We Were Warned, but Did We Listen? Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Oval Office Meeting, February 28, 2025

We were warned. In 2016, Hillary Clinton warned us that Trump was a “Putin puppet.” We didn’t listen. In 2024, Kamala Harris told Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin was “a dictator who would eat you for lunch.” Yet, did anyone listen? Are Americans more worried about the price of eggs? Immigrant caravans? A bit of inflation? Those concerns dribble into triviality when American foreign policy falls on us like a collapsing dome. Minor issues mean nothing when an American president not only appeases a hostile dictator, but bows before him. Yesterday, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance lambasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he sought help defending his nation against Russian aggression. 

Betraying Ukraine, a friend, to appease a foe, Russia, appalls common sense. Could it have been stopped? Yes, for we were warned. Trump never kept his pro-Russia views secret. Too few people listened to the truth. Too few people are listening now. Speaking is only half of communication: listening is the other half, and it’s often much harder. Can we listen? 

Zelenskyy Warned Trump

During their White House meeting yesterday, February 28, 2025, Trump and Vance loudly berated Zelenskyy during negotiations over United States aid in the Ukraine-Russian war. The meeting was civil for a while, but Trump lost his temper when Zelenskyy reminded Trump that Russian leader Vladimir Putin threatened the United States just as he threatened Ukraine:

“Zelenskyy: ‘First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future. God bless –’

“Trump: ‘You don’t know that. You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.’”

Zelenskyy’s warning was far from the first!

Trump Himself Had Warned Us

When Vladimir Putin sent an army against Ukraine in 2022, Trump praised him to the skies:

“I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’”

Trump continued:

“He used the word ‘independent’ and ‘we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’ You gotta say that’s pretty savvy.”

We Were Already Warned In 2016

The Oval Office exchange should have surprised no one. During Hillary Clinton’s third 2016 presidential debate against Trump, she warned the American people to beware, that Trump’s groveling subservience to Putin endangered American security. For example, noting that 17 American intelligence agencies had confirmed that Putin was interfering in the election, including illegal cyberhacking, for Trump’s benefit, Clinton warned us:

“I actually think the most important question of this evening, Chris, is finally, will Donald Trump admit and condemn that the Russians are doing this, and make it clear that he will not have the help of Putin in this election. That he rejects Russian espionage against Americans, which he actually encouraged in the past. Those are the questions we need answered.”

Evading the issue, Trump responded that Putin was smarter than Clinton:

“Trump: Putin from everything I see has no respect for this person.”

Responding, Clinton called Trump a puppet: 

“Clinton: Well, that’s because he would rather have a puppet as president of the United States.

“Trump: No puppet. You’re the puppet.

“Clinton: It is pretty clear you won’t admit that the Russians have engaged in cyber attacks against the United States of America. That you encouraged espionage against our people. That you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do. And that you continue to get help from him because he has a very clear favorite in this race.”

We were warned, but Clinton’s warnings were not heeded.


We Were Warned in 2024

We were warned again just before the 2024 election. During her only debate against Donald Trump, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris warned the voters of Donald Trump’s antipathy for America’s allies and his willingness to surrender Ukraine to the Russians:

“If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. And understand what that would mean. Because Putin's agenda is not just about Ukraine.”

Rightly placing the controversy in its geopolitical context, Harris immediately continued:

“Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is NATO. And what we have done to preserve the ability of Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians to fight for their Independence. Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe.”

I cannot imagine how she could possibly have expressed herself more clearly, more forcefully, or more accurately. More than a debater, she spoke like a stateswoman.

Kamala Harris Said Trump Admired Hitler. Do Voters Care?

Alas, a spike in the price of bread and eggs horrified the voters in 2024, and they thought everything would be better under Trump. Sadly, bread and eggs remain costly under Trump, while the Cold War alliances that long averted global holocaust are collapsing into a flaming ruin.

The voters were warned. They didn’t listen.

Conclusion: We Were Warned

Clinton warned us. Her warnings sounded rather intellectual and maybe she used too many big words. Still she was clear. Harris warned us. She was precise and forceful. People just didn’t believe her. Or maybe they didn’t trust a woman to keep the nation safe. Foolish, foolish, foolish.

A few days ago, Republican Senator John Curtis decried a UN vote that took Russia’s side: “I was deeply troubled by the vote at the UN today, which puts us on the same side as Russia and North Korea. These are not our friends. This posture is a dramatic shift from American ideals of freedom and democracy.” Sadly, however, most top Republicans still go along with Trump and his bizarre foreign policy. 

