Trump: When Zelenskyy came to Mar-a-Lago, he said "This is really beautiful," and he might never want to go to the White House again, "that's a problem."
"That's a problem"—what kind of problem?
It inevitably reminds people of Trump's interview with Politico on December 26, 2025, in which he said: "He doesn't have anything until I approve it. So we'll see what he's got." (He can't do anything without my approval, so let's see what he has).
When these two statements are connected, they actually represent Trump's use of humorous language to express a firm assertion of power, using a back-and-forth or a combination of soft and hard approaches to pressure Zelenskyy.
During the meeting, he joked about Zelenskyy praising the beauty of Mar-a-Lago, saying "he might never want to go to the White House again" and directly stating "that's a problem," possibly implying the intense arguments and unpleasantness during the meeting at the White House in February. By contrasting the relaxed atmosphere of Mar-a-Lago with the high-pressure environment of the White House, he was actually trying to make Zelenskyy learn a lesson.
And before the meeting, he explicitly stated "Zelenskyy can't do anything without my approval," which clearly showed the U.S. side's ultimate decision-making power over the peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
The core logic of these two statements is highly consistent, all aiming to highlight the U.S. dominance in the negotiations, forcing Zelenskyy to compromise according to the U.S. framework, in order to advance relevant matters such as security guarantees for Ukraine.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1852898549049344/
Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author.