Right-Wing Propaganda and a Christian’s Quest for Truth. Part 2

February 20, 2025, 22:34

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Christian truth and right-wing propaganda

In the first part of our article, we discussed the first major point of Trump’s election propaganda and now we turn to the second point.

2. Zelensky is to be blamed for Russia’s war of aggression

It is a well-known fact that Trump personally dislikes Zelenskiy. This might be due to the fact that on July 25, 2019, Trump called Zelenskiy allegedly asking him to investigate Biden’s role in Ukraine during his vice presidency and his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine, specifically with the gas company Burisma[1]. Zelensky did not agree to conduct the investigation Trump was seeking, making clear that Ukraine had its own judicial processes and was not going to be influenced by outside pressure. This led to the House of Representatives impeaching Trump in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress[2] with the Senate acquitting him in February 2020[3].

It is therefore not surprising that during his election campaign, Trump harshly criticized Zelenskiy, repeating the mantra that “Zelenskiy is the best salesman in history: every time he comes into the country, he walks away with $60 billion”[4]. This is, of course, a blatant propaganda lie. Out of the $175,5 billion appropriated by the U.S. Congress for Ukraine in five bills (March 2022 $13.6 billion, May 2022 $40.9 billion, September 2022 $12.3 billion, December 2022 $47.4 billion, April 2024 $61.3 billion)[5], Ukraine has actually received $100.5 billion, the figure that Trump confirms himself[6]. Of these $31.5 billion was in financial assistance, $3.1 billion in humanitarian assistance, and $65.9 billion in military assistance[7], all of which went into the U.S. defense industry[8]. According to Zelenskiy, Europe provided another $100 billion and Ukraine $120 billion, the war costing $320 billion in total, not counting the human casualties and destruction.

Trump’s criticism of Zelenskiy increased dramatically after he took office and began negotiating peace with Russia. One of the areas of his criticism is allegations of corruption against Zelenskiy. At a press conference in Florida in February 2025, he asked: “Where is all the money that has been given? I have never seen an accounting of it,” adding: “They have to find out where the money is going to. I believe President Zelenskiy said last week that he doesn’t know where half of the money is that we gave him.” This was a deliberate twisting of Zelenskiy’s words which he said in an interview with the Associated Press earlier: “When I hear from the U.S. that America has given Ukraine hundreds of billions – specifically, $177 billion, I, as the president of a country at war, tell you: we have received a little over $75 billion. That is, we have never received $100 billion of that $177 billion. And that is important. When they say that Ukraine received $200 billion to support the army during the war, it’s not true. I don’t know where all that money is. As president, I will say that we received about $76 billion.”[9]So, when Zelenskiy said, “I don’t know where all that money is”, he was undoubtedly referring to the $100 billion that Ukraine never received.

In the same interview, Trump said that the United States has provided $350 billion in aid to Ukraine. No doubt, he knows that the United States has given only $100 billion, so why does he quote this figure and where did it come from? It’s easy to see that the supposedly given $350 billion is simply $175.5 billion appropriated by the U.S. Congress multiplied by two. Trump made up this figure to falsely accuse Zelenskiy of misappropriating half of all the money America gave Ukraine. Trump also did not miss the opportunity to repeat his lie about Europe’s lack of involvement in funding Ukraine by saying, “We have to equalize with Europe because Europe has given a very much smaller percentage of that. I think Europe has given $100 billion.” However, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy’s Ukraine Support Tracker shows that Europe has actually allocated more than the USA – $137.9 billion (€132.3 billion).

Interestingly, the path to these allegations was paved by a well-known propagandist, Carlson Tucker, who broadcasts Russian propaganda to a conservative American audience (he might have been recruited by the Russian FSB (KGB) during his visit to Moscow in 2024 or some time earlier). Several days before Trump’s allegations, in a conversation with retired U.S. Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, he spread an old lie that “up to half” of U.S. weapons sent to Ukraine are being sold on the black market. He provided no evidence for it but insisted that his claim was a fact, not speculative, “I know this for a fact. A fact, OK? Not speculation. They’re selling it, and a lot of it ends up with the drug cartels on our border.”[10]

This “fact” is nothing more than an English translation of an old Russian lie dated from August 1, 2022, when Russian media, citing the Mexican TV channel Milenio Televisión, published a video alleging that Ukrainian weapons were being sold to representatives of the Mexican Gulf Cartel. The report claimed that dozens of American M136 grenade launchers, AK-47 rifles, and Javelin anti-tank missile systems, supplied to Ukraine by the United States, were available for sale. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Heorhii Tykhyi, called Carlson’s statements outright false: “This is a lie. In reality, every piece of military equipment delivered to Ukraine is tracked. All supplied weapons are monitored by independent mechanisms. And none of the multiple U.S. inspections have ever revealed any misuse.”[11] It’s easy to see the connection between Trump’s claim that Zelenskiy doesn’t know where “half” of the money went and Tucker’s claim that Ukraine sold “half” of the weapons it sent.

