‘What Are the Benefits?’ Laura Loomer Grills Zelensky on How Funding Ukraine Is ‘America First’

(Photo Credit: @LauraLoomer on X)

Right-wing influencer Laura Loomer pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to explain how the U.S. sending tens of billions of tax dollars to his country to fight Russia benefits the American public.

Loomer kicked off her Friday interview on X by admitting she has said some “pretty terrible things” about Zelensky and Ukraine because she didn’t understand why the war was important to Americans.

Here views have changed, Loomer said, adding that after visiting the country she has seen how resilient Ukrainians are.

She then asked if he “could explain to the American audience how supporting Ukraine with U.S. tax dollars is America First. And what are the benefits of the United States supporting Ukraine and recognizing the struggle of the Ukrainian people as a struggle of America’s future?”

Zelensky answered by saying he would say the same thing he told President Donald Trump: it is “so important” for Americans to see firsthand both the death and destruction Ukrainians have dealt with since the war started in 2022, as well as the strength of the Ukrainian people to keep living their day-to-day lives in the face of it.

Zelensky said it’s “very symbolic.”

“We want to survive, that’s all,” he added.

Loomer wasn’t satisfied with his answer and pushed him to explain further.

She said:

We can appreciate your desire to protect yourself and proclaim your right to survive and exist as a people. But what do you say, what is your message, to the people of America who are also just trying to survive?

We have nearly 40 trillion of debt in our country Americans are still trying to recover from Bidenflation, we have closed borders now but we had an invasion of our country, over 25 million illegal aliens who came in. There’s an estimated 100 million foreigners, right, 65 million illegal aliens and over 50 million people who could qualify of deportation living in America, driving up the cost of living.

And I think when Americans are struggling to put gas in their cars and pay for food for their children, they want to know, “why should I care about funding Ukraine? Why should I send my tax dollars overseas?” So if you could explain to the U.S. how protecting Ukraine ultimately protects the U.S. in the long term.

Zelensky answered by saying at the start of the war, no country was behind Ukraine — including the USA.

“We didn’t have any kind of weapon[s], any kind of money from the United States. And it’s understandable. It’s okay, no question,” he said.

He then explained America’s business ties to Europe — and the threat of Vladimir Putin turning Russia into a modern version of the Soviet Union — were key reasons for U.S. citizens to fund the war.

Zelensky said:

When we defended, when everybody in the world understood that Russia would not stop with Ukraine, so they began this mess of narratives that Ukraine and others who have been invited to NATO before, and we said we’ve not been in NATO before, because they wanted to build USSR.

I think, between us, the Soviet Union is the most dangerous enemy for the United States. Not only for your democracy, way of life, or all of these things what you’ve said — private sector, business, etc. — it was 70 years and it will continue. Because the most global idea of Putin is to take everything back. Republics.

Of course not the United States, it’s far far away. But the United States has business in Europe, business influence. It’s a global war.

He added, “If Russia will [become the] Soviet Union again… you will get China and the Soviet Union, the biggest army in the world, and they will be really bigger than the United States and it will be dangerous for you.”

Jason Cohen contributed to this report. 

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