FLYNN: Press That Gave Obama Pass on ‘The Ukraine’ Gives Trump Grief

“It’s a great honor to be with President Poroshenko of the Ukraine,” President Donald Trump explained on Tuesday, “a place that we’ve all been very much involved in.”

Twittericans, a people equally offended by insults to their online nationality, immediately pounced on the faux pas. Correspondents from USA Today, Politico, and the BBC highlighted the gaffe in 140 characters or less.

Trump also calls Poroshenko president of “the Ukraine.” (Ukrainians hate the use of “the,” which suggests it’s a region of Russia.) pic.twitter.com/KBoP0hfd9y

— Gregory Korte (@gregorykorte) June 20, 2017

Saying “the Ukraine” is a cardinal sin when you’re among Ukrainians. I assume Trump’s been told that. pic.twitter.com/P54v0RMmZL

— Michael Crowley (@michaelcrowley) June 20, 2017

The country is Ukraine. Not ‘The Ukraine’. ‘The Ukraine’ refers to Soviet Ukraine. So what did Trump call the country today? “The Ukraine”.

— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) June 20, 2017

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who had reason to take offense, didn’t. Perhaps he had more reasons not to take offense. No reason to alienate so important an ally by taking unnecessary umbrage. Poroshenko called Trump a “real leader” in his Fox News interview with Brett Baier about his discussion with the American president.

President Trump, like all Americans who lived through the Cold War, fell for Soviet propaganda. Americans grew up saying “the Ukraine,” indicating a region within a country rather than a country itself, just as they said The Bahamas or The Sudan. Old habits die hard.

Worse instances of names morphing into namecalling exist. The Berbers received their verbal designation from the Greeks, who regarded them, like most outsiders, as “barbarians.” The Slavs witnessed their ethnic moniker become the basis for the word “slave.” And the word “Ukraine,” by most accounts, derives from a word meaning “borderland,” which strikes as the more offensive part of “the Ukraine.”

But the uproar ultimately says something more about the intentionally offended than the unintentional offender. Three years ago, another American president included the unfortunate article.

“It is important that Congress stand with us,” President Barack Obama said regarding Russian aggression against their neighbors. “I don’t doubt the bipartisan concern that’s been expressed about the situation in the Ukraine.”

Time magazine faulted President Obama for his slip. But most in the press gave the president a pass. This president isn’t that president. And as presidents change, so do rules.

“The” isn’t a four-letter word. It is when Donald Trump speaks it.