As most people have suggested, it was a set up. There were two possible outcomes which would have ended with the same result.
One would have been Zelenskyy caving in and signing the deal which would have handed over mineral rights with no security guarantees, a deal which would have fallen apart almost immediately with no changes to Russia’s belligerence and ultimately victory for Putin with Ukraine’s wealth shared by Russia and the US.
The second was what happened. Zelenskyy refused to cave in and Shitgibbon and Vance would start the bullshit that he’s ungrateful and doesn’t want peace followed by a withdrawal of support leaving a clear run for Russia and a pay off by Putin.
The problem now for Trump is that they overplayed it and made himself and Vance look like a pair of gangsters trying to strongman a weaker gang to kowtow to them leaving Ukraine’s European allies little choice but to double down on their support for Ukraine. Even some Trump appeasing posters on here are now being openly critical of the orange ****. If that’s happening here I can only imagine it’s eroding his support at home now it’s even clearer he’s up Putin’s arse.
Dangerous times ahead.