One unremarked sentence in the released version of the Trump-Zalenskiy conversation has been tickling my nose since it became public. Right after reminding the Ukrainian president that
I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I'm sure you will figure it out.
Trump suddenly, and à propos of nothing at all, pivots to
Your economy is going to get better and better I predict. You have a lot of assets.
[My emphasis]
Is this another thinly-veiled threat? I have no way of knowing what assets the Ukrainian state has in the U.S., but I should imagine they’re very substantial. What I do know is that Zalenskiy’s close friend and political benefactor Igor Kolomoisky has a humongous pile of U.S. assets arising from a money-laundering scheme of stupendous proportions through his bank’s Cyprus branch.
Trump has demonstrated often enough that he thinks it’s cool and studly to talk like a cheap B-movie gonsil. B-movie gonsils don’t drop by and say, “This is a shakedown. Pay up or we’ll torch your shop and send a goon around with two feet of gaspipe to bust your kneecaps.” They say, “Nice little place you have here — be a shame if somethin’ happened to it.”
And that’s what this sounds like to me, coming out of a clear blue sky as it did. Be a shame if those assets got seized or frozen, wouldn’t it?
But I would be interested to hear what President Zalenskiy and his entourage think it sounds like. As Trump says, I’m sure they’ve figured it out by now.