After Zelenskiy refused to sign an extortionary agreement on US control of 50% of Ukraine’s natural resources without providing any security guarantees and after the US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, Trump launched new vicious attacks on Zelenskiy, this time lashing out at him for the lack of elections and his low approval rating: “We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine. Well, we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4% approval rating and where a country has been blown to smithereens.” This figure is an outright lie, because a February 2025 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 57% of Ukrainians trusted the president, up from 52% in December 2024[12]. As for the elections, Section 1 of Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” states that “Under martial law, it is prohibited… to hold elections for the President of Ukraine, as well as elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local governments.”[13] Trump, of course, knows about this law, but he insists that the elections should take place anyway. Recently, he wrote on Truth Social: “He who saves his country does not violate any law.”[14] No person who respects the law can agree with this statement. As soon as we cross this line, we become a dictatorship.

Speaking of which, the same Tucker paved the way for another ludicrous lie as he recently made absurd statements in his interview with Piers Morgan saying that Zelenskiy is a dictator. In doing so, he simply reiterated the main claims of Russian propaganda: Zelenskiy was not elected, he banned a religious denomination, he banned a language group, he killed his political opponents. If you think that this description fits dictators Putin and Lukashenko, you’re right. Tucker is using a well-known propaganda technique of his patrons: accusing opponents of one’s own crimes. Tucker went on to say that in 2014 there was a CIA-sponsored coup in the country, that there was a real referendum in Crimea where people voted to be in the Russian Federation[15]. Even Hitler’s minister of propaganda Goebbels would have blushed with shame at such a brazen lie, but not Carlson Tucker: he must receive a lot of money for his propaganda. Three weeks later, Trump lashed out at Zelenskiy calling him “A Dictator without Elections.”[16]

However, the most appalling thing was when Trump blamed Zelenskiy for this war. Several days ago, in an answer to a journalist’s question in the White House, “Do you view Ukraine as an equal member of this peace process?”, he replied, “Umm… it’s an interesting question”, and added: “That was not a good war to go into”[17]. Then, while praising the progress made in US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia, Trump directly accused Ukraine of starting the war saying, “You should have never started it.” It is like saying that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor. Ukraine did not “go into war” and certainly did not start the war. Ukraine was invaded against its will and these three long years has bravely defended her right to exist. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was premeditated, unprovoked, and widely condemned by the international community as an act of aggression.

Trump’s horrendous statement caused a storm of indignation, not only among Ukrainians and European leaders, but also among American ones. Senator Chuck Schumer was appalled that Trump is blaming Ukraine for the Russian invasion. “It’s disgusting to see an American president turn against one of our friends and openly side with a thug like Vladimir Putin,” he said[18]. Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke in a similar tone, “What world is he living in? It is not only contrary to the facts and the truth, but utterly despicable. A disgusting betrayal of a country that has bled and fought and died for freedom. Our President so disregarded the truth and the sacrifice of brave men and women who are upholding their freedom and ours. Their fight is our fight and the President’s surrender is pathetic and weak.”[19] Former Vice President Mike Pence directed his comments to Trump in a post on X saying, “Mr. President, Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.”[20] The truth was very well articulated by Rep. Don Bacon saying, “Putin started this war. Putin committed war crimes. Putin is the dictator who murdered his opponents. The EU nations have contributed more to Ukraine. Zelenskiy polls over 50%. Ukraine wants to be part of the West, Putin hates the West. I don’t accept George Orwell’s doublethink”[21].

Despite harsh criticism, the next day while speaking at the FII PRIORITY Summit in Mayami, Trump only reiterated the main points of his propaganda lies which he had perpetuated earlier in his Truth Social[22]: that America spent $350 Billion Dollars on Ukraine, that it spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe[23], that Europe’s money was a loan while the United States’ was a grant, that Zelenskiy admits that half of the money we sent him is missing, that Zelenskiy has done a terrible job by allowing his country to be shattered, that he refuses to have elections and is very low in Ukrainian polls. He then added a new lie: Zelenskiy broke a natural resources deal with the US. Well, he could have not possibly done this because he never signed it[24].

By now it is clear that we are dealing with a deliberate propaganda campaign in which Trump is trying to destroy Zelenskiy. But why is he doing this? There are two reasons for that. First, Putin has repeatedly questioned Zelenskiy’s presidential legitimacy and refused to sign a peace agreement with him, also Russia has set a condition that Ukraine must hold elections before signing the agreement. Do you see the irony of a dictator who has ruled his country for 25 years wanting to determine the legitimacy of a democratically elected president and demanding elections in a neighboring country, when his own country has not had a real election in 25 years? So, Trump has caved in to Putin’s demands and insists on the elections, trying to pass off kowtowing before Putin as a great success in the negotiations. However, with hundreds of thousands on the front lines and millions of refugees in dispersion, a fifth of the country’s territory occupied by Russian troops, and the whole country under daily shelling, it is not possible or safe for all citizens to participate in elections, and such elections will not be recognized by the international community. Second, and perhaps most importantly, Trump was obviously enraged by Zelenskyy’s refusal to sign an unfair agreement on US control of 50% of Ukraine’s natural resources because it did not contain any security guarantees at all. So, he considers the Ukrainian leader inconvenient, and now it’s not even a question of holding elections but rather removing him from power. Team Trump wants to get rid of Volodymyr Zelenskiy[25] because he is not enought compliant in satisfying his imperialist appetites.