Anti-Ukraine animus is a problem on America's populist right

In the 10 months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the former Soviet satellite has received overwhelming support from the world, not only as the clear victim of aggression but as an embattled democracy fighting back against an authoritarian state. The exceptions include various dictatorships — and a large portion of the Trumpist wing of the Republican Party in the United States.

This was particularly evident during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s historic visit to the United States. Right-wing punditry went on an unhinged anti-Zelenskyy rampage. Charlie Kirk from the Turning Point USA advocacy group described the Ukrainian president’s request for more U.S. aid as “a multibillion-dollar shakedown of American taxpayers.” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh tweeted, “Get this grifting leech out of our country please,” while former first son Donald Trump Jr. slammed Zelenskyy as an “ungrateful international welfare queen” and tweeted a photo of Zelenskyy in Congress with a digitally added pornographic image.

Meanwhile, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has become the Kremlin propaganda machine’s favorite American media personality, claimed that Zelenskyy is no democratic leader but an autocrat who has muzzled the opposition and the press and is now trying to shut down a church for insufficient loyalty. The accusation refers to actions taken in Ukraine against political figures, media outlets and church leaders suspected, mostly with good reason, of being Kremlin pawns and mouthpieces. While some of these steps are questionable, it helps to remember that Ukraine is a country at war, quite literally fighting for its existence.

The anti-Ukraine contingent, represented by Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), is also vocal in Congress. Appearing on Carlson’s show last month, Gaetz not only mocked his colleagues’ applause for Zelenskyy as a “North Korea-style performance,” but claimed that “we’re exacerbating death and conflict” in Ukraine. This outrageous claim recycles the pro-Kremlin narrative that the U.S. and the West are giving aid to Ukraine in order to prolong the war and weaken Russia, sacrificing Ukrainian lives in the process — implying that a Russian victory and the destruction of Ukrainian sovereignty would be the humane alternative.

The Trumpian populist right’s hatred for Ukraine goes beyond any legitimate debate about the purpose and extent of U.S. aid to Ukraine, which accounts for a tiny portion of our budget. Partly, it’s simply about political tribalism: opposing a policy supported by the Democrats and mainstream Republicans like Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Partly, it’s the conspiracy theory that democratic Ukraine is a project hatched by the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton and the “Deep State” — and related to Donald Trump’s first impeachment for trying to pressure Zelenskyy into providing dirt on Joe Biden in exchange for U.S. aid.

Anti-Ukraine sentiment on the right is also related to a growing hostility to Western democracy, which many populist conservatives see as profoundly corrupted by secularism, sexual liberation, and progressive racial and gender politics. They find valid points in Vladimir Putin’s attacks on the decadent West and have little sympathy for Ukraine’s desire for integration into liberal, secular Europe.

Whatever the reasons, the anti-Ukraine animus — which has been trickling down from the pundits and politicians to the Republican base — is a problem, especially now with the Republican majority in the House and with the far-right bloc successfully negotiating rules that give it more influence. Both Democrats and sane Republicans must resist calls to reduce the aid Ukraine needs to fight effectively. Ukraine’s cause today is the cause of the free world.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a cultural studies fellow at the Cato Institute, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.