A Curious Loathing, &c.

On the Republican Party and Ukraine; Texas politics; a happy double life; and more

Ukrainian forces in the east of the country, 2014 (Wikimedia)

President Trump, Vice President Vance, and the rest never lose a chance to insult Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. He is the leader of a country that is trying to save itself from annihilation by an expansionist dictatorship—an expansionist dictatorship that is a sworn enemy of the United States.

On Monday, Trump wrote, “Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine.”

Is that what Biden did? But moving on …

“P.T. Barnum.” First of all, Trump should talk. But second: What is Trump’s insulting nickname for Putin? Can you imagine such a thing coming from our president’s mouth?

You’re familiar with the expression “permission structure.” When the president insults Zelensky, he tells the entire Republican Party and the entire “conservative” movement: “Go ahead.” People take their cues from their leaders, particularly the leaders they admire.

And did you catch Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt? “We had a very stupid and incompetent leader in this White House for four years who gave away many of our best weapons for nothing, for free, to another country very far away by the name of Ukraine.”

These people positively seethe with hostility toward Ukraine, and the Ukrainian cause—which is a great freedom cause of our time, and something critical to U.S. security.

You caught, no doubt, the echo of Neville Chamberlain in Leavitt’s remarks (“a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing”). But Chamberlain was a good man (misguided).

When Trump, Vance, Leavitt, and the rest talk, Republicans hear them. The American Right hears them. Everyone hears them—and “everyone” includes the Ukrainians.

Here is Kate Bohuslavska, reacting to Leavitt’s remarks:

Honestly, the sheer heartlessness, ruthlessness, and cruelty of saying that while we are still under attack, trying to survive. While entire families are being killed in russian bombings due to a lack of air defense missiles, and when we barely survived last winter’s humanitarian catastrophe caused by russian strikes on our infrastructure. I don’t know... I’m just stunned.

I’m not stunned. I’m used to it. But I’m sickened.

***

By the way, have you noticed how normal it now is for the White House press secretary to say, e.g., “We had a very stupid and incompetent leader in this White House for four years”? Imagine if one of Joe Biden’s press secretaries—Jen Psaki or Karine Jean-Pierre—had said that. Can you imagine the shock and furor? But today, no one bats an eye.

***

I thought of something a few days ago, as we were warring against the Iranian government (a righteous cause, though the details are important, as they always are). Maybe you had the same thought, or something like it.

The Ukrainians are not asking us to commit airmen or soldiers. They are not asking us to bomb the Kremlin. They are asking for arms, money, and moral support. In other words, “Don’t vote against us, and with Russia, at the U.N.”

Are those things too much to ask? Even when the Ukraine war is closely bound up with U.S. and broader Western security? The answer, apparently, is yes.

***

The Ukraine war has played a role in Texas political campaigns—specifically, Republican ones. John Cornyn and Ken Paxton will “run off” for the U.S. Senate nomination. Cornyn is the incumbent senator, Paxton the attorney general.

Cornyn is pro-Ukraine, anti-Putin. Paxton is something else.

A state representative, Steve Toth, beat Congressman Dan Crenshaw in the Republican primary for that House seat. Crenshaw is pro-Ukraine, anti-Putin. Toth, something very, very MAGA (as Paxton is).

If supporting Ukraine is one of the reasons you lose—well, good for you.

***

In articles about the Texas campaigns, I keep seeing that Paxton is more “conservative” than Cornyn, and that Toth is more “conservative” than Crenshaw. I lament the corruption of the term. “Conservatism” is not a synonym of “right-wing populism.” It is not conservative, for example, to deny that Biden beat Trump in the 2020 election.

Paxton and Toth are both “election deniers.” How does that make them more conservative than the other guys?

Dan Crenshaw was very, very blunt about Republican attempts to overturn the 2020 election and to deny the truth about that election. “It was always a lie,” he said. “The whole thing was always a lie. And it was a lie meant to rile people up.”

I will always appreciate him for that candor.

***

And I will always appreciate his military service, his valor. Crenshaw was a Navy SEAL, who lost an eye in Afghanistan. His nationalist-populist antagonists call him “Eyepatch McCain.” They think that’s a hilarious insult. I think it’s rather flattering. I hope that Crenshaw does too, somehow.

There is an account called “AF Post” on X. It has half a million followers. “AF” stands for “America First.” “News and alerts from around the world, from an America First perspective.”

Here’s the style, the mindset:

***

Have you met, do you know about, the heroic Austin Appelbee? This is a story that makes you say, “Yay, humanity!” “A 13-year-old Australian boy swims for hours to save his mother and siblings who were swept away.” They were saved, too.

***

On Sunday afternoon, I was talking with Ron Blum, of the Associated Press. He has two beats: baseball and music (classical music). I podcasted with him in November 2024, here.

By the way, should the past participle of “to podcast” be “podcasted” or “podcast”? I say the former (obviously).

On Sunday, we were talking in Carnegie Hall, where the Vienna Philharmonic was playing a concert. They played three concerts in a row at Carnegie Hall. This was their third.

I said to Ron, “Have you been at all three?” Yes, he said. And to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—also at Carnegie Hall—on Wednesday night. And to a five-hour rehearsal of Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera.

I said, “I thought you might be at spring training!” He said, “Oh, I was last week.”

An amazing double life, this fellow leads.

Because I’m a Michigander, I asked Ron about the Detroit Tigers’ pitching staff, newly reconstituted. He gave me chapter-and-verse on the subject. We also talked about the University of Michigan basketball team, in my hometown of Ann Arbor.

He said, “Did you hear about the CSO’s encore in Ann Arbor?” (“CSO” stands for “Chicago Symphony Orchestra.”) I had not. “They played The Victors”—i.e., the Michigan fight song.

An inspired idea. Wish I had heard it. Wish I had a recording of it.

***

My review of the first Vienna Philharmonic concert will appear in my forthcoming chronicle for The New Criterion—for the print magazine, I mean. My review of the second is online, here. And of the third, here.

They got better and better, these concerts. (After the first one, they certainly should have.)

Oh, there’s so much more to say, but when isn’t there? I’ll say a little of the rest soon. Thank you for joining me, everybody. I appreciate your subscriptions. I appreciate your support, or interest. Catch you later.