Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Pennsylvania earlier this week has drawn criticism for what some are calling an overt political move favoring Democrats. According to ABC News, Zelensky toured the facility under tight security to thank workers for producing 155mm artillery shells, which have been crucial in Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression. Zelensky expressed his gratitude, stating that “the democratic world can prevail” thanks to such efforts. The visit, however, has sparked controversy for its timing and political undertones.

Zelensky’s visit, which also included Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Democratic Senator Bob Casey, appeared more like a campaign stop in a key battleground state. As Real Clear Politics reported, Zelensky even autographed a 155mm shell before handing the pen to Shapiro and Casey for their own signatures, an image that was widely circulated and viewed as favorable to the Democratic Party. The Ukrainian leader’s presence alongside prominent Democratic figures just days before his meetings with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris has raised eyebrows, particularly among Republicans.

Further fueling the controversy, Zelensky criticized former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, in a recent interview with the New Yorker, reported by Real Clear Politics. He called Vance “dangerous” and “too radical,” and questioned Trump’s ability to end the war in Ukraine. This has prompted accusations that Zelensky is meddling in U.S. politics, despite his assertion that doing so “would be wrong.”

Critics like National Review‘s Michael Brendan Dougherty argued that Zelensky’s alignment with Democrats could damage future American support for Ukraine, especially if Republicans take control of the Senate or the White House in 2024. Dougherty noted that by appearing with Democratic leaders and attacking the Republican ticket, Zelensky is “deliberately contributing to the political polarization” of an issue that should remain bipartisan. He warned that such actions could undermine Ukraine’s cause among Republicans, risking future aid.

The National Review piece also highlighted the growing concern among Republicans about the continued U.S. financial and military support for Ukraine. Zelensky’s visit to the ammunition plant, a facility essential to producing munitions for Ukraine, has added fuel to the debate over the country’s involvement in the war.

Meanwhile, the NRA weighed in on the broader context, with Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, releasing a statement critical of the Biden administration’s focus on gun control and military aid abroad while crime increases domestically. Kozuch suggested that this focus is distracting from addressing issues closer to home, a sentiment echoed by some Americans who oppose continued spending on Ukraine’s war effort.

With the war in Ukraine now in its third year, Zelensky’s involvement in American political debates may have long-lasting repercussions for U.S. policy toward the conflict. For now, his recent actions have cemented his position as a polarizing figure in U.S. politics, particularly as the 2024 election approaches. It seems he’s hedging his bets on the Democrats winning across the board to maintain support from the U.S. If they don’t, and the GOP maintains control of the House, and at the very least gains control of the Senate and/or the White House, which the Senate at least seems likely, Zelensky may have just put his country in a worse position than it already was.

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60 COMMENTS

  1. They have to keep the war going. If someone comes in and makes a peace deal, people will rightly ask why that wasn’t done in the first place. Instead of trying to make a peace deal, they sent Kamala to Europe right before the invasion. Putin said they wanted assurances that Ukraine would stay out of NATO. So what did Kamala say right before the invasion? Ukraine should join NATO. It was an intentional provocation. Now we have 100s of thousands of dead Ukrainians, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and a massive exodus with no end in sight. The country will never be the same. But a select few will be making bank. Then we get to rebuild it for them. Thanks Kamala!

    Zelensky expressed his gratitude, stating that “the democratic world can prevail” thanks to such efforts.

    By “democratic world” I assume he means Democrat Party supporters. Ukraine isn’t a democracy. In addition to being known as the most corrupt country in Europe, Zelensky refused to hold elections. He has punished his political rivals, including imprisoning and killing (yes, really) an American citizen! Zelensky is a textbook tyrant. Of course democrats love him.

    • Dude,

      You have it exactly. Add to the provocations: 10 years of Ukraine and NATO violating the Minsk Accords;
      the USA operating 16 bio-weapons labs (Victoria Nuland admitted to 16; there were more) near the border with Russia; and the Ukranian violent repression of ethnic Russians.

      NATO is using Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia. Why? Because without Russia, NATO would have no reason to exist. They fan the flame of war because that is how NATO justifies its existance and how their sponsors, the arms makers, get rich.

      China is a far greater threat to world peace.

      If Putin ramps up to put a quick end to Ukraine, NATO will step-in openly and directly.

      • Vlad has been “ramped up” for nearly 2yrs.

        How does a furnin politician get security clearance to make a campaign stop in a US mil ammunition plant with some braindead demtard pols?

  3. He’s shilling for war-mongering, nation-building, export-our-values-at-gunpoint, neocons. It just happens that most Democrats are neocons now.

    • Reverse the order of subjects in that last sentence and change now to always were. Uniparty is a stone bitch to deal with.

  5. A lot of American troops were in Russian hands at the end of WW1. A lot of them are still missing.

    Russia, good neighbor, NOT…

    Historically, what good has ever come to America from acquiescing to Russian aggression? Serious question…

        • @Shaun/Miner
          Your comment is a mess from beginning to end. I wasn’t alive for the Vietnam War, so it couldn’t be “mine.”

