Joe Phillips @polpsychjoe.bsky.social:
Zelensky has more integrity and courage in one fingernail than the entire Trump administration combined.
Tyler Black, MD @tylerblack32:
How, exactly, did Zelenskyy disrespect America? by pointing out that Russia has violated ceasefires in the past? by pointing out that Russia was the aggressor?
Please, someone explain the disrespect.
@deonandan:
I’m disgusted by so much right now. Not least of which by fellow academics who continue to give intellectual cover to justify Russian aggression against Ukraine. What the Hell is happening?
It’s WW3 and we’ve been in it since Putin illegally invaded Ukraine in 2014, aided by Nazi tech disinformation. WW3 might even have started when the frac’ers began their brute force ignorant experiment with the earth and her drinking water which is vital to sustain life. WW3: Humanity vs Life. No human in their right mind would frac anywhere on earth.
@chrisdornan.bsky.social:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau adds his voice to the chorus of support.
Emmett Macfarlane @emmettmacfarlane.com:
Is the UK joining the US-Russia axis of evil?
Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social:
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has refused to comment on the Trump attack on Zelenskyy, the FT reports.
The only major European leader to do so.
Johnny Rambovsky @johndotjohn.bsky.social:
Zelenskyy is one of the most popular people on Earth right now. Standing up to both accomplished dictators and dictator wannabes.
Brian Glenn is a douche piece of shit rude asshole extreme, and an idiot. I’d like to see him dressed after 3 years of Putin’s illegal invasion destroying the USA, White House, his favourite places, killing his loved ones. President Zelensky has so much class, he politely let the orange lunatic’s childish behaviour and rude words slide off him, with biting intelligent humour. Nazi Fuck Wad Musk, often dresses like a fool in the almighty oval office and worse, cowardly uses a child of his hanging around his neck as a human shield, putting said (insufferable) kid at risk. Glenn and the Whitey House douches need to clean house at home, find some manners, diplomacy and class, but I fear they are too stupid to know how to do that.
@drewharwell:
The reporter who asked Zelensky if he owned a suit, Brian Glenn, is from the pro-Trump network Real America’s Voice and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend. He got one of the rare Oval Office interviewer spots after the White House blocked the Associated Press
Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson:
Russian State Media (TASS) was in the meeting.
AP and Reuters were not.
Get it yet?
@LindaWestonpdx:
I wonder if he’s asked President Musk that same question?
Margaret Lorenz @LorenzLCSW:
The gaslighting is real! Is anybody gonna ask Elon Musk why he doesn’t take his hat off in the oval office? Why does he dress like a divorced dad trying to fit in at a rave?
OHN VALENTINE@SageAmenti:
I wonder how long it took for Glenn and Greene to come up with that question? It was an obvious attempt to embarrass the Ukrainian President and make him seem disrespectful. That seem to have been the whole intent of inviting Zelensky to the White House.Na, I think the orange looney tune thought he could make Zelensky bow down to him, the way he’s made mega billionaires lick his ass. It’s payback time for Trump, he owes Putin the presidency, so does Musk. The world is in for some horrific hell ahead that will make Israel’s genocide and WW2 look like picnics.
@YortKO:
They’re stupid enough to believe it would embarrass Zelensky.Indeed, he’s so much more man than they are but the Klan is too stupid to realize it.
tern @1goodtern:
If you’re telling people that supporting Ukraine means supporting war, then you’re sharing Russian propaganda.
The war was started by Russia, and is being continued by Russia, and if they take Ukraine, they will try to take one country after the next across Europe.Yup, Poland is next. Russia already took the USA, completely. It’s toast (Greenland next, then Panama and Canada).
T. Ryan Gregory @TRyanGregory:
“Ukraine should get nukes!”
Ukraine had a large nuclear arsenal, left over from the USSR. They did the moral thing and got rid of theirs on the basis of security guarantees from the US and UK.
As we all see now, agreements with the US are worthless.
It’s wild that all of these are now distinct possibilities:
- WW3 (possibly three fronts, world vs. Axis of Annexation: USA, Russia, Israel)
- US Civil War 2
- Great Depression 2
- End of NATO
- End of the British Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, NZ leave)
- Canada joins EU
- Military coup in the US
- US fractures into two or more countries
- French Revolution 2, this time in the US
- Flu pandemic
- Return of measles, polio, and other diseases
- End of US science
- New global alliances and institutions without (and because of) the USAT.
