Zelensky’s Whirlwind U.S. Tour

The Ukrainian president faces resistance as he makes the case for continued support.

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Happy Friday! Thanks to all the Dispatch members who joined Steve, Declan, and Andrew in Des Moines Thursday night. We hope you enjoyed getting to know each other a little better outside of the comments section—stay tuned for details on future meetups! 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • The Biden administration expanded the Temporary Protected Status program for Venezuelan migrants on Wednesday, making eligible for employment an estimated 472,000 Venezuelans who entered the country before July 31. The program has already provided 242,000 Venezuelans with temporary status. Biden’s move comes as his administration faces pressure from the leaders of Democratic cities to help with the large influx of migrants. The border city of Eagle Pass, Texas, declared a state of emergency Thursday as more than 10,000 migrants are projected to enter the city of 28,000 this week. 
  • House Speaker Kevin McCarthy failed again Thursday to bring a defense spending bill to the floor as a small contingent of Republican hardliners blocked a procedural rule, incensing the rest of the Republican conference. “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” McCarthy said after the vote. The speaker had planned to pass the defense bill this week and then vote on a stop-gap measure to temporarily fund the government, but he sent lawmakers home for the weekend after the vote failed.
  • The Senate voted to confirm Marine Corps Gen. Eric M. Smith and Army Gen. Randy George to lead their respective services on Thursday by votes of 96-0 for Smith and 96-1 for George. The confirmations mark more progress in bypassing Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s mass hold on military promotions. 
  • Indian authorities announced Thursday that they would stop issuing new visas to Canadians and requested that Canada reduce its diplomatic mission in the country. The blanket visa hold is a further escalation in the countries’ conflict over the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia, which Canada alleges could have happened at the direction of the Indian government.
  • Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States have signaled progress in efforts to normalize relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem as President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the United Nations General Assembly this week. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the prospect of normalization is “getting closer every day” in a rare interview with Fox News on Wednesday. The Biden administration is reportedly weighing mutual defense pacts with both countries as part of the peace deal, but the contours of such agreements—and whether they would require congressional approval—remain unclear.
  • David McCormick—an Army veteran and former hedge fund executive—announced Thursday he is running to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in 2024. McCormick ran in the 2022 Republican primary for the seat, narrowly losing to celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, who in turn lost to John Fetterman in the general election. McCormick enters the race with the backing of Pennsylvania’s Republican congressional delegation.
  • Rupert Murdoch said yesterday that he is stepping down as chairman of the boards of Fox and News Corporation. The 92-year-old media magnate’s son Lachlan will replace him as the chairman of both boards. Rupert will become chairman emeritus.

Mr. Zelensky Goes (Back) to Washington

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden walk to the Oval Office of the White House September 21, 2023. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden walk to the Oval Office of the White House September 21, 2023. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In July 2022, Kevin McCarthy delivered a midterm campaign stump speech to a room full of Republicans in Columbia, South Carolina. Five months after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the then-House minority leader made a pointed historical analogy: He compared Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault to Adolf Hitler’s actions leading up to World War II. In McCarthy’s telling, President Joe Biden—and former President Barack Obama before him—stood in as a modern-day Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who sought to appease Hitler’s bloodlust until it was too late.

“What did Hitler see?” McCarthy asked. “Weakness. And one year later, he invades Poland.” Then he fast-forwarded to February 2022. “Putin saw [in Joe Biden] the same thing Hitler saw: weakness. So what did he do? The same thing Hitler did. He invaded Ukraine.”

The point McCarthy wanted his audience to take away? Learn from history.“We don’t have to go to war,” he said. “Why don’t we just supply the weapons ahead of time so they can defend themselves?” His audience applauded.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Paul Hoover

    I’ll repeat the comment I wrote with respect to Charlotte Lawson’s piece. It would be really useful if our president would take the time to explain to the nation how critically important it is to continue to provide military equipment, ammunition, training, and intelligence to Ukraine as they expel the Russian invaders from their territory (and coincidentally impose frightful losses to Russia’s military capabilities). Unfortunately, our president seems to be incapable of making that case because he is increasingly senile and unable to communicate effectively. The vice-president is no more capable. Could we get the secretary of state to do it?

