Georgian Dream propagandist Zaza Shatirishvili, reportedly a close associate of the party’s founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, has once again attacked US President Donald Trump, branding him a ‘warmonger’ in a letter published on Monday. Shatirishvili also mocked Trump for repeatedly taking credit for ending the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict, which Trump has highlighted ad nauseum as one of the key achievements of his second term so far.
Even before the 2024 US presidential election, Georgian Dream officials had openly expressed optimism that Georgia’s relations with the US, which reached an all-time low under President Joe Biden, could be repaired if Trump was elected.
Georgian Dream has since spent considerable effort trying to court the Trump administration in various ways, including with alleged help from Hungary, which is one of Trump’s closest allies in the EU.
However, they soon began to temper the expected rapprochement, and there have yet to be significant changes, including the removal of US sanctions more than a year into Trump’s second term. In the latest snub, Vice President JD Vance will make a rare visit to the Caucasus in February, but will skip Georgia, instead visiting just Armenia and Azerbaijan.
While Georgian Dream officials have repeatedly complained about the lack of attention from the Trump administration, Shatirishvili’s letter focused primarily on criticising Trump’s foreign policy.
‘ “I have ended eight wars in nine months. We are working on this final war, it is not easy, but I think we will achieve it”, the President of the United States boasts, while if we analyse these conflicts and the role of Donald Trump, or the “deep state”, in them, the reality turns out to be completely different and the “dove of peace” is portrayed more as a war-monger than as a leader who resolves conflicts’, Shatirishvili said.
Georgian Dream officials and their associated media figures often use the terms ‘deep state’ and ‘global war party’ to refer to shadowy figures that seek to destabilise Georgia, undermine freedoms across the world, and instigate conflict.
Nate Ostiller
Shatirishvili then turned to Trump’s repeated claims that he ended the decades-long Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict, saying it was ‘clear’ he did not resolve the war because the fighting largely ended in 2023.
‘It is laughable for him to take credit for this. It is clear to everyone that his involvement in this process is dictated by completely different motives and goals’, he said.
Shatirishvili also accused Trump of following orders from the deep state and global war party due to his failure to end Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, noting that he had repeatedly promised to do so within 24 hours of taking office.
‘Trump is also helping Ukraine both with weapons and financially, thereby fulfilling the task of the deep state and trying to escalate the war, because the global war party has completely different plans, plans that do not envisage an immediate end to this war’, Shatirishvili added.
Turning to the recent US intervention in Venezuela, Shatirishvili said Trump had acted with ‘disregard for international law and the principles of democracy’ and argued the US has ‘effectively occupied the country and does not even hide the fact that it governs Venezuela itself’.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
Ideological incoherence
Shatirishvili’s comments were widely covered on the premier pro-government outlet Imedi TV — but only on its Georgian language page.
In contrast, the English language version of its homepage instead displayed disparaging comments by Georgian Dream MP Levan Machavariani about the daughter of former President Salome Zourabichvili over her criticism of Trump.
Zourabichvili’s daughter Kéthévane Gorjestani, who works as a foreign correspondent for France24, had criticised Trump and the Republican Party for the ongoing immigrant crackdown days earlier, arguing their positions on the issue would cost them voters.
Machavariani castigated Gorjestani on Sunday, implying her political views were shaped by her mother, one of Georgian Dream’s most reviled opposition figures. He further appeared to praise Trump, while criticising Zourabichvili and the rest of Georgia’s political opposition for their perceived lack of support for conservative culture war issues.
‘Donald Trump is against the spread of ultra-left ideology and opposes illegal migration. Our radicals strongly dislike this. When we passed the law against anti-LGBT propaganda, not a single radical opposition party supported it. This is what irritates them most about Donald Trump; he called everything by its name — the simple truth that there are only two sexes, that a man cannot become a woman and vice versa — and for the radicals, this is unimaginable’.
Yousef Bardouka
