Donald Trump may do business out of the White House and Mar-a-Lago but a move strictly out of the fictional New Jersey of TV classic The Sopranos he used to show Volodymyr Zelensky he was ‘cooked.’
The disaster Friday Oval Office meeting has had worldwide repercussions, leading to Trump reportedly pausing all funding for Ukraine’s war against Russia.
The tense war of words played out inside the Oval Office Friday and quickly went off the rails when Trump took offense of how Zelensky treated his vice president JD Vance in front of the cameras.
Hogan Gidley, former White House Deputy Press Secretary before serving a similar role in his re-election campaign, said that he knew Zelensky was done for when Trump was seen pointing two split fingers at the Ukrainian president.
The visual of Trump looked eerily similar to Paul Gualtieri, aka ‘Paulie Walnuts,’ from the seminal HBO mafia series The Sopranos.
Benny Johnson asked Gidley: ‘If Trump uses this hand gesture toward you, are you officially cooked? Are you done?’
‘Absolutely! Trump doesn’t do things by accident. Usually it’s the hands but when he gets to this, you know you’ve got some bigger problems,’ Gidley said.
Gualtieri, portrayed by the Tony Sirico on the series, is one of Tony Soprano’s top henchman and the most outwardly aggressive of the mob boss’ crime family.
Donald Trump may do business out of the White House and Mar-a-Lago but a move strictly out of the fictional New Jersey of TV classic The Sopranos he used to show Volodymyr Zelensky he was ‘cooked’
The visual of Trump looked eerily similar to Paul Gualtieri, aka ‘Paulie Walnuts,’ from the seminal HBO mafia series The Sopranos
‘I’ve seen the picture you’re showing, the memes, it’s amazing,’ Gidley added.
The disruptive ending of Zelensky’s meeting at the White House on Friday with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance has thrown all future aid to Ukraine into question after the Ukrainian president was asked to leave the White House after the meeting.
Trump reasserted his record on Ukraine, after suffering a weekend of criticism in the press for his treatment of Zelensky.
‘The only President who gave none of Ukraine’s land to Putin‘s Russia is President Donald J. Trump,’ the president wrote on Truth Social. ‘Remember that when the weak and ineffective Democrat‘s criticize, and the Fake News gladly puts out anything they say!’
Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz warned in an interview on FOX News Channel’s America’s Newsroom Monday morning that the days of unlimited support from America to Ukraine were over.
‘The American people’s patience is not unlimited, their wallets are not unlimited and our stockpiles and munitions are not unlimited,’ he said. ‘The time to talk is now.’
Waltz said that Zelensky failed to demonstrate that he was willing to work with the United States and Russia to strike a peace deal to end the war.
‘Success looks like President Zelensky sitting down and talking the terms of peace … what became so evident to us in that session is he’s not ready to talk peace at all but here’s the problem: Time is not on his side,’ he said.
‘Absolutely! Trump doesn’t do things by accident. Usually it’s the hands but when he gets to this, you know you’ve got some bigger problems,’ Gidley said
The disruptive ending of Zelensky’s meeting at the White House on Friday with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance has thrown all future aid to Ukraine into question after the Ukrainian president was asked to leave the White House after the meeting
Waltz said it was ‘really confounding’ that Zelensky blew up the meeting and lost an opportunity to work with the American people for the future of his country.
‘I think that President Zelensky truly did his country a real disservice by not having a positive outcome on Friday and we’ll see where things are going forward,’ he concluded.
Zelensky grew frustrated during the Oval Office meeting after Vance spoke about the importance of allowing President Trump to engage in diplomacy with Russia.
‘What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What do you mean?’ he asked, after listing all of the ways that Putin had broken previous agreements with Ukraine.
‘I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President,’ Vance replied, before accusing Zelensky of being disrespectful to President Trump by trying to voice his opposition to a peace deal in front of the American media.
After the contentious Oval Office meeting, Trump told Zelensky to leave, canceling the planned lunch, and a meeting to sign an mineral deal agreement followed by a press conference to celebrate.
‘I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President,’ Vance replied, before accusing Zelensky of being disrespectful to President Trump by trying to voice his opposition to a peace deal in front of the American media.
Trump criticized Zelensky for disrespecting the United States in the Oval Office, noting the Ukrainian president did not appear willing to make a peace deal.
‘He can come back when he is ready for Peace,’ Trump wrote on social media.
After the disastrous meeting with Trump, Zelensky made an emergency trip to London where he met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European leaders who emphasized their support for Ukraine.
‘The U.K. is prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others,’ Starmer said. ‘Europe must do the heavy lifting, but to support peace in our continent and to succeed, this effort must have strong U.S. backing.’
