For decades, radio reporter Paul Harvey explained to Americans in understandable terms, both events and their origins and influencers or those events in straightforward terms. He framed his comments by entitling them “The rest of the story.” This is a tribute to that narrative form.

It is a story about foreign affairs, a topic most Americans leave to the experts and watch, with little interest, from the sidelines. But this story is about intrigue, lies and false intentions, a story of humans acting both with honor and deceit.

It is now a story about Donald Trump, though it was once a story about an invasion of a peaceful country, Ukraine, by an evil nation, Russia. It became a story about Mr. Trump when he upended the narrative of the war this week with a series of lies to the American people, lies so bold and obviously untrue as to stun, shock and force the ever-conservative Wall Street Journal to note Mr. Trump’s claims were a “sellout” of Ukraine to the Russians.

Here is the rest of the story:

Earlier this week, President Trump set a meeting with Russia to discuss the war in Ukraine but left out Europe, our NATO partner in the war, and, of course, Ukraine, the protagonist in the war. That raised some concerns and objections, but it could have been nothing more than a pre-settlement discussion. It turned into a lovefest with the Russians gloating over how the Americans now understand and appreciate them. Oh, joy for Russia.

But Trump’s truth distortion campaign was only barely underway as that horrific meeting concluded. Trump met with the American press and said Ukraine “should have never started” the war with Russia. The press was gobsmacked, as history records that it was Russia that invaded Ukraine in February 2022, sending a Special Forces team to assassinate President Zelenskyy, and failing both to defeat Ukraine or kill Zelenskyy.

A day later, after Zelenskyy responded that the U.S. president was in a Russian “misinformation bubble,” the president elevated his attack on Zelenskyy, a genuine war hero to his nation, by claiming Zelenskyy was an unelected dictator with a personal approval of 4 percent. Both claims were obvious lies. The facts are that Zelenskyy won the election in 2019 with 73 percent of the popular vote. As for Zelenskyy’s approval rating in Ukraine, it stands at 57 percent, according to the polling company KIIS.

It is true that Ukraine is currently under martial law, due to the war and the elections have been postponed (just as the UK did during World War II). But that stands apart from Trump’s lies to the American people.

So, the question is, why is Trump lying? Is it because, last week, he sent Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent to Zelenskyy with a demand to give the U.S. 50 percent of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals valued at $500B or the U.S. would not provide post-war security, and Zelenskyy refused?

Or is it because Trump’s long-held reverence for the Russian war criminal President Putin is Trump’s sole concern?

We can only guess.

However, we can see the impact of Trump’s careless actions. This will undermine NATO and foretell the end of a US/NATO 80-year security partnership. It has given away Ukraine’s negotiating position by the Trump administration’s opening, stating Ukraine will have to give up territory, cannot join NATO and will not have U.S. security in the peace. It is a gift to the Russians for murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and will lead to future Russian aggression.

It is a tale of lies and deceit by the president of the United States, and, yes, now the story is about him.

Jim Crawford is a retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.