Trump meets Zelenskyy; American heritage creates GOP rift : NPR

DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:

Two world leaders involved in two major conflicts are meeting President Trump this week. In a few minutes, we’ll hear about what the Israeli prime minister may have planned for the president tomorrow. Today, Trump meets Ukraine’s leader, and this time, not in the Oval Office. Newsportu White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben joins us now. Good morning, Danielle.

DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Good morning, Daniel.

ESTRIN: So this afternoon, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet President Trump in Florida. That’s where Trump is spending the holidays. And Russian President Vladimir Putin set the stage this weekend – didn’t he? – with missile and drone attacks on Kyiv this weekend.

KURTZLEBEN: That’s absolutely right. So the meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern today at Trump’s club, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach. And there’s been some real movement here since that infamous bitter Oval Office meeting you alluded to, featuring Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President Vance earlier this year. Now, earlier this week, Zelenskyy released a 20-point plan to end the war, which, according to multiple outlets, it described security guarantees and a demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine, which would be one way to try to deal with that sticking point of territory disputes between the two countries. Zelenskyy also told Axios this week that he’s willing to bring that plan up for a referendum in Ukraine, but only if Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire. Now, that’s a big if, because, as you said, Russia bombarded Kyiv yesterday, and they may not be inclined to stop attacking.

ESTRIN: Yeah. And meanwhile, Trump ordered missile strikes on targets in northern Nigeria on Christmas Day, and he’s also keeping up the pressure on Venezuela and President Nicolas Maduro. So what exactly is Trump’s aim in these two very different parts of the globe?

KURTZLEBEN: Well, let’s start with Nigeria here. Trump announced in a Christmas night social media post that the U.S. had launched strikes against ISIS in northwestern Nigeria. And we should add here that the Nigerian government says they gave the green light to this. Well, Trump implied that this was retaliation for armed militants attacking Christians, though experts have disputed claims of Christian persecution in that country, as the AP found earlier this year, militants there have killed Muslims and Christians alike. As far as the aim beyond what Trump said here, it may be to please his Christian base. For one thing, this topic is getting louder. Rapper Nicki Minaj, who has become friendly to MAGA, has been talking about this alleged Christian persecution.

But then there’s Venezuela, which you mentioned, where the administration has been striking boats that they say are carrying drugs and killing people in the process. Well, the endgame there has been in question for months now. For example, does Trump want regime change in Venezuela? Now, all of this certainly fits with how the Trump administration likes to talk about itself, being tough on terrorists and tough on drugs, but you’re right that it raises that question of why is Trump taking all these actions all over the world? Because that question of why has created strife within his own party. You have former Trump ally, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, who has asked, for example, if Trump is still America First.

ESTRIN: And speaking of strife in the Republican Party, let’s talk about the cultural battles happening on the right. These past few weeks in this country, the hot topic used to be antisemitism, and now there’s a new controversy over what it means to be American.

KURTZLEBEN: Yeah. This got more attention in particular after Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, in recent days, he pushed back against this idea of heritage Americans, which is a concept among some on the far right, that there are people in the U.S. whose lineage can be traced far back in the U.S.’ history, and therefore, they are heritage Americans, that your lineage determines your Americanness, which, of course, means race is central to this conversation. And so therefore, we’ve seen this topic inflame existing tensions, for example, between people like Ramaswamy and the white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes.

Now, all of this is important, not just in and of itself, because it’s another intra-party faultline in the GOP. There’s this question about what America First means, like I mentioned. Then here’s this divide between outright racists like Fuentes, who has a large following, and other MAGA leaders. And then, like you mentioned, there’s that fight over what constitutes antisemitism and how to reject that. So there’s a real chance that these often really ugly divides are a major storyline in 2026 as the midterms approach and as the GOP grapples with its post-Trump future.

ESTRIN: Newsportu’s Danielle Kurtzleben. Happy new year, Danielle.

KURTZLEBEN: Happy new year, Daniel.

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