On Thanksgiving Day, President Zelensky once again thanked President Trump on behalf of Ukraine. A few days earlier, Trump had accused Ukraine’s leadership of showing «zero gratitude» despite a record of Zelensky having thanked the US repetitively, from his virtual address to the US Congress soon after the invasion till a few days before Trump’s accusation.
Trump’s claim is not only a lie but it also misses the point that it is the West that should be thanking Ukraine. Moreover, his trash-talking of Zelensky undermines Western cohesion at exactly the worst moment – to the extent that it would now be logical for Trump to blame Putin for Moscow’s zero gratitude!
A recurring theme of Trump’s power trip has been to demand that people flatter him, thank him, and generally subjugate themselves. It is a barbaric demonstration of power that harks back thousands of years to when people threw themselves at the feet of an emperor and pledged allegiance or begged forgiveness.
When brokering peace, pragmatism and enthusiasm for a deal should not distract from who is right or from what we want to achieve through the peace. That’s why this is the worst moment to be playing ego games that blame the good guy and confuse the stark moral difference between the two sides in the war.
Zelensky was first falsely criticised by Trump’s national security adviser for not thanking the United States as early as July 2023. Then, in the infamous Oval Office meeting in February this year, Trump watched as his Vice President repetitively demanded thanks from Zelensky. Trump’s etiquette lessons have nothing to do with manners and everything to do with self-aggrandisement and belittlement of others.
In fact, Trump has got the direction of gratitude the wrong way around. The entire West, no less the United States, should actually be thanking Ukraine for its contribution to the possibility that the Free World will in the future still be able to call itself free. Zelensky is the last person on the planet who needs to thank anyone, except his own people.
Forced gratitude should embarrass rather than satisfy the recipient. However, like many dictators in history, its raw proof of power seems to eclipse its emptiness. Trump has turned his psychologic need to humiliate into «gratitude geopolitics».
Ukraine’s sacrifice
Any thoughtful person in the West understands the value of freedom and the threat of Putin, and comprehends the long-term existential risk facing Western democracy from Russia and dictatorships. They appreciate Ukraine’s courage and value in resisting the West’s current Public Enemy Number One in the Kremlin.
We are in a battle between the democratic and non-democratic worlds that we must wage because it is a battle for what we are.
It is true that Ukraine has been fighting for its life, its freedom, and even its existence as a sovereign nation, but it has also been fighting a regime that threatens every value that we outside Ukraine should likewise cherish while we can.
We should not forget that it is simply because of the way the cards of history have fallen that the responsibility to fight Putin has befallen Ukraine. Nor should we forget that every drop of Ukrainian blood has been shed with Western gain. No one in their right mind should expect David to thank us while fighting Goliath for the common good.
Measuring the moral direction of gratitude
So, the self-proclaimed professor of etiquette President Trump might want to take a little lesson in the moral direction of gratitude. Some of the inputs in the equation – concepts like courage and sacrifice, the value of protecting democracy, or the value of a decent world in which future generations can enjoy liberty – will likely be outside his comfort zone.
When nations help one another, it’s reasonable to ask who should be thanking whom. If there is financial or military aid on one side and loss of life and existential risk on another – as opposed simply to them fighting side-by-side – we face the inevitable ‘apples and oranges’ issue.
Still, we can weigh up the relative gratitude each side should feel. We can start by measuring how each benefits from its own effort to confront Russia, by transforming the financial concept of Return on Investment to ‘Return on Sacrifice’ and by replacing money with morality.
By this measure, the Free World has already seen a very good «freedom insurance return» – when compared to the potential downside of letting Putin destroy Ukraine, and perhaps roll into other nations – on its very limited sacrifice.
Meanwhile, although Ukraine has seen a clear and immediate ‘continuing liberty return’, this has been at a very heavy sacrifice, with a resulting Return on Sacrifice certainly no higher than what the West has enjoyed. This is a measure of the direction of gratitude, based on who has benefited more from its sacrifice in dealing with the temporally-shared Problem Putin.
A different approach is simply to ask if Western aid cost more or less than the benefit the West received back after Ukraine’s sacrifice. This points to a similar picture: the value to the West of weakening democracy’s enemy is worth more than its cost. Supporting Ukraine was also the cheapest way democracies could have worn down and distracted Putin.
Whichever measure you pick, the winds of gratitude should be blowing to the east during Thanksgiving week.
When the history of the 21st century is written – if it happens to be a story that ends with the survival of a free Homo Sapiens – it will be obvious that the little nation that surprised the world by standing up to Putin had no need to thank anyone at all.
Since Zelensky wants his country to survive, he has little choice in realpolitik but to kowtow to an emperor who might help Ukraine survive in return for his ego being massaged. Zelensky in fact has a moral duty to do so, even to beg if it would make the difference. In his nation’s hour of need, it is hardly the moment to put Trump straight on the direction of gratitude.
Meanwhile, all freedom-loving people should be grateful to Ukraine for de-risking our potential loss of long-term liberty, and to Zelensky for having to swallow his pride while we roll our eyes in unison at why this was necessary.
Likewise, any responsible President of the United States should be thanking Zelensky, not least to show the Russian and Chinese regimes that democracies stand together.
Instead, Trump has insulted the heart of courage, spat in the face of democracy, and strengthened the hand of autocracy. Such that, the person who should be thanking Trump is not Zelensky but in fact Vladimir Putin.