Republicans were quick to praise President Donald Trump’s handling of negotiations with Ukraine on Friday, after the expected signing of a minerals deal devolved into a shouting match.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the White House shortly after, without signing the deal. A joint press conference scheduled for later in the afternoon was cancelled. The online reaction from GOP lawmakers was nearly unanimous.
“TRUMP IS THE GREATEST NEGOTIATOR AMERICA HAS EVER HAD!” Rep. Marlin Stutzman said in a social media post. “AMERICA IS BEING MADE GREAT BEFORE OUR VERY EYES!”
It was in line with other rank-and-file Republican lawmakers who weighed in on Friday.
“Ridiculous grandstanding by Zelensky in the Oval Office,” Rep. Greg Steube wrote. “It’s time to end this war.”
And it was even in line with at least one member of foreign affairs leadership.
“American won’t be taken advantage of and America won’t be taken for granted,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast wrote.
Post after social media post praised the president, as Republicans have largely taken the position that they would like to send less aid to Ukraine as it continues to try to fight off Russia’s invasion. Instead, they would like to see European partners shoulder more of the cost.
This week, Trump met with some of those European allies ahead of the meeting with Zelenskyy. Those leaders urged the president to sign the deal, which would have established a joint reconstruction investment fund owned by both the U.S. and Ukraine based on the profits from Ukraine’s critical minerals.
But the heated public exchange on Friday ultimately left the deal unsigned, and there were worries that the outcome played to Russia’s advantage, even from Republicans.
Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a moderate, said Friday in a statement that it was “a bad day for America’s foreign policy.”
“Russia hates us and our Western values,” Bacon said. “We should be clear that we stand for freedom.”
Bacon, however, was an exception among his Republican colleagues.
Rep. Andy Biggs cast Zelenskyy as a “Dictator” in a social media post that praised Trump for having “rightfully showed him the door.” It echoed remarks that Trump made earlier this month.
And Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sat beside Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office, on X thanked Trump “for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in the Republican conference, said in an interview with Fox News that “Zelenskyy is going to have to fundamentally change or go.”
“What I want him to do, I guess, is just to say, ‘I screwed up big time for my country and for the U.S. relationship, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have done it differently, and I’m sorry,’” Graham said. “If he can’t say that, then Ukraine, you need to either send us somebody new we can deal with or just accept the consequences.”
“I don’t know if you can repair the damage,” Graham continued. “And I busted my ass to try to help Ukraine.”
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, who was part of a delegation of senators to meet with Zelenskyy on Friday morning, lauded the mineral deal on social media as a “huge step forward in securing mutual prosperity and peace.”
Wicker deleted the post after peace talks imploded hours later. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some Republicans were still holding out hope that a peace deal could come together.
House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain was among those who expressed confidence in an eventual agreement, writing of Trump that, “I know his negotiations will bring a deal together.”
And several Republicans took issue with Zelenskyy’s attire — an all-black outfit — as Trump wore a suit.
“You come to us with zero cards and nothing to offer, the least you could do is show some respect and wear a suit,” Rep. Eric Burlison wrote.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was “so proud” of her boyfriend, Real America’s Voice correspondent Brian Glenn, for asking Zelenskyy partway through the Oval Office meeting if he even owned a suit. (Zelenskyy said he would perhaps dress up when the war was over.)
After the meeting, plenty of support also poured out for Zelenskyy, both from Democrats in the U.S. and from other world leaders, including the prime ministers of Poland and Sweden.
“Sweden stands with Ukraine,” Ulf Kristersson posted to X. “You are not only fighting for your freedom but also for all of Europe’s. Slava Ukraini!”
Sen. Adam Schiff, the longtime Trump antagonist whom Trump took time to call “shifty” in the middle of his Oval Office spat with the Ukrainian president, called the American president a “coward.”
“A hero and a coward are meeting in the Oval Office today,” Schiff said in a post. “And when the meeting is over, the hero will return home to Ukraine.”
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Mark Alfred and John T. Seward are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.