial to Zelenskyy because Zelenskyy displayed more respect to the President of the United States, showing up in a suit and thanking Trump for America’s support – neither of which he did in February.
Likewise, Kim claims, without evidence, that the foreign leaders went to the White House because the U.S.-Europe alliance is “weaker than ever due to Trump.” But, based on their comments at Monday’s press conference, they weren’t there to discuss tariffs and treaties, but to strengthen their relationship with Trump. And, when they did make brief references to trade, they did so to gush over the size of the deal Trump made with the U.K.
And, no, the European leaders didn’t take a “family photo” to give Trump “a visible reminder of their bond” in opposition to Trump, as Kim suggests. The photo actually included Trump and was a staged White House photo-op.
Kim portrays Monday’s meeting as an intervention by European leaders to bend Trump’s will and correct his thinking when, in fact, the exact opposite is true: they were there to fall in line with him immediately after he jump-started peace negotiations with Putin on Friday.
But, members of the liberal media, like Kim, are unfamiliar with the concept of genuine leadership, so they depict it as divisive and dictatorial.
As for Associate Editor Kim, her anti-Trump bias appears to be willful, not unintentional.
In November, Kim published a piece titled “If Trump Wins, Here’s How Foreign Leaders Should Respond.” In it, she credits a book by former South Korean President Moon Jae-In for providing five strategies for dealing with a President Trump:
Based on her snarky characterization of the five ploys, Kim’s view of Trump appears to be the opposite of “fair and balanced.”
In sum, Kim’s article uses baseless claims, far-fetched speculations and illogical interpretations of cherry-picked quotes to present a Bizarro World, reverse-image reflection of the reality of things here on Earth.
Perhaps, she’s the one who needs an intervention.
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