Media, please stop saying that Lt. Colonel Vindman is “Ukrainian-born.” He is Soviet-born. Yes, he was born in what is now an independent Ukraine but Ukraine’s geo-political status today bears little resemblance to the Soviet Union, from which Vindman and his family emigrated. /1
I was born in Moscow but I am not “Russian-born.” I am Soviet-born. Like me, Vindman was a Soviet Jew. Trust me when I say that Soviet Jews in the 1970s had little reason to be loyal to their homeland and have no reason to be loyal to its successor independent nations. /2
Questioning any immigrant’s patriotism — especially one who has devoted his life in service of this nation — is toxic. Questioning the patriotism of Soviet Jewish emigres whose families were the victims of totalitarian oppression, is especially unconscionable. /3
What next? Questioning the loyalty of German Jews who fled Nazi oppression? Shame on House Republicans and their media enablers. Trump is a moment in time but this stain will live with them forever.
