Tom Nichols: Zelensky Knows the Clock Is Ticking

[highplainsdem]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/volodymyr-zelensky-visit-ukraine-united-states/672528/

-snip-

We do not yet know what Zelensky intends to say during this visit, particularly in his address to Congress. If all goes as planned, he will receive a boost in the international community from a handshake with Biden, who has done a masterful job of holding the Western alliance together in the face of Putin’s threats. (A White House meeting would also likely produce another jolt of vitriol in Moscow; the last missile barrage was almost certainly a response to the news about the Patriot missiles.) Zelensky is poised to move from being a beleaguered regional leader sending videos from a bunker to taking a place, well deserved and overdue, on the world stage as a statesman more than equal to the panicking KGB officer who is trying to kill him.

-snip-

Overall, of course, rank-and-file Republicans support aiding Ukraine against Russia. But the Trumpian GOP is now controlled by its fringe, the same activists and primary voters who wear the i’d rather be a russian than a democrat T-shirts. Although much of the aid for Ukraine (including the Patriot system) is already in the pipeline, GOP grandstanding for the base could create more danger for Ukraine by encouraging Putin to believe that America’s commitment to freedom will wane over time. Indeed, the Russian president’s decision to invade Ukraine, as The New York Times reported this weekend, was predicated in part on his belief in the West’s weakness and short attention span.

Republicans performing for their base are unlikely to change their views now. But Zelensky is about to speak to all of America, and his presence in Washington will help remind people that this is not some esoteric foreign-policy tangle, but a brutal, bloody human contest between democracy and authoritarianism. His presence in front of a divided Congress might—at least, we can hope—help Americans ignore the cartoonish objections of right-wing pundits and strengthen the broader bipartisan coalition in the United States dedicated to protecting freedom in Europe and around the world.

The war in Ukraine is not over. When the Ukrainian president speaks on Wednesday, he will be a symbol not only of one nation’s struggle against the Kremlin, but of the global fight for democracy. Unfortunately, it is a fight with multiple fronts—and that includes Capitol Hill.

[LakeArenal]

1. If we could get media to not cover GOP radicalism...

[Shipwack]

7. I don't think that is the problem...

I think the real problem is that the media covers GOP radicalism and treats it as if it is normal, and/or that radicalism is a problem for "both sides".

[Mad_Machine76]

8. The bothsiderism is the biggest problem for me

but it's sort of hard not to cover "the crazy" and news orgs can't really editorialize in their coverage and say its insane anywhere outside of the editorial pages. But they don't have to "both sides" every issue because whatever "radicalism" is on the left, they don't control or dictate party politics anywhere near the degree that the MAGATs do with the Republican Party, many of whose members are infected themselves.

[Warpy]

9. They need to cover it as such, a radical right wing phenomenon that threatens democracy

Covering it without identifying it is the problem, and it's a big problem. They're normalizing it in the name of (false) objectivity.

[mopinko]

2. hope he gives a shout out to all of putler's puppets in the house.

wouldnt that be sweet?

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. I wonder if a lot of Repukes just won't attend the speech.

[bdamomma]

4. What time

was he scheduled to speak?

[highplainsdem]

5. Currently scheduled for 7:30 ET.

[70sEraVet]

6. Any GOP Congress Creeps who have financial ties to Russia, should not be allowed to vote on

funding aid to Ukraine.