You don’t tug at Superman’s cape.
That is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should have remembered upon engaging with President Donald Trump last week.
And you certainly don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
What happened at their White House meeting should be a lesson for progressive Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.
Both Zelenskyy and Healey, in different ways, need the assistance of the U.S. government, which Trump controls. So, it seems sensible and diplomatic to get along with him.
Zelenskyy, for whatever reason, did not. Instead, he flamed out in his fiery and insulting White House meeting with Trump. He blindsided Trump by raising the ante over the rare earth minerals agreement.
And, according to Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the entitled Zelenskyy showed insufficient gratitude for the billions of dollars in U.S. aid that Ukraine has received following the Russian invasion.
Zelenskyy wanted more as well as a security guarantee which would have tied the U.S. closer to war with Russia. He got neither.
He left the White House with nothing after Trump gave him the boot. You do not get very far with Trump by insulting him.
Now, making amends, Zelenskyy is back.
Healey, a constant Trump critic stemming from when she was attorney general and sued Trump 100 times, should have learned something from that development.
Instead, with billions of dollars in federal money at stake, Healey has doubled down on her attacks on Trump to the certain detriment of the state.
And she would no doubt sue him a hundred times more if she could. Instead, she has Attorney General Andrea Campbell, her successor, doing it for her.
Maura Healey has become the state’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The current state budget is $58 billion. The Healey administration is spending more than $1 billion a year caring for illegal immigrants. Last week the Legislature approved another $425 million that Healey requested to house immigrants.
The state currently receives — or received — $15 billion in federal funds, according to House Speaker Ron Mariano, that go to transportation, welfare, education, the environment and so on.
Much of that $15 billion — if not all — could be withheld if Healey refuses to go along with various Trump executive orders, like banning men in women’s sports, or shutting down DEI in public schools.
The state could also say goodbye to any billion-dollar federal grant to replace the two functionally obsolete Cape Cod bridges, the Sagamore and the Bourne.
In a fawning New York Times interview, Healey, competing for a party leadership role with Maine Gov. Janet Mills — a fellow progressive who had her own run-in with Trump — called Trump “somebody who thinks he’s a king.”
Trump made Mills famous when he singled her out for her support of biological men playing women’s sports during the White House luncheon for governors last month. He threatened to withhold federal funds.
Healey said that Trump, 78, “leered” at Mills, 77, during the confrontation. Healey, who was at Mills’ table, said, “I heard someone who thinks he’s a king.”
If Healey felt that strongly, she should have stood up to Trump the way Mills did, but she didn’t.
Healey may be scoring points with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as it continues to flame out, but it is coming at the expense of the citizens she is supposed to represent. Her progressive politics over sound policy is going to hurt Massachusetts. She was elected to be an executive, not a politician.
And the hypocrisy is something to behold.
While Healey attacks Trump for withholding funds from states which oppose his policies, Healey is withholding funds from towns that oppose hers.
She has rescinded $73,000 in mental health school funds from Middleboro and refused to sign off on a $2.8 million commercial development project because the town is challenging the state’s controversial MBTA housing act.
The town has filed a lawsuit accusing Healey of “a great abuse of power.”
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
