The establishment media praised President Joe Biden for returning to Ukraine on Monday after visiting the nation six times in eight years while vice president.
Despite the Biden family business scandal that involves Ukraine, the media cheered Biden’s return to the nation waging war against Russia, a conflict based on decades of territorial claims.
The Associated Press’s Evan Vucci, John Leicester, Aamer Madhani, and Zeke Miller praised Biden’s eighth trip to Ukraine as “a defiant display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he called ‘a brutal and unjust war’ days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.”
The New York Times’s Marc Santora, Peter Baker, and a dramatic moment captured on video that underscored the investment the United States has made in Ukraine’s independence.”
Democrat and former sports commentator Keith Olbermann dubbed the trip as a shock. “Yippie-ki-yay, MotherPutin!”:
“BREAKING NEWS: Biden’s shock visit this morning to Ukraine:
“Yippie-ki-yay, MotherPutin!
Listen to the podcast HERE: https://t.co/jOxVwyr0nO pic.twitter.com/s9CbPnZO4h
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 20, 2023
Andrew, who identifies himself as a “He/Him,” called Biden’s visit on President’s Day “amazing.”
Happy Presidents’ Day to one hell of an amazing President!!
Thank you President Biden!#PresidentsDay #Biden pic.twitter.com/SBxFpBu7h8
— Andrew (@TheRealAndrew_) February 20, 2023
The Atlantic’s Eliot Cohen claimed Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine “mattered” just as much as “long-range missiles,” “super-accurate artillery shells, the surface-to-air missiles” deployed in the decades long geopolitical power struggle.
“Other heads of government preceded him, earning deserved credit. But it is an altogether different thing when the president of the United States—who is, indeed, the leader of the Free World—shows up. His words mattered,” Cohen gushed.
NBC News’s Peter Nicholas championed the visit as “a surprise and historic” trip that displayed “support and solidarity with a democratic nation.”
NPR, which is funded by American taxpayers, claimed the trip was “audacious” but only “somewhat risky.”
“President Biden made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, an audacious and somewhat risky trip aimed at expressing solidarity with Ukrainians as Russia’s invasion of their country heads into a second year,” Joanna Kakissis and Deepa Shivaram wrote.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
