Let’s have a hypothetical, shall we?
It’s Friday night. The work week is finally over, and you and your friends have decided to hit the clubs to let off steam. Sounds great, but there’s just one problem. There’s a douchebag who just won’t leave one of you alone. I mean, it’s crazy. He calls, he comes over and gets mad when your friend won’t answer the door, he stalks her on social media and hassles all her friends. She’s tried talking to him, both face to face and with someone there to mediate. She even made an agreement with him that they’d both go about your lives and not have any contact. Twice, in fact. But every time you think things are finally going to settle down, there he is again on her doorstep. Now he’s camped outside her house in his van, and nobody – not the Neighbourhood Watch, not her friends, not even the police – can make him leave. So the last thing she wants to do is risk running into him somewhere public.
Not to worry, say your mutual friends as you all enter the packed club. The popular kids, the ones who weirdly seem to like talking to creepy assholes like this. They’ve got her back. But wait – what are they saying?
Is she sure she’s really tried hard enough to work things out with this guy? Did you hear that right?
They tell her they know he destroyed her garden, and knocked down her fence, and she can’t go out to the supermarket without him or one of his mates following her, but she has to see it from his point of view. After all, she was the one who stayed friends with them after he told her not to. It’s really kind of her fault for not obeying.
She has to give a little, too. Why not let him move into her house? That would solve all her problems – he’d be happy, she’d be happy, and oh by the way, they’re willing to set that up for her. All they want is a little something from her in exchange. How about giving them some of that amazing jewellery collection she has, say half of it? Yeah, it’s an heirloom and it belongs to her entire family, but it’s worth it, right?
But this is exactly what happened in 2014, she says. I let him move into the street and didn’t get a restraining order, and what did he do? He just got worse! Why should I have to put up with this stalker who’s trying to ruin my life? The strain on my family is terrible!
Your friends are not happy. Why can’t she be the least bit grateful, they say. Here they are taking valuable time out of their days to work things out, and she won’t even say thank you! It’s time she faces the fact that this guy will never be out of her life, so the least she can do is take their advice and let him do whatever he wants. Otherwise … well, they’ll just have to take back the equipment they gave her to help keep him away, and they’ll cut ties with her. Honestly, they say – and now they’re yelling at her in front of everyone – he’s not a bad guy! They talked to him heaps and really, she’s the unreasonable one asking to be left alone, isn’t she?
Some scenario, huh?
I think it’s fair to say that if any of our friends talked to us that way, we’d tell them to go do something unspeakable to themselves. Capitulate to a stalker? Let a bully move into our house and ruin our lives? Be grateful for the abuse we’ve already suffered, and for our friends abandoning us? No, ma’am. Clearly, we need new friends. Real friends.
And if we saw two of our friends treating a mutual friend like that, we wouldn’t just stand by. At the very least, we’d try to calm things down. We’d support our friend who’s being stalked this way, and probably have a few choice words for the two who are yelling at her that it’s her fault for being a victim.
Seems very straightforward, doesn’t it?
Yet this is exactly what US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance did to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a few hours ago. They sat down in front of the world’s media and scolded Zelenskyy for – wait for it – being invaded by Russia.
Trump took the role of Mean Girl #1, alternately shaking his head in disbelief and pouting petulantly about how nobody appreciated how much he does for everyone. Vance played the Faithful Sidekick, the one who actually gets into the fight when the Mean Girl decides that someone needs a beat-down.
They talked up Putin as though he was a great, reasonable guy just trying to deal with a recalcitrant brat. They told Zelenskyy he should be grateful that the US was even considering helping them, and accused him of trying to start “World War Three”. There was more than a token attempt to gaslight him when he pointed out the extent to which the US had failed to support Ukraine since 2014 (while also being sure to thank the US for the support it has provided).
And to add insult to injury, Trump went on an extended rant about how unfair it was that people blamed Putin for trying to interfere in US elections, and how mean everyone was to him over “Russia, Russia, Russia”. He didn’t miss the chance to have a gripe about Hunter Biden, son of his predecessor, either, trotting out tired old nonsense about a suspicious laptop and repeated vague, long-debunked conspiracy theories.
While all this was going on, the Ukrainian ambassador sat off to one side with her head in her hands.