          I’ll explain the context of the comment you’re replying to since it went over your head. The prevention part is referring to preventing war. The cure part is referring to dealing with the mess of an ongoing war. If we apply that to Vietnam, then there wouldn’t be a Vietnam!

    • Russia did the heavy lifting in WW2…….US & UK troops mainly fought bedwetting youth and old men 45 and up. Russians fought the tough mean ruthless brutes. Russia lost nearly as many men in just the capture of Berlin than the US did in the entire ETO.

      • Without US supplied trucks and food (and US/Brit tanks) the commie pinkos would have starved/collapsed at Stalingrad.

    • You are correct. Do not reward terrorists nor dictators.

      Neville learned that the hard way. Trump is about to repeat the same mistake.

      This should be the deal: you want to keep occupied Ukraine? Well the Ukraine will be a member of NATO and host several bases. Don’t like it? Then leave Ukraine and it will not become a member of NATO. Take it or leave it.

  6. I’ve been reading articles trying to understand the situation in Ukraine. It seems war mongers like Nuland want this to continue with what end goal? Weakening Russia and “saving democracy” is the usual drivel but I’m afraid the result will be all out devastation for every country involved. This election can’t come soon enough for me. May God help US.

    • Based off absolutely nothing but tinfoil I would guess a few things are at play.

      Money, someone somewhere is making a lot of it and is very invested in this situation continuing.

      Training, lot of new tech/tactics/and ideas being tested out and confirmed/disproven some of which have been around untried since the cold war.

      Thinning the herd, Russia has a golden opportunity to cut down on it’s prison population and undesirables and it wouldn’t be the first time they did so.

      Networking, Iran China, North Korea and others get to solidify a alternative market independent of the US/Dollar and take advantage of the chaos at Russia’s expense to further their own goals while others are distracted or busy.

    • Obama’s Illegal 2014 CIA Ukrainian Coup removed a legally-elected government from power & replaced it with USA Stooges. The Russians then essentially “Liberated” regions that are 95%+ Ethnic Russian who had been abused by Kviv Nazis for decades.

      Google Babyn Yar and Bila Tservka to see what kind of goons the Ukrainians really are.

      There are Poles, Hungarians & Slovaks in Western Ukraine who also want out, with THEIR land.

  7. Hmmm. The personal attacks and demeaning texts shown above seem to be saying ” you are bad because I disagree with you…….but I can’t rationally discuss it.” Kind of makes it difficult to actually have a topical conversation to identify and work out differences.

      • A former stand-up comedian, dictating orders to our never- held-a-real-job meat puppet president, must have the complete records of Hunter’s dealings with Burisma. So the ransom to keep it on the down-low has now exceeded $60 Billion…. that must be some incriminating evidence.

  8. Zelenskyy is a con man. Nobody knows where all that money goes, some of which probably goes full circle back to the Demoncrats.

  9. Russia invaded Ukraine. Useful idiots like Vance have swallowed Russian propaganda whole (although sometimes I suspect he is just cynically telling the MTG wing what they want to hear). I understand Zelensky’s concern. Hopefully Trump isn’t as stupid or cynical as Vance. Their meeting today seemed ok.

    My actual hope is that Trump unleashes the Ukrainians and starts giving them permission to use their weapons freely. Russia is a cancer.

  10. America is filling with people whom have no loyalty for Country.
    Who shall fight your wars? The homeless, the immigrant, the criminal.
    Your optimism in Americas strength is illusory.
    Ukraine’s sovereignty requires more then ordnance.

    • America is walking dead. Nobody will fight its wars.
      Should invasion come we’d rather loot ourselves to death for toilet paper and processed foods than repel the attack.

  13. BREAKING: ICE report shows 164,496 violent illegal aliens came through the southern border.

    h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l32zBkn8Ook

  14. Kamala the liar…Resurfaced Clip shows Kamala saying, “the second amendment is NOT an individual Right and Heller is WRONG”…

  15. Suprise! The ACLU has filed an amicus brief in support of the Second Amendment in a case before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mark Smith Four Boxes Diner discusses.

    h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoh_r1GJpBo

    • Rome cannot extend the empire while failing to defend itself from invading Goths who refuse to assimilate or be subjugated. The population cannot support such action. The economy cannot support such action. Your feelings certainly cannot support such action.

    • Reagan hated guns and vastly expanded us being the world’s Policemen. I don’t see how reading a book on a man who despises the 2nd Amendment will help us. Reagan literally would have us neck deep in numerous conflicts we don’t belong in.

      That being said Russia should not have invaded Ukraine. While I feel for them it’s not our business to finance their war or any other countries war.

      • Ronald Reagan made the world a safer place. I’m glad the medium range nuclear missile class was mutually banned. I’m glad we had peaceful relations with Russia under Bush.

        Not like now were the democrats are hoping to have atomic bombs exploding over Russia. It’s amazing to see the republicans become the anti-war crowd.

        And the democrats become the pro nuclear war party. Yes Gov Reagan did sign the Mulford Act into law. And the gay atheist california leadership publicly endorsed the that law. And refused to repeal it.

  19. I’ll explain the situation. So, Ukraine is a country in…Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So…basically that’s wrong.