The truth is, that, a generation earlier, Ronald Reagan warned us (to great ridicule) that Russia was an “evil empire.” But we forgot all the lessons. For decades, the policies of containment and deterrence led to a continuing but uneasy peace between the two great powers. Indeed, the Soviet Empire collapsed under the force of Reagan’s diplomacy.

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"Peace for Our Time?" Neville Chamberlain's Speech about Appeasement

Such world-shaking events now fade into forgotten history. Russia has surreptitiously supported Trump and the Republican Party, often using underhanded electronic means. Robert Mueller’s famous report confirmed this beyond dispute. Attacking the United States from within, corrupting our political system to near collapse, Russia now seems ready to fulfill Nikita Khrushchev’s long-ago chilling threat: “We will bury you.”

(Stunningly, Trump’s newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has just now ordered the Pentagon to shut down its project against Russian cyberhacking. We were warned!)

We were warned. We are still being warned. Remember that utterances are only half of public speaking – the other half is listening. Wise men and women spoke; too few voters listened. Yet, even as the darkness closes on us, never give up. Never lose confidence in freedom. Never believe anything until you have studied both sides. Never lose faith in representative government. And, when good people warn you—listen to them!

It is never too late to learn. We must learn to sort truth from obvious falsehoods. We must shake aside our complacency and face dangers, both domestic and foreign. We must never give up hope. We must learn to hear both sides of controversies. We must listen.

For we were warned about all of this.

by William D. Harpine  

Copyright ©2025 by William D. Harpine

Pope Francis Asked the Catholic Church to Listen

Pope Francis

“The Church: a single harmony made up of many voices and the work of the Holy Spirit. That is how we should think of the Church.”

So said Pope Francis on October 4, 2023 at the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, devoted to the topic of “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.” Francis emphasized that the Synod needed to rely on spiritual guidance. A synod (literally, “gathering”) is a meeting to discuss issues. The Synod’s title says “communion.” Let us think about communion: we all want to be heard. We want to be part of a greater group. That means we all need to listen. Not just Catholics, but all of us.

Francis emphasized the Synod’s need to rely on spiritual guidance.

Francis' speech emphasized the importance of listening. To resolve controversies, he insisted we must start by understanding one another. We must understand one another's perspectives. We must hear one another. Francis focused the participants’ attention on that basic feature of human life.

That is not merely true of the Catholic Church; It is true of everyone. Listening is not just good communication; it is the fundamental human value that helps us work together. To resolve controversies, we must begin by hearing one another.

We cannot expect everyone to share the same opinions, even in an authoritarian, tradition-bound organization like the Catholic Church. Pope Francis had once said that it was an “honor” when the conservative American bishops criticized him. Because to resolve our disagreements, we must, first, know what those disagreements are.

So often, when people meet, our goal is to state our own opinions. We frequently want to win more than we want to understand. In contrast, Francis said that the Synod’s purpose was to listen. Reversing the usual way we think, Francis stated that the Synod’s purpose was not to make decisions, but to share questions and issues:

“If the Spirit is in our midst to guide us, it will be a good Synod. If there are other ways of going about things, based on human, personal or ideological interests, it will not be a Synod, but more of a parliamentary meeting, which is another thing.”

Francis concluded that it was time for a break, like a vacation, when people could listen rather than argue:

“It is a break for the whole Church, as we engage in listening. This is the most important message.”

If no one listens, what good is it to speak? The Catholic Church, like many religious (and political!) groups, faces conflicts between liberals and conservatives, men and women, and tradition versus insight. To resolve those issues, the church's leaders need, first and foremost, to understand one another. Furthermore, to understand, we must listen before we disagree.

So, Francis insisted:

“Then, I want to say that in this Synod – also to make room for the Holy Spirit – the priority should be to listen.”

That is good advice for families, couples, political groups, and all the rest of us.

Yes, the Catholic Church has faced many moral dilemmas in recent decades. The Catholic Church has long underestimated those dilemmas, and, sadly, often continues to do so. The fact remains that churches, like many other institutions, are imperfect assemblages of human beings, and can offer deep insights to all of us. So, let us remember to listen.

by William D. Harpine

© William D. Harpine, 2023

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Image: US government photo, via Wikimedia Commons