- It’s wild that all of these are now distinct possibilities:
- WW3 (possibly three fronts, world vs. Axis of Annexation: USA, Russia, Israel)
- US Civil War 2
- Great Depression 2
- End of NATO
- End of the British Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, NZ leave)
- Canada joins EU
- Military coup in the US
- US fractures into two or more countries
- French Revolution 2, this time in the US
- Flu pandemic
- Return of measles, polio, and other diseases
- End of US science
- New global alliances and institutions without (and because of) the USA
- Nation-wide strikes shut down the US
- US becomes dystopian nightmare (take your pick: 1984, Brave New World, Handmaid’s Tale, etc.)
- China, where everything is made, shuts down western economies
- War re: China/Taiwan.
Agreements with the US are worthless.
One man does not make the US a rogue state. It is also an entire political party enabling him and the other doing nothing to resist. It’s mainstream media normalizing. It’s institutions obeying in advance.
Emma Weisblatt@Oldboatie:
Exactly. They also have a senate, a congress, a court system, a police force and a military.
Dr. rer. nat. W. Meier-Augenstein, FRSC @WolfmannotJack:
“It’s institutions obeying in advance.”
Happened daily during the Third Reich. The German word for this kind of behaviour was ‘vorauseilender Gehorsam’ which could be translated as ‘preemptive obedience’.
@lorettafaucher:
And JD. Vance performed like a Russian trained seal.
@ArtCandee:
I can’t stop laughing that protesters with signs at Sugarbush in Vermont sent JD Vance into hiding on his ski trip.
@emmettmacfarlane.com:
You already have. Most of you are just too blinded by a lack of international media coverage to realize it. Your country is literally now the greatest threat to global democracy this generation has ever seen, and the remaining democracies of the world will react accordingly.
Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social:
We’re going to lose Canada and Mexico and Europe very, very soon if Trump and Vance aren’t careful after this Zelensky disaster. I don’t expect they will be careful. We’re about to be on a geopolitical island in the middle of North America.
@EdKrassen:
BREAKING: One of Norway’s largest fuel companies, Haltbakk Bunkers, will no longer provide fuel to US forces overseas after Trump’s mistreatment and disrespect of Ukrainian President Zelensky yesterday.
They say “No Fuel to Americans!” and they are encouraging other Norwegians and Europeans to do the same.
Trump is making America the adversary of our allies and the ally of our adversaries.
yellowagent007 @yellowagent007.bsky.social:
Zelemsky is a brave hero. Trump is a greedy cowardice pig who would like to be like Zelensky, unless he was too stupid to understand who Zelensky is.
@ivarsneiders.bsky.social:
Strange how the richest man in the world thinks he can speak for the American people.
Cheshire Dog Lady @cheshiredoglady.bsky.social:
Brit here. Why would we ever trust the US again? We’re absolutely done with this shit. Trump has squandered 80 years of trust.
unitefordemocracy.bsky.social @unitefordemocracy.bsky.social:
Elon Musk has a very low approval rating with the American people but he probably doesn’t realize that because he has created so many bots to follow him and praise everything his dumbass says. There is a planet-wide boycott of Elon Musk’s Teslas because much of the world despises Musk.
Richie email hidden; JavaScript is required:
The world can send a strong message here by signing their own rare earth deal with Zelensky in exchange for weapons and reconstruction funds. This would be a TERRIBLE embarrassment for Trump and a strong message that the US is on the wrong side of everything.
tomasbengtsson.bsky.social @tomasbengtsson.bsky.social:
EU has already offered Zelenskyy a deal that is far more fair towards Ukraine. I do not blame Zelenskyy since I’m sure weapons and ammo would be apart of that deal with the US but there is another deal on the table.
@jekmann.bsky.social:
The EU needs to prepare for a future without the US. That also mens in trade. It would be much better to purchase these raw materials straight from Ukraine.
Rick Larios @ricklarios.bsky.social:
Agreed. Was a disgusting display by the most compromised bully and Putin asset in the world.
@jonvalurg.bsky.social
Absolutely.
We are all Ukraines.
Freedom, Liberty,
and Democracy will Prevail.
Slava Ukraine
@rockymountviews.bsky.social:
I am on Team Zellenskyy
Kikki Planet @kikkiplanet.bsky.social:
Global News has a full transcription of what went down in the Oval Office from the moment the cameras started rolling.