  20. Meh, Zelensky is simply greasing palms for money, most of which he will allocate for armaments and ammunition although a non-trivial amount will probably be direct payouts to himself and friends.

    After all, if the United States and Europe gave you a combined total of something like $300 billion dollars, what is wrong with stashing 0.1% of that in your pockets and your friends’ pockets?

    • Yes, of course some of it will be scammed just like anything will be scammed. For every thousand Covid bux you print out, some of it will be scammed. More government welfare always equals more theft of government welfare.

      However, keep in mind that most of those 100s of billions for “Ukraine” are actually direct payments to “defense” contractors.

      • except the 10% for the big guy, that zelensky now gets half of to keep quiet about brandons dirty deals

    • Also recall that they refused to vote for accountability for Ukraine bux. Follow the money? Nah, it’ll be fine.

  21. The leader of Ukraine, Zelensky, is a ho.mo-sex.ual war monger. Even Finland had to negotiate with russia to stop the war. In I think 1938?

    As long as it’s a gay leading a country during war time. The anti-war crowd are happy to let the killing continue.

    Even during the war on terror years ammo was super cheap. But not anymore. Unfortunately the elite in America hate this country. They are happy to move production overseas to save money.

    Like the raw materials we need to import. In order to make gun powder. Just like the electronic chips we need. Imported from not so reliable parts of the world.

    Trump 2024.

    He is the only anti-war candidate. Yes that’s right I said it. And no he is not a pacifist. He will not tell everyone to calmly walk into, the gas chambers. Like so many pacifists will tell you.

    • Trump told Putin face to fact that if he invaded Ukraine, he would bomb Russia. Putin said, “You wouldn’t.” Then Trump said, “I might.” Guess what? Putin didn’t invade Ukraine. Contrast that with our weak, senile puppet. They don’t even try to pretend like he’s our president anymore. We’re officially a joke now.

      • There were No NEW Wars when Republicans are in the white house. Not under Trump. And not under Reagan. Afghanistan was invaded by the Russians back when Jimmy Carter was president.

        Our enemies have never taken the democrats seriously. But they are really afraid of a republican president.

        The unrestricted bombing of Vietnam ordered by President Nixon. Is what the NVA admitted caused them to agree to a peace agreement in Paris.

        Reagan announced he was, “going to outlaw the Russians forever.” He had, “ordered the bombing of Russia to begin within 5 minutes.”

        I remember smiling at the shear terror the libertarians liberals and the left felt back then. They still don’t understand diplomacy. The russians were scared to death.

        We got a nuclear arms reduction treaty. And the Berlin wall fell ten years later.

    • Ammo was cheap in the post 9/11 until fairly recently because of huge stockpiles of cold war surplus(mostly gone now) and Russia still being able to ship to the US. Now we have mostly market prices with some artificial scarcity (Russian and Chinese not available). With that said yeah between inflation and material/commodity prices I do expect the floor prices to remain in place for quite some time if not tick upwards. Up end lead is still relatively cheap and when reloading the syntek style bullets pistol rounds are still not too bad even with current component prices. Rifle rounds……..yeah bullet and case prices are still a major factor.

      • Yes, peace between the US and Russia does have significant benefits for ordinary Americans. In ways nobody ever dreamed of.

        Unfortunately our current government sh!t all over that idea.

        Before Sandy Hook in 2012. I remember when winchester white box of 500 copper plated 22LR, was under $10 a box. I believe a 300 round box was less than $6.00. In 2014 I was paying less than $6 for a box of 5.56.

        A peaceful world means very low ammo prices. Everybody should remember that. Even during the “Cold War,” ammo was cheap.

        • Winchester wb .45acp 100 rd. at wally world was $19.88. Drive by there going to our range. Never stop there anymore. Still recycling some of that of brass

  22. Yes he is praising Democrats. He needs more money to skim off for when the war is over he and his cronies will exile themselves to one of the Italian villus they brought with our tax payer money.

  23. The war in Ukraine is much more complicated than click-bait articales suggest. Much more complicated than campaign propaganda. Much more complicated as a guide to how to deal with unprovoked invasions in the future. Much more complicated.

    • We’re not allowed nuance anymore.

      Everything is either hate speech or not.
      COVID was either a bad cold or necessitated shitting the planet down two years or everyone would die.
      Trump is a threat to democracy yet his opponent who has adopted half his platform is not.

      No more nuance. No more degrees. No more individuals. It’s all tribes now. The crazier and more dramatic the better.

      • “It’s all tribes now.”

        Good starting point.

        The question becomes, “What should our tribe’s response be, when a tribe (part of the United Tribes of the World) invades another tribe?

        War among the tribes is prohibited by the United Tribes of the World, and the United Tribes are sworn to wage war against an aggressor tribe. Given the history of aggressor tribes driving the World into catastrophic when aggressor tribes are allowed freedom to invade other tribes, do we just look the other way; let two bad acting tribes just go to war that history shows will lead to world war; provide military assistance to the victim tribe – but not allow the victim tribe to use donated weapons to actually hit back at the aggressor tribe, in the aggressor’s landmass; join together to punish the aggressor tribes through any means necessary?

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