Afterwards, the Ukrainians attempted to return to talks in a more private setting. Trump, however, stamped his foot and declared that he’d been disrespected, and booted the Ukrainian delegation out of the White House altogether.
Here is that exchange in full. Please take time to watch the whole video. It’s not easy to sit through, but everyone needs to know exactly how terribly Trump and Vance behaved.
It went beyond disrespect. Beyond the kind of political gaslighting that Trump is known for. What happened in the White House today, in front of the world’s media, was a truly disgusting display of bullying. And we, as Australians, have a responsibility to call that out.
The US is our ally. We have trade deals with them. We just paid them $500 million on the understanding that one day, maybe, we might get some nuclear submarines from them. We have gone to war for them when they’ve asked us to – and sometimes, before they’ve asked us to. Australians have died for American causes. As friends go, it doesn’t get much more loyal than that?
But here’s something else good friends do. Good friends tell each other when one of them is behaving badly. As Australians, we’re no strangers to having to pull a mate aside when he’s going off and having a quiet word to him. We tell a friend who’s crossing the line that she needs to pull her head in. And we stand up for our friends when we see them being bullied, even if it’s by someone else in our friends circle.
This is exactly what our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, needs to do right now. This is what Opposition Leader Peter Dutton needs to do right now. Every leader of every political party in Australia needs to make it very clear that we are not going to stand by while Trump and Vance bully and threaten our friends. We cannot be silent on this. We cannot allow Australia to be thought of as being perfectly okay with our ally siding with expansionist dictators.
Already, over 20 other countries and the European Union have rushed to put out statements that they stand with Ukraine. They vary from simple messages of support to criticism of Russia to full-throated condemnation of Trump and Vance’s behaviour.
Here’s just a sample:
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada: “Russia illegally and unjustifiably invaded Ukraine.”
Nataša Pirc Musar, President of Slovenia: “What we witnessed in the Oval Office today undermines these values and the foundations of diplomacy.”
Friedrich Merz, ultra-conservative, pro-American, about to become Chancellor of Germany: “Dear Volodymyr @zelenskyyua, we stand with #Ukraine in good and in testing times. We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war. (FM)”
Australia is conspicuous by its silence, and we have a responsibility to speak out about what Trump and Vance did in the Oval Office today. We need to make it very clear we do not condone their bullying, and that we stand firmly with Ukraine against Russia’s vicious expansionism.
Our leaders need to say, NO. We do not agree that Ukraine should be grateful for being told to surrender. We do not agree that Vladimir Putin is a decent, patient guy who’s been unfairly treated. We do not that Ukraine should have to enter into a crippling arrangement that robs it of half of its mineral resources in return for the US allowing Russia to permanently occupy another sovereign country.
Most of all, our leaders need to say that we utterly condemn this grandstanding, bullying behaviour, especially when it comes from someone we consider a friend.
Albanese, Dutton, and the other party leaders need to send a clear signal to the world, but just as importantly, they need to send a clear signal to Australians. They need to listen to the outrage being poured out across all social media platforms and affirm to us that their leadership will have no part in Trump’s declared intent to beat into submission the most oppressed and victimised peoples of the world.
Good friends tell each other when one of them does the wrong thing. Good friends speak harsh truths when one of them uses their status and power to lash out at people in trouble. Good friends know that part of being a good friend is not letting other friends get away with inexcusable behaviour.
And if the good friend you’re trying to talk to doesn’t want to hear it, well … maybe it’s time to re-think that friendship.
There’s an election looming, Mr Albanese, Mr Dutton. You’ve already failed to take a stand in support of the Palestinian people being slaughtered and displaced. This is your chance to regain the respect of Australia. Show us that – on this, at least – you’re not just weak yes-men. Show us you’re not appeasers.
Show us you that you mean what you say when you claim to be champions of decency and humanity.
We’ll wait – but not for long.
UPDATE:
Anthony Albanese finally fronted the cameras to comment. His response to the torrent of abuse hurled at Zelenskyy by our ally, the USA?
We support Ukraine.
We don’t support Putin.
Not one word of criticism for Trump and Vance’s behaviour.
Not. ONE.
You failed again, Prime Minister.