Appalling. The Americans are playing at being bullies while Putin dictates the USA’s foreign policy.
Trump has never looked more weak $ flaccid.
@ProfSunnySingh:
Zelensky being publicly berated by US president and VP (a mass media spectacle par excellence) has left western Europe stunned, shocked, and floundering. There was much ‘unprecedented’ about the spectacle but I want to talk about something that isn’t being discussed.
Over the past 500 years, Western Europe built a world that it looted, occupied, ruled and shaped to its will. This reshaping the world included its settler colonies of which USA is the most imperially successful.
Despite the competition between themselves, European imperial powers (with increasing buy in from the US starting in the 19th century) have repeatedly put aside competition to cooperate amongst themselves to continue their global dominance.
The Monroe Doctrine is a good example of US flexing its early imperial muscles. Yes it blocked European powers from colonial ventures in S. America but it was enforced by UK as part of its own Pax Britannica policy.
It’s easy to pretend that this early Anglo-American partnership was anti-Europe but that figleaf only works if one leaves out the Western colonial enterprise where the same powers would collaborate as needed to extend and maintain their colonies.
Move forward a century and US had become a fully paid up member of the (western) European colonial project. It expanded is dominance albeit indirectly for most part even as Western European empires crumbled.
It even joined the Great Game between Britain and Russia. Conveniently the Russian revolution gave US the opportunity to create a national fairy tale of freedom and democracy. Quickly the narrative became the democratic (but really the capitalist) West against the rest
After their 30 year fratricidal. genocidal squabble (1941-1945), dying W European empires happily handed over the top spot to US. In return they could pretend they were still ‘great,’ be ‘protected’ from a rotating cast of enemies and continue to exploit the planet as they wished
The post WW2 order was intended to continue Western European Empire(s), now with US in the lead. Economic, legal, cultural, political, diplomatic tools were created to ensure that politically liberated colonies would remain shackled to their former masters in all but name
This was a cosy system with exhausted imperial powers basically outsourced dirty work of the empire to the brash new bully in the playground. And the system worked for a while although it has been creaking for a bit
This US-WEurope empire saw the break up of the Soviet Union as an opportunity for expanding its hegemony. Besides this new Indirect Empire was so much cleaner and politer than the old direct one.
This Indirect Empire meant all colonial sins were washed away and W Europe could make pious claims about its own morality while looking down on its uncouth new imperial enforcer, the US.
It meant W Europe could pretend US violence did not ensure its continued hegemony
This imperial handover worked for the US too. It brutalised the world to ‘protect’ Western Europe and anointed itself the protector of liberty
But here’s the unprecedented part: The US empire is now crumbling, in part under its own weight, part due to hubristic over-reach and internal conteadictions, and now due to speeded up self-harm.
For the first time in centuries, Western Europe has nobody it can turn to. Not a more successful fellow coloniser next door. Not a settler-colony spawn that is ready to take their shop keys and keep the business going.
For too long W Europe has retender it could carry on buiness as usual.
But yesterday’s disgusting White House spectacle has ended that studied delusion.
Forget the emperor having no clothes. There is no empire to turn to!
No empire goes down quietly so the times ahead are perilous for most of us and the planet. But these are also extraordinary and yes, unprecedented times. And it’s a stage of decolonisation I never imagined could/would happen in my lifetime
End
Read the transcript of Trump, Zelenskyy and Vance’s chaotic meeting by Uday Rana, Global News, February 28, 2025
Tempers ran high in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday as a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Vice-President JD Vance turned chaotic.
The moment was captured by several cameras of American media outlets that were rolling during the meeting.
Zelenskyy left the White House in his motorcade shortly after the meeting wrapped up, and a joint press conference with Trump scheduled for Friday afternoon was cancelled. The Associated Press and Reuters reported that the deal with the U.S. was not signed.
Here’s a transcript of the meeting from when the video recording began.
Zelenskyy: Yes, yes, but after that, he broke the ceasefire. He killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners. We signed the exchange of prisoners. But he didn’t do it. What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you asking me about? What do you mean?
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Vance: I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.
Zelenskyy: Yes, but if—
Vance: Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president—
Zelenskyy: Have you ever been to Ukraine that you are saying what problems we have?
