Opinion: Madison Cawthorn’s ridiculous assault on Zelensky

By admin Last updated Mar 21, 2022 45

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Cawthorn, in a play for an enormous rating, insulted a real hero. “Keep in mind that (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky is a thug,” Cawthorn mentioned in a video Raleigh, North Carolina TV station WRAL revealed earlier this month. “Keep in mind that the Ukrainian authorities is extremely corrupt, and it’s extremely evil, and it has been pushing woke ideologies.”

Cawthorn, dealing with criticism from a number of Republican lawmakers, has since taken a unique tone, tweeting, “The Ukrainian folks’s resilience within the face of Russian aggression has impressed the world. The dedication they’ve proven to the preservation of their sovereign nation is extraordinary.”

His spokesperson additionally tried to make clear Cawthorn’s stance, telling CNN whereas the congressman helps Ukraine, he “doesn’t need America drawn into one other battle by way of emotional manipulation.”

It did not cease Cawthorn’s authentic feedback about Zelensky from being featured on Russian state TV, together with clips of Fox Information Host Tucker Carlson, in keeping with NBC foreign correspondent Raf Sanchez.

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In attacking Zelensky, Cawthorn went after a frontrunner whose braveness within the face of missile strikes, bullets, and bombings is admired throughout the political spectrum. The identical might be mentioned for Zelensky’s democratically-elected authorities, which to this point has checked an unprovoked invasion by a much-bigger energy led by a dictator. Cawthorn’s incendiary alternative of phrases — calling the Ukrainian president a “thug” and his authorities “evil” — is akin to describing Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wartime cupboard as bully aggressors in the course of the Blitz.

To be honest, even the grasp of the trolling recreation misplayed the warfare at first. Within the days main as much as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, former President Donald Trump known as Vladimir Putin’s technique “savvy” and “genius.” However the former president has since changed his tune, backing off on praising Putin and focusing extra on his perception that America’s leaders are “dumb.” He additionally known as the invasion a “crime towards humanity” and praised the Ukrainians for being “good fighters.”

Cawthorn, in fact, is not fully out within the chilly, having joined the ranks of Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Carlson has known as Zelensky a “dictator,” whereas Greene has parroted Russian propaganda, misinformation and different falsehoods in an try to take shots at President Joe Biden, amongst others.

Collectively, Trump, Cawthorn, Carlson and Greene present simply how outrageous and muddled the extra excessive factions of the Republican Celebration have been in response to the warfare in Ukraine.

A few of their feedback could have gone a number of steps too far even for these on the best. In an NBC report, a number of Trump followers said they have been in favor of doing extra to help Ukraine, even when it meant greater fuel costs. This sentiment was mirrored in a Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month, which discovered two-thirds of Republicans and 71% of all People favored a ban on Russian oil.

After all, there are pro-Putin sentiments amongst right-wing extremists, a lot of whom determine with the Russian chief’s conservative, nationalist and homophobic views and see him as an “anti-woke” hero. And a conspiracy concept that helps Putin — based mostly on false claims the US had been growing bioweapons in Ukraine — has gained traction amongst some on-line communities fashioned round QAnon.

To set the file straight, there are biolabs in Ukraine, however the US has funded these establishments to stop the event of organic weapons. This did not appear to matter to Carlson, who insisted the alternative is true and aired clips of Russian and Chinese language officers to help this notion.

It is doubtless Cawthorn, beneath the affect of Carlson and the others on the best, misjudged how his feedback could be obtained extra broadly. Regardless, the Russians actually welcomed him into the membership of anti-Ukraine voices to trot out.

In the meantime, the person he known as a thug is galvanizing his nation and receiving standing ovations from Congress and the British parliament. As for Cawthorn, even Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy got here out and mentioned the freshman lawmaker was “mistaken,” whereas the editorial board of the Winston-Salem Journal slammed his feedback and known as him “North Carolina’s present to Crazytown.”

And with Cawthorn’s election rivals pouncing on his unforced error with an eye fixed towards the first in lower than two months, he hasn’t obtained a lot time to sharpen his assault canine abilities.

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Opinion: Madison Cawthorn's ridiculous attack on Zelensky - CNN opinions