Beware of Those Indiscriminately Cheering for Volodymyr Zelenskyy

If you’re anything like me (and I’ll bet you are), over the past month you’ve been feeling uneasy watching the zealots on the left and the squishes on the right unabashedly cheering for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the events of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the political animosity of the last several years, something has seemed off, not quite right about pundits on the left and the right fervently cheering for the same side in anything let alone a war.

To be clear, I’m not questioning American support of the Ukrainian people. What I’m uneasy with is the blind support of the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as if he’s some kind of democracy-loving modern-day “George Washington,” as FoxNews’ Tucker Carlson called him on a recent episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight. With just a small amount of research, it’s clear Zelenskyy is anything but a democratic leader.

In a true democracy, people are free to express any opinion at any time in public and in private. They can also speak out against their political leaders and work to remove them from office if they disapprove of the job they’re doing. The “democracy” in Ukraine is not at all free like that. Take, for example, the political parties in Ukraine, and one specifically called Opposition Platform for Life:

With 43 seats in parliament it is the largest opposition party in that country. Over the weekend the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, banned that party. Opposition Platform for Life is now prohibited from ‘all activity within Ukraine.’ So with a single command Zelenskyy made it impossible for anybody to run against him for president. He did this not just to Opposition Platform for Life but to ten other political parties that he believed were insufficiently loyal to him. They’re all illegal now.

Does that sound like the actions of a democratic leader? I think not. Were the pro-Russia political parties banned as well? Not likely. According to Carlson, there’s also “no evidence the opposition parties banned were aiding Russia in its war against Ukraine.” Zelenskyy simply took advantage of the chaos of war to get rid of his opposition and turn Ukraine into a one-party state. But did Zelenskyy stop there? Not at all.- READ MORE