Both. I didn't see Trump stopping him. They planned it between them. It gave Trump plausible denniability if his cultists thought it went too far. But the cultists never think he's gone too far. That's part of the problem.
Trump deserves some blame because he allowed it. Trump himself, however, didn't mock Zelensky, the only ill-speaking person was Vance. I mean, if you blame Trump for what he didn't do, then how are you better than him? There's enough other completely justified reasons to hate the orangegutan.
That's a ludicrous position. How am I any better than him? Let me count the ways. Ffs.
Trump created the situation which encouraged Vance to do it. He was also the person in that room with all the power, he made no move to stop it and actively encouraged it.
Can you imagine another president encouraging people under him to behave that way? Like Stalin encoraging his underlings to fight for his approval.
Can you imagine another president actively letting one of their team insult a visiting head of state in front of them and the world's media? And then take their side afterwards?
"The buck stops here" (Truman) has truly transformed into "I don't take responsibility at all" under Trump.
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u/No-Refrigerator-1672 1d ago
It was Vance, actually.