🧵 Ted Cruz vs. Tucker Carlson on Ukraine was a disaster, for Ukraine.

Cruz supports Ukraine in the main — but failed to make the case. And in doing so, made Ukraine look weak.

So here are the answers I wish he delivered. 🧵👇
I’ve spent the past 1100+ days reporting from Ukraine.
If I knew nothing about this war, and only watched the Cruz-Tucker interview, I’d think Tucker won.

That’s how bad Cruz was, in the style of American elites who just blab without making the effort to be accurate.

But Tucker’s questions matter — because they reflect what many Americans believe.⤵️

Ukraine supporters: You're sabotaging the cause by misunderstanding America and Trump.

Just look at how his MAGA base has revolted when he backs Israel and the Iranian opposition against the mullahs. Imagine if he backed Ukraine—the backlash would be 10x worse!

You think you just need to convince Trump. You're wrong. Here's what you're missing 🧵1/6 ⤵️ You assume Trump operates like establishment politicians—top-down, ignoring voters. You come up with conspiracy theories that he is Putin's pup.

That thinking is WHY you can't persuade him.

Trump won by channeling and respecting his base's mood. And the mood toward Ukraine is not good. ⤵️

1/ In January 2022, even Ukrainians didn't believe Russia would launch a full-scale invasion. So why are we surprised when Americans don't care today?

Three years in war have taught me something few want to hear. But understanding this reality will illuminate the path to persuasion.🧵 1/12 ⤵️ 2/ January 2022: American intelligence screamed "RUSSIAN INVASION IMMINENT"

But Ukrainians by and large shrugged their shoulders. I remember it well. I was here, in Ukraine. It's hard to remember now but the pandemic was still raging—and I'd stayed put here because it was one of the healthiest places to be. I was ready to return to the USA, but I knew the war was coming—and I chose to face it.

💥 Russia’s Endgame Was Foretold 🧵 A thread about Fatima, Francis, Ben Shapiro… and the battle for Ukraine. Russia claims to be the "last word on earthly history." Here's why Ukraine and America stand in the way! ⤵️ 1️⃣Starting on May 13, 1917, three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal, said the Virgin Mary appeared and gave them a warning:
“If Russia is not converted, it will spread its errors throughout the world.”

If Trump understood these 7 points, it would change his view on Ukraine.
Watch this vid or read the thread 🧵1/9⤵️ 1. Ukraine’s 2014 revolution was a movement of the people. They did a DOGE on the Soviet-minded pro-Kremlin deep state that controlled them and they reset state institutions to null. 2/9 ⤵️

Elon Musk says empathy will kill us. American Christian pastors now call it a sin. Is empathy a lethal “mushy” emotion? Let’s see how a 20th-century philosopher murdered at Auschwitz revealed empathy to be a rigorous tool protecting human freedom in our an AI-driven, tyrant-filled age. [apologies for any errors, posted under air-raid alarm in Kharkiv] 1/17 🧵⤵️ Enter Edith Stein, a Jewish-born philosopher who became a Catholic nun. Killed in an Auschwitz gas chamber, today's she's one of six patron saints of Europe. Far from “fuzzy feelings,” she saw empathy as a discipline—a systematic way to perceive another’s inner life without confusing it for your own. 2/

🧵 Did you know Ukraine’s Greek Catholics are part of the Roman Catholic Church?

Western media assume the crowded churches of Lviv are Orthodox—but they’re not. They're Catholic. And they’ve survivors of a long persecution by Moscow. 🧵⤵️ Most people in Lviv, Ukraine, are Greek Catholics. Their liturgy and ritual follow the Eastern Byzantine tradition—icons, chant, even married priests.
But they are in communion with the pope in Rome. It's just as Catholic as your Chicago or Los Angeles parish.

The American opposition to helping Ukraine against Russia-China-Iran derives from a combination of the following. This opposition is curable if you start by understanding these points, in no particular order, but time is ticking insanely fast. 1/ Of course, Russia is at fault for the whole shit-hell of this, but we who have agency to fight back have made mistakes. Here are sources and causes that together contribute to MAGA's opposition to Ukraine: 2/

Zelensky meets Trump today. Let’s remember their first famous interaction.

That July 2019 phone call changed everything. But what happened on that call is not what you think. 🧵⤵️ In summer 2019, both The New York Times and The Washington Post were investigating Biden’s Ukraine ties.

Yet when Trump asked the same questions, he was impeached.

That impeachment was never about Ukraine—it was about people who did not want Trump and Zelensky to work together. ⤵️

21 Ways Joe Biden Fucked Over Ukraine

This matters because every conversation I have with Trump allies reveals that their view of Ukraine is still controlled by Joe Biden and Jake Sullivan. If Trump wants to ditch Biden’s policies, why not ditch his weak worldview too? 🧵1/22⤵️ F-16s: For years, Biden blocked Europe from sending its own F-16s to America-loving Ukraine, even while some "shithole" countries that hate America had this prize tech from the USA. The little kingdoms of Europe wanted to do more but Biden, or his masters, said: No, Ukraine doesn't need F-16s.

A few weeks ago by the way, Kyiv's skies were protected by a few of the F16s that Biden finally allowed Denmark and the Netherlands to send. But cities like Odesa and Kharkiv remain largely vulnerable. Biden approved just enough to shut up the critics.🛩️ 2/22 ⤵️

KYIV—For years in Ukraine, I’ve heard complaints about Zelenskiy almost daily, from Lviv to the front. The normal stuff of a vibrant democracy. But even most of those who want him out agree: Now is not the time.

Here are six reasons why most Ukrainians I know don’t want elections right now. These insights come from a post by a Ukrainian woman who voted against Zelenskyy, along with my own observations. 🧵⤵️ 1. The basic question: Who will actually vote? More than a million Ukrainian citizens are serving in the Armed Forces, with many on the frontlines, stationed at military bases, undergoing training, or working in essential production. Do they vote from the trenches?

Plus: Thousands of Ukrainians are under russian occupation—how are they supposed to vote? And what about those who fled the country and haven't done much to help the war effort? Do they vote?

If you care about Ukraine, walk with me through just how tricky Russian propaganda is.

It’s an uncomfortable walk—which is exactly why the Kremlin is so good at this game. They count on us screaming rather than calmly analyzing. The tactic? It’s called reflexive control—but let’s call it THE PARIS TRICK. 🧵⤵️ Remember the Algerian boxer at the Paris Olympics, Imane Khalif? Please don’t roll yours eyes or run away from this yet!

It’s precisely because this topic is so polarising and controversial that the Kremlin uses it so well! ⤵️

A smart retired American general who cares about Ukraine told me recently that Ukraine is just going to have to give up a lot, it's so sad. But then I remembered from my experience that even generals and White House officials often lack real evidence we see here in Ukraine every day.

I told the general these five quick anecdotes and suddenly instead of me being depressed by his dark analysis, it was he who was energised by possibility ... 1/7🧵⤵️ 1. Kharkiv May 2024 - almost destroyed; Kharkiv June 2024- almost no bombs after 'red line' crossed when reluctantly the Biden White House let Ukraine use HIMARS to strike Russian missile launch points on Russian soil in a limited way very close to the border. No one has reported well or analysed this major success.

Instead of paying attention to how crossing the red line made Kharkiv safer, Biden team slept, and after a month of regrouping, Russia began to attack from further away.

Kharkiv was bombed again but not with the brutality of May 2024. Kharkiv today is clean, prosperous, low-crime city friendly to entrepreneurs and creative people. I know people from Lviv in safer western Ukraine moving TO Kharkiv.

What does this show us? Doesn't it show that fighting back works? 2/7

Here are my takeaways from General Kellogg's @MunSecConf panel and Q&A. I see reasons for hope—but also places where the Americans urgently need better information. 👀🧵1/8 ⤵️ First: For balance and a less optimistic take, please see this thread from Gabrielius Landsbergis, former Lithuanian foreign minister, whose perspective I trust and whom I recently interviewed: 2/8 ⤵️

https://x.com/GLandsbergis/status/1890824575937548620

🚨 Give me Radio Free Europe. 🚨

After nearly three years of live reports from Ukraine—every single weekday, no breaks—my U.S. radio broadcast was canceled. I was the only person making a live report from Ukraine every weekday of the war for three years.

Not by Russia. Not by bombs. But by American corporate radio overlords. So be it. But now I see that @elonmusk and @DOGE are reforming Radio Free Europe. I have a plan, and I want to move RFE to Kyiv ... 🧵⤵️ 2️⃣ Why It Matters

I always thought my last report would be from under the rubble after a missile strike—or on the day of Ukrainian victory. I was prepared for both options.

Instead, my unexpected last WGN broadcast came on a sad ordinary December morning. Somehow we kept the broadