Why Zelensky insists it’s not personal with Trump

Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Thursday that there’s “not something personal” driving his latest estrangement from President Donald Trump.

Unfortunately for Ukraine’s wartime president, nothing could be further from the truth.

Everything about Trump’s presidency is personal.

Trump has substituted his own values — the flexing of dominance, the courting of strongmen and the pursuit of cash-spinning deals — for those that guided previous modern presidents as they secured democracy and faced down tyrants.

The result is that Zelensky now confronts one of the most critical — and hard to believe — questions about the war: Does Ukraine’s fate now depend not only on its capacity to fend off Russian aggression but also on the possibility that the US has joined Moscow’s camp?

Trump makes no secret of his personal distaste for Zelensky, who blamelessly helped precipitate his first impeachment. So it is no surprise that he’s adopted Russia’s demand for Ukraine to get a new president.

Trump’s personal political interests also shape US foreign policy: His diesel deal that could send billions of dollars to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine came as he faced pressure to show midterm voters he can ease high fuel prices. So did his demand that Ukraine sheath one of its most effective tactics: attacks on Russian oil refineries.