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    1. BPhillips

      Who at this point doesn't understand that? I think the blame here belongs on Republicans in Congress. Or perhaps that's Biden's fault too?

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        Paul Hoover

        My comment was not as clear as I thought it was. My intent was not to castigate Biden. My intent was to point out that, in times past, presidents have addressed the nation to explain the importance and consequences of a proposed course of action. To a certain extent, the Congressional Republicans who are agitating against continued aid to Ukraine are the only ones talking about it. I’m not convinced that anyone from the current administration is speaking out to explain why this is important, thus those few Republican bomb-throwers may be having an out-sized impact on public opinion.

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        1. BPhillips

          I hear you - never hurts to have a POTUS who could effectively articulate a cause and rally the masses. I don’t think that’s Biden’s wheelhouse though. But that doesn’t excuse the GOP officials, who should definitely know better, undermining the effort. They need purged.

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    Stevenwoodward1228

    I am disgusted and angry with how the Biden administration has handled aid to Ukraine AND the idiocy of certain GOP Representatives and Senators regarding their lack of support for the aid. Did any of these people study history? Do any of them understand what the United States is? What the world will be like if we sit on our hands and fail to do what others won't do? That's the responsibility handed to us as the greatest nation the earth has ever known. And we are (for the most part) good and decent people. Thank God the US is preeminent and not the Russians or the CCP! And don't even get me started on the useless UN!

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    1. Emma

      We can't continue to involve ourselves in this. We are broke. We are ignoring problems much closer to home, like Haiti.

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      1. BPhillips

        This is a terribly uninformed opinion.

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  3. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    I don't know enough about Zelensky's welcome to comment, but I spotted a couple of "duh!" items in today's stories.

    1) “'This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,' McCarthy said." Oh, you just noticed that, Mr. Speaker?

    2) "Trump has a contemptuous view of the military and that this contempt made it extraordinarily difficult to explain to Trump such concepts as honor, sacrifice, and duty.” Or any other virtue one could name, probably. Some may assume that statement is hyperbole--but I really don't think it is. We are talking about a very warped person.

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  4. Pohl

    QOTD: It’s no secret there are nincompoops in all legislatures. The GOP should have arranged a better welcome. Anything less is a PR loss for the West. But the war grinds on regardless.

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  5. Bennywhite1

    I thought the lack of response and reception of Zelensky by the Republicans in Congress was disgraceful.

    They claim to be worried about money. They need to think about how much it would cost us in lives and treasure to directly confront the Russian army.

    We are fighting a proxy war with the Russians and the Ukrainians are holding their own and advancing even though the U.S. and our allies are not giving the Ukrainians enough to win.

    If the Ukrainians defeat the Russians that would allow the U.S. to focus on China and the threat it poses to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, as well as India. The kids in Congress need to grow up and act like adults.

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    1. Emma

      No. We need to stay out of it. We have our own borders to worry about. Europe should fund this. Not us.

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        Magpie

        Funding Ukraine in its fight against Russia does not mean that the US doesn't worry about its own borders (whatever that means - I guess it's a reference to immigration?). It's not a zero-sum game. If Russia were to roll over Ukraine that would destabilize Europe for generations. That would be disastrous for Europe, the US and the rest of the western world.

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    Martin Hernandez

    I’m here for the Brian Fantana quotes: “F-35, 55% of the time, it works all the time!”

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  7. Hikingguy

    Trump is a traitor. No wonder he despises those who bled and died for our country. And about 37% of Republican voters love him. Draw your own conclusions about that.

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  8. Joe

    In WWII there were many people and large corporations (I think Standard Oil was one) as well as the Catholic Church and others that supported Hitler.

    It can happen again.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Dave Conant - MO

      Ford Motor Company too.

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  9. Wsampson

    When one of the major parties is run my moral grifters, I think Russia is happy.

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    Davidlatkinson

    That story about Trump and the disabled soldier tells you everything you need to know about Donald Trump. Pure, raw sewage scum.

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      Mike B

      Disgusting.

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