Vance: I’ve actually watched and seen the stories and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems with bringing people into your military? And do you think that is respectful for—
Zelenskyy: I will answer you—
Vance: To come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to try to prevent the destruction of your country.
Zelenskyy: A lot of questions, let’s start from the beginning. 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, you know. God bless you and bless you.
Trump: 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: I’m not telling you—
Trump: Because you’re in no position to dictate that. You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good. We’re going to feel very good and very strong. You’re right now not in a very good position. You’ve allowing yourself to be in a very bad position and he [Vance] happens to be right about it.
Zelenskyy: From the very beginning of the war—
Trump: You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.
Zelenskyy: I’m not playing cards.
Trump: Yeah, you’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that’s backed you. Far more than a lot of people said they should have.
Vance: Have you said thank you once, this entire meeting?
Zelenskyy: A lot of times. Even today.
Vance: No, in this entire meeting.
Zelenskyy: Even today.
Vance: You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.
Zelenskyy: Please. You think that if you will speak very loudly about the war—
Trump: He’s not speaking loudly. He’s not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.
Zelenskyy: Can I answer?
Trump: No, no. You’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.
Zelenskyy: I know.
- Trump says Zelenskyy ‘gambling with WWIII’ as D.C. meeting turns to chaos
- Russian cargo plane seized in Toronto could soon be owned by Canada
Trump: You’re not winning. You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out, OK? Because of us.
Zelenskyy: Mr. President. We have stayed in our country, staying strong. From the very beginning of the war when being alone. And we are thankful, I said thank you.
Trump: You haven’t been alone. You haven’t been alone. We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion. We gave you military equipment. And your men are brave. But they had to use our military. If you didn’t have our military equipment, if you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.
Zelenskyy: In three days, I’ve heard it from Putin. In three days. This is something—
Trump: Maybe less. It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this again.
Vance: Just say thank you.
Zelenskyy: I said a lot of times, thank you to the American people.
Vance: Accept that there are disagreements and let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong.
Trump: Well, you see, I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important. That’s why I kept this going so long. You have to be thankful. You don’t have the cards. Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers. You’re running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing… and then you tell us I don’t want a ceasefire. I don’t want a ceasefire. I want to go. And I want this. Look, if you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you take it. So the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.
Zelenskyy: Of course, I want to stop the war.
Trump: But you’re saying you don’t want a ceasefire. I want a ceasefire. Because you’ll get a ceasefire faster—
Zelenskyy: Ask our people about a ceasefire, what they think.
Trump: That wasn’t with me. That was a guy named Biden who is not a smart person. Excuse me, that was with Obama, who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins.
Zelenskyy: Yes.
Trump: I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins. You got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards. But without us, you don’t have any cards.
Amir Attaran @amirattaran.bsky.social:
Zelensky is a superman. He is showing the world that you don’t kiss Trump’s ass; you call him out.
Just Say Thank You and Shut Up, Trump said it to Ukraine today, and was planning to say it to Europe tomorrow by Phillips P. OBrien, Mar 01, 2025, Phillips Newsletter
Phillips’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Hi All,
Well, today should be a day of clarity for Europeans who care about Europe and Americans who care for the USA. Trump did them both a favor in speaking absolutely honestly yesterday. It was all there, Trump’s petulance, his enormous yet fragile ego, and, as always, his love of Putin. The US President also made it very clear what he has in store for Ukraine, for Europe, and, as always, for the American people.
I know some pro-Ukraine Republicans are trying to pin the responsibility for this blow-up on JD Vance (who evidently enjoyed every moment of it) but, as always, it misses the point. What we saw was pure Trump—his views, his emotions, his deeply damaged pathology. Here is a video of the whole press conference (it lasts almost 50 minutes). People blame Vance for jumping in at the 40th minute, but its actually in the 39th minute, when Trump starts blaming Zelensky for having “tremendous hatred” for Putin that things start going off the rails.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/7pxbGjvcdyY?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0
There is a transcript of what happens afterwards at the end.
The key theme throughout is that Trump is a great man who can work with Putin, while Ukraine needs to shut up, show gratitude, and take what is coming to it. Trump makes that clear when he criticizes the Ukrainians for basically wanting to fight for their freedom and not cave in to Putin, which he terms being “very disrespectful to this country” (this country being the USA—in other words, himself).
Then Trump and Vance go on what can only be called the great gratitude rant. Even though the USA under Trump has approved not a single new dollar in aid for Ukraine, Trump and Vance want Zelensky to constantly say thank you to them. Its, as always, an attempt to be humiliate a democratic state and for Trump to take credit for something other people have done. As Vance finally snaps. “Just say thank you.”
And then Trump lets the cat out of the bag. This was not a meeting or disagreement over the minerals deal. He was trying to pressure Zelensky into agreeing a cease fire along Putin’s lines and Zelensky refused. Trump comes out and says that explicitly at the end.
“You’re buried there. Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers. No, listen … And then you tell us, ‘I don’t want a ceasefire. I don’t want a ceasefire. I want to go and I want this… You’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest, that’s not a nice thing.
So there we have it. Ukraine should shut up and take Trump’s and Putin’s terms. It is not an independent, sovereign, democratic state, it is a dictator’s plaything which should be eternally grateful for the scraps from Trump’s and Putin’s table.
And Europe would have received that same dictation tomorrow. Trump’s plan is to rehabilitate Russia, to make it a partner of the USA, and to try and remake the world. Just the other day, Trump had Secretary of Defense Hegseth remove Russia as a target of US cyber planning. Russia has been one of the greatest cyber threats to US freedom and democracy for years—and the US is basically offering them free rein.
Thankfully when Zelensky was confronted with the bullying from Trump to just say thank you and shut up—the Ukrainian president said no. It was a moment that showed both freedom and democracy are not dead—even if they are hanging by a precarious thread.
Now Europeans and Americans who think likewise need to get to work.
First, Europeans of good will must do everything possible to push their governments to back Ukraine to win. European states have the economic and technological resources to make a massive difference in this war—what they has lacked is the self-confidence to act on their own and for their own interests. No more talks of soothing Trump’s ego, of building bridges to Trump, or finding someway to appeal to him.
Trump, and the USA while he runs it, is with Putin and needs to be treated as a hostile power to European freedom and democracy.
Second, Americans of good will must focus on fighting Trumpism in the 2026 mid-term elections. Nothing will really change until then—as Trump has control of the UD government in an unchallenged way til then. He will do what he wants. The US is in a brutal struggle and the forces opposed to democracy are in charge. The only way to resist them will be to wrest away parts of the US government, and the first step in doing that will be the 2026 midterms.
For a while that means that Europe and the USA will need to part ways. Backers of freedom and democracy in each will have their own battles for the next few years. Maybe in the future they can collaborate more—and be stronger for it.
But for now they must look to their own situations
Transcript
Zelenskyy: What kind of diplomacy, JD, are you are asking about? What do you mean?
Vance: I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.
Zelenskyy: Yes, but if you …
Vance: Mr President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the frontlines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president.
Zelenskyy: Have you ever been to Ukraine to see the problems we have?
Vance: I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr President.
Do you disagree that you’ve had problems with bringing people in your military, and do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?
Zelenskyy: First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. You have nice solutions and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.
Trump: 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: I am not telling you, I am answering …
Vance: That’s exactly what you’re doing …
Trump, raising his voice: You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel. We’re going to feel very good and very strong.
Zelenskyy tries to speak.
Trump: You right now are not in a very good position. You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having the cards.
You’re gambling with lives of millions of people, you’re gambling with world war three and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country.
Vance: Have you said thank you once?
Zelenskyy: A lot of times.
Vance: No, in this meeting, this entire meeting? Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.
Zelenskyy: Yes, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war …
Trump: He’s not speaking loud. Your country is in big trouble. No, no, you’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.
Zelenskyy: I know, I know.
Trump: You’re not winning this. You have a damn good chance of coming out OK, because of us.
Zelenskyy: We are staying strong from the very beginning of the war, we have been alone, and we are saying, I said, thanks.
Trump, speaking over Zelenskyy: You haven’t been alone … We gave you military equipment. Your men are brave, but they had our military. If you didn’t have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.
Zelenskyy: I heard it from Putin in three days.
Trump: It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this.
Vance: Just say thank you.
Zelenskyy: I said it a lot of times.
Vance: Accept that there are disagreements and let’s go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it in the American media, when you’re wrong. We know that you’re wrong.
Trump: You’re buried there. Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers. No, listen … And then you tell us, ‘I don’t want a ceasefire. I don’t want a ceasefire. I want to go and I want this.’
Trump: You’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest, that’s not a nice thing.
All right, I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think? Great television. I will say that.
