Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton found herself involved in a heated exchange with a senior Czech politician as she went on the attack against Donald Trump in a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference.
Asked by the panel moderator about the Trump administration’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Clinton accused the president of colluding with Vladimir Putin to profit from the death of Ukrainians.
“I think that the effort to force Ukraine into a surrender deal with Putin is shameful. I think that the effort that Putin and Trump are making to profit off the misery and death of the Ukrainian people is a historic error, and corrupt to the nth degree,” she said.
“I believe Ukraine is fighting for our democracy and our values of freedom and civilization on the front lines, losing thousands of people, and having their country destroyed by one man’s mania to control them, and I think Trump either doesn’t understand or could care less about that suffering.”
The moderator then asked Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, another panelist in Saturday’s pubic session, if he agreed. Macinka’s first response was to Clinton herself, turning to her and saying, “I think you really don’t like him.”
“That is absolutely true. Not only do I not like him, I don’t like him because of what he’s doing to the United States, and the world, and I think you should take a hard look at it if you think there is something good that will come out of it,” Clinton replied.
Macinka, a right-wing populist who also serves as a deputy prime minister, responded, “I think [what Trump is doing in America] is reaction for some policies that really went too far—too far from regular people, too far from reality...”
When asked by Clinton for examples, Macinka said, “We saw the cancel culture, we saw the woke revolution, I don’t agree with the gender revolution, the climate alarmism...”
“Which gender revolution?” Clinton replied. “Women having their rights?”
“I think there are two genders,” Macinka began, before Clinton interrupted and asked, “How about half of us, can we have our rights?”
Macinka continued to discuss gender, adding, “Some of us think there is more than two genders. I think there is male and female, and the rest, probably, is a social construct. This is something that went too far.”
“But does that justify selling out the people of Ukraine who are on the front lines dying to save their freedom and their two genders, if that’s what you’re worried about?” Clinton replied.
“Can I please finish my point? I’m sorry that it makes you nervous‚” Macinka said, prompting Clinton to respond with, “It doesn’t make me nervous, it makes me very, very, unhappy.”
Clinton doubled down on her condemnation of Trump’s leadership on the issue of Ukraine in a post made to social media after the event, writing on X, “I believe the attempt to force Ukraine to agree to a capitulation agreement with Putin is a disgrace.”
“The efforts that Putin and Trump are making to profit from the suffering and deaths of the Ukrainian people are a historic mistake and a corruption of the highest order.”
Trump has faced continued criticism from Democrats—and a select few Republicans—for his handling of the war in Ukraine, which has included insulting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visits to the White House, giving the Russian dictator a red-carpet welcome to a summit in Alaska, and trying to pressure Ukraine to cede territory to Russia while working behind the scenes to ensure that American businesses run by his friends can profit from the war.
Declining to take accountability for his own role in the failed peace talks, the 79-year-old instead blamed Zelensky when asked by Reuters last month why peace talks had stalled.
Referring to Putin, Trump said, “I think he’s ready to make a deal.” He went on to add, “I think Ukraine is less ready to make a deal.”
