How do you know Zelenskyy isn't a dictator?

[bigtree]

Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell
How do you know Zelenskyy isn’t a dictator?

Trump doesn’t suck up to him

Link to tweet

[Deuxcents]

1. Good one..he's calling em as he sees em..just what needs to happen

[intrepidity]

2. He's never met a dictator he didn't like

Prove me wrong.

[Lovie777]

3. Good one.............

[PurgedVoter]

4. This! nt

[louis-t]

5. I always put 'communist' in front of 'dictator'.

Tsf says he will "get all the communists out of government" while he's sucking up to communist dictators. Of course, not all of them are communists but it makes their heads explode.

[soldierant]

9. Communism is an economic theory on the left.

Dictators can exist on the left, on the right, and in the middle. Personally, I think it's long past time to syop making "communism" a word for "dictstorship" or more broadly, for "evil." That's how we got Joe McCarthy, J Edrar Hoover, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. I'm not quite old enough to have personal memories of McCArthy, but I vividly remember J Edgar and the HUAC. We do not want them back.

[louis-t]

10. I use it as a persuasion when addressing maga.

"Wait, he said he was going to get all the communists out of government, yet he's saying communist dictators are 'strong leaders' and he praises them."

[soldierant]

12. Well, that's reasonable.

[Cha]

6. Fucking Brilliant!

[Hoosier_Progressiv]

7. Excellent!

[spanone]

8. True.

[tornado34jh]

11. He's mad that Zelenskyy didn't give him on dirt on Biden

In a country that had and still does have corruption, he probably knows what is going on. Also, while we are on this subject, according to the Ukrainian constitution, when martial law is in place or war is going on, they are prohibited from holding elections. So in effect, they are trying violate Ukraine's constitution. Even the opponent of Zelensky, the previous president Petro Poroshenko, knows that elections can't be held. It's been that way since 2015. Also, it would be a huge risk to do elections and campaigning in a country at war, especially with an aggressor country that wants to wipe Ukraine off the map. So by doing elections, that's putting millions of people at risk. Also, forget about Zelenskyy for a second, why hasn't anyone asked the average Ukrainian what they want?


Let's not kid ourselves, Zelenskyy is in a very difficult position, and not just from outside, but politically within. He is from Jewish parents. There are ultra-far right groups in Ukraine, such as Svoboda, Right Sector, National Corps, and others. Many of them are Banderites, followers who see Stepan Bandera as a hero. In case you don't know who he is, he was a Ukrainian nationalist who was part of the OUN, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. He is a controversial figure. Many see him as a liberator and martyred figure, while others say he was a fascist and Nazi collaborator whose followers killed Polish and Jewish people in WWII. Ukrainian nationalism is especially prevalent in western Ukraine in places such as Lviv, Lutsk, Khmelnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Ternopil. Keep in mind, he wasn't popular when the invasion started. So he's got a lot of pressure just in Ukraine itself, never mind from outside.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. MaddowBlog-Ignoring backlash, Trump leans into false claim about Zelenskyy being a 'dictator'

Presidents only get so much political capital, and Trump has decided to invest his finite capital into supporting Putin's authoritarian regime in Moscow.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3limgqblntc2i

Presidents only get so much political capital, and Trump has decided to invest his finite capital into supporting Putin's authoritarian regime in Russia.

Maybe the White House could try explaining why.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/ignoring-backlash-trump-leans-false-claim-zelenskyy-dictator-rcna192955

As Wednesday came to an end, and much of the world tried to come to terms with the fact that the White House had effectively switched sides, aligning the United States with our adversary and against our ally, Trump leaned into his offensive again. NBC News reported on comments the Republican made at the Future Investment Initiative Institute’s PRIORITY Summit in Miami Beach, Florida.

“President Zelenskyy talked the United States of America into spending $350 billion to go into a war that basically couldn’t be won,” Trump said. “The only thing he was really good at was playing Joe Biden like a fiddle. He played him like a fiddle.” Trump repeated his characterization of Zelenskyy as a “dictator” and asserted without clear evidence that Zelenskyy is refusing to hold an election because he is losing the support of his citizens.

The American president delivered the unscripted remarks with the confidence of a man who didn’t appear to care at all about the geopolitical or electoral consequences.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3likwvp5ywd2p

Link to tweet

It’s worth emphasizing, of course, that Trump’s rhetoric isn’t just dangerously bizarre, it’s also wildly at odds with reality. The American president’s anti-Ukraine lies have also drawn international rebukes from traditional U.S. allies, and even some congressional Republicans have carefully expressed disagreement with Trump’s radical nonsense.

There’s even reason to believe the White House is not on board with the broad American mainstream. The latest national poll from Quinnipiac University asked respondents, “Do you think the United States should trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, or not?” At a point in our history in which the public is deeply divided on many issues, 81% of Americans don’t agree on much, but in this survey, 81% of people said the United States should not trust Russia’s authoritarian leader. (Click the link for more information on the poll’s methodology and margin of error.)

And yet, there was Trump in the Oval Office last week, telling reporters on camera that he trusts Putin.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:iu4j537hox5huj4bwnwgub4z/post/3li3jupn5i52d

Link to tweet

.....But he’s doing it anyway. Presidents only get so much political capital, and for reasons Trump has never made any meaningful effort to explain, he’s decided to invest his finite political capital into supporting the authoritarian regime in Moscow.

Maybe someday, the White House can explain why.

[SergeStorms]

17. We all know the reason why.

Money. That's The Big Orange Fascist Pig's only motivation.

[malthaussen]

14. We know he isn't a dictator because DJT calls him one.

If DJT asserted Satan was a bad fella, I'd have to believe he's really a good guy.

-- Mal

[Diraven]

15. It gets worse

The latest rumor is that Rubio and Lavrov are negotiating the same mineral rights for the US that Zeleskyy rejected if the US directly helps Russia to capture that Ukrainian territory. He really sees the whole war as a business deal.

[Aussie105]

19. At least he is consistent.

Redeveloping Gaza as a millionaire's resort, taking over Canada, the Panama Canal, Greenland - all planned business deals bereft of any consideration for humanity.

[SergeStorms]

16. Mic drop!

Game. Set. Match.

[Aussie105]

18. I just love the fluidity of thought from someone with senile dementia!

Stories get retold, facts shift, motivations are attributed, conclusions are drawn.

So:
Zelenskyy is an unelected Dictator.
Ukraine is the aggressor.

Conclusion: Ukraine needs to disappear, so Trump and Putin can divide up the land and the mineral wealth of the area.

Makes perfect sense! (Not to any normal sane people though.)