MEGHAN MCCAIN: Cynical critics insult Zelenky's 'strip club' clothes

MEGHAN MCCAIN: Cynics call Zelensky a ‘conman’ and insult his ‘strip club’ clothes – but they only debase themselves. Pathetically, they can’t see what’s to be admired in this man

The Ukrainian people have been through hell.

You’d think that would earn their president, Volodymyr Zelensky, just a sliver of human decency from his critics.

But of course, that would be asking too much.

Zelensky spoke to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, dressed in his typical green camo, an outfit he took to wearing when the war with Russia began.

You remember those days – when no one gave Zelensky or his countrymen a snowball’s chance in hell of making it out alive.

His speech was one of gratitude but also reassurance. He insisted that Ukrainians are not asking Americans to spill their blood in defense of his country. Instead, he asked for weapons so that they can fight for themselves. It was an impressive, moving speech.

Yet even before it was over the outrage performance artists started in.

One of their biggest gripes – he wasn’t wearing the right clothes.

Newsmax host Benny Johnson really went for it, tweeting: ‘This ungrateful piece of s*** does not have the decency to wear a suit to the White House – no respect for the country that is funding his survival.’

The fact that Zelensky, maybe the most hunted man on earth, was secretly smuggled out of his war-ravaged country to personally thank and appeal to the American people apparently doesn’t matter.

He really should have worn a nice jacket and tie.

The Ukrainian people have been through hell. You’d think that would earn their president, Volodymyr Zelensky, just a sliver of human decency from his critics. But of course, that would be asking too much.

‘Track suit wearing eastern European con-man mafia. Our leaders fell for it. They have disgraced us all. What an incredible insult,’ Johnson added.

A writer for Breitbart tweeted, ‘For $45B, show some respect and rent a suit.’ 

Not to be outdone – Donald Trump Jr tweeted: ‘Zelensky is basically an ungrateful international welfare queen.’

And to round out the tornado of crazy, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green tweeted: ‘Of course the shadow president has to come to Congress… This is absurd. Put America First!!!’

I’m not going to waste my time looking into her ‘shadow president’ slur, I’m sure that ranks somewhere near ‘space lasers’ in the conspiracy world

Two of the most clownish (and that’s saying a lot these days) members of Congress, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert refused to stand or even applaud for Zelensky. As he spoke, they sat and smirked and checked their phones.

For people so concerned about dress codes and etiquette you’d think that they’d uphold some basic standards of politeness.

And then there was Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

He went on a particularly irrational rant, saying Zelensky was ‘dressed like the manager of a strip club’ and compared him to fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and dictator Fidel Castro.

He went on to accuse Zelensky of waging an ‘ongoing war against Christianity’ (a massive and misleading overstatement) and claimed that Biden will give Zelensky ‘whatever he demands.’

He called Zelensky, ‘the houseguest who would not leave.’ And concluded, ‘every moment we tolerate him, the demands become bigger.’

To start, much of what Tucker said is just not true.

Zelensky’s appeal to America is not some elaborate scheme to milk the West of money and arms. Ukraine did not ask to be invaded. It lies in ruins.

The U.S. estimates that 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 40,000 civilians have been killed. Countless children have been slaughtered, women raped – lives and families torn to shreds will never, ever, heal.

It was an impressive, moving speech. Yet even before it was over the outrage performance artists started in. One of their biggest gripes – he wasn’t wearing the right clothes.

And we’re supposed to buy into the fantasy that this is all part of a plan? Zelensky is a conman and he’s laughing all the way to the bank?

It’s ridiculous. It’s nauseating. It’s an insult to common sense.

When Tucker says that Biden will agree to Zelensky’s every demand — he is just plain wrong, again.

Biden and the Congress have refused to give Ukraine long-range missiles that can reach further into Russia. NATO has refused to agree to Ukraine’s calls for months for a no-fly zone.

Now, I am not arguing that we should not debate the wisdom of U.S. policy towards Ukraine, specifically much money we are spending, what our national priorities are and, most importantly, the risks of this conflict escalating into World War III.

But I am arguing that Zelensky’s critics debase themselves when they resort to this bizarre, childish bile.

God knows that America is a weary nation. U.S. veterans, their families and ordinary citizens have good reason to be skeptical of the decision-makers in Washington, who have committed American blood and treasure to wasteful and pointless

foreign wars. But there are some things that are undeniable.

Vladimir Putin is a sociopathic, murderous, KGB thug who yearns for the glory days of the USSR and willingly sends tens of thousands of his own people to die in pursuit of that goal.

On the other hand, Zelensky is a courageous man, who has risen to the defense of his country.

Rather than flee his capital in the face of expert-predictions of doom and destruction, he remained. ‘The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,’ he reported told the U.S. embassy when the U.S. offered to evacuate him from Kyiv in the early days of the war.

A Quinnipiac University poll around that time asked Americans: ‘What would you do if you were in the same position as Ukrainians are now, stay and fight or leave the country?’ Only 55% said that they would stay and fight for America.

‘The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,’ he reported told the U.S. embassy when the U.S. offered to evacuate him from Kyiv in the early days of the war.

Don’t we have the good sense and humility to see some inspiration in Zelensky. Or are we all that cynical? I wish I could point to a single American officeholder, who embodied that kind of spirit.

The tantrums of these so-called ‘America Firsters’ come across as bitterness at their own failure. The candidates who embraced these isolationist ideas were losers in the midterms.

These people are surprisingly incapable of acknowledging the truth about the world – that if Russia can take Ukraine, if China can take Taiwan, it has ramifications for America, too.

Strength prevents war. And if America projected more strength prior to Russia’s invasion, maybe the world would not be in the predicament it faces today. These are the debates that we should be having.

But instead, Zelensky’s critics resort to petty insults – the clearest signs of a weak argument.

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