The relationship between the Trump administration and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been on the rocks for a while, and things came to a head this week. On Tuesday, in what would prove to be an ill-advised move, Zelensky accused President Donald Trump of "living in this disinformation space." That escalated the war of words, with Trump responding by calling Zelensky a "dictator."

The tensions go back much further than that, though, with the Ukrainian president slamming Trump and now-Vice President JD Vance during the 2024 presidential election, presumably believing Kamala Harris would win. Zelensky also showed up on stage with Democrats in Pennsylvania, essentially campaigning for Harris in the swing state.

In his harshest criticism yet of the Republican presidential nominee, the Ukrainian president also described Trump’s running mate JD Vance as “dangerous” and “too radical”.

“His message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice,” Mr Zelensky said of Mr Vance in an interview with the New Yorker magazine before he flew to the US to present his “Victory Plan” to the White House this week. “But I believe that we have shielded America from total war.”

SEE: What the Biden-Harris Administration Just Did With Zelensky Should Be Impeachable 

That alone was probably enough to spoil any sympathy Trump ever had for him, but according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a lot more has occurred recently that brought us to this point. 

HERRIDGE: When President Trump posts that President Zelensky is a dictator without elections, what are you thinking? 

RUBIO: I think President Trump is very upset at President Zelensky and in some cases rightfully so. Look, number one, Joe Biden had frustration with Zelensky. People shouldn't forget it. There are newspaper articles out there about how he cursed at him in a phone call because Zelensky, instead of saying thank you for all your help is immediately out there messaging what we're not doing or what he's not getting. 

I think the second thing, frankly, is that I was very upset because we had a conversation with Zelensky, the vice president and I, the three of us, and we discussed this issue about the mineral rights, and we explained to them, look, we want to be a joint venture with you, not because we're trying to steal from your country but because we think that is actually a security guarantee. If we're your partner in an important economic endeavor, we get to get paid back some of the money that taxpayers have given, close to $200 billion, and we know have a vested interest in the security of Ukraine. And he said, sure we want to do this deal, the only thing is, I need to run it through my legislative process. 

I read two days later that Zelensky is out there saying I rejected the deal, I told them no way, that we're not doing that. Well, that's not what happened in that meeting. So you start to get upset at somebody, we're trying to help these guys. One of the points the president made in his messaging is not that we don't care about Ukraine, but Ukraine is on another continent. It doesn't directly impact the daily lives of Americans. We care about because it has implications for our allies and ultimately for the world, but there needs to be some level of gratitude about this, and when you don't see and you see him out there accusing the president of living in a world of disinformation, that's highly, very counterproductive, and I don't need to explain it to you or anybody else Donald Trump, President Trump is not the kind of person who is going to sit there and take that. 

He's very transparent. He's going to tell you exactly how he feels, and he sent a message that he's not going to be gamed here. He's willing to work on peace because he cares about Ukraine, and he hopes Zelensky will be a partner in that and not someone who's out there putting this sort of counter-messaging to sort of hustle us in that regard. That's not gonna be productive here.

That certainly adds a lot of previously unknown context as to why the tensions shot up so much. If what Rubio is saying is true, and I have no reason to doubt him given there were reports about this deal being amicable to Zelensky, then the Ukrainian president really screwed up here. 

I understand saying that is going to set some people off because they take an absolutist view about American relations with Ukraine that suggests no matter what Zelensky does, he is entitled to billions upon billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded weapons and aid. Like it or not, though, that is not how the real world works. A president whose country is in such dire straits does not have the leverage to publicly scoff at a mineral rights deal that would make continuing to support Ukraine more viable for American taxpayers. There is nothing wrong with the United States trying to get something in return for all it has spent, and despite some ignorant claims to the contrary, Lend-Lease in World War II was not free. 

Unfortunately, it seems like Zelensky got very used to being able to play the press during the Biden years to essentially receive blank checks with no real mechanism to ensure Americans are paid back. Believing he could carry over that strategy to the Trump administration was a huge mistake. Donald Trump does not care about pressure from the mainstream media or Europe. He certainly doesn't have any qualms about having a war of words with Zelensky if the Ukrainian president chooses to make unfortunate comments to the press in an attempt to "hustle" the United States, as Rubio described it.

Not that Zelensky listens to me, but I repeatedly warned this would happen. His mouthing off during the presidential campaign was unnecessary and arrogant. To continue that arrogance by expressing such entitlement after Trump's election has only made matters worse. I get that some on the right want Trump to be the bigger man here and ignore Zelensky's sleights, but I'd counter that with this question: Have you ever met Donald Trump? That's not meant as a criticism but as a recognition of reality. That's how he operates, and Zelensky should have been smart enough to not push his buttons. Now, everything is up in the air, and no amount of crying to CNN or the EU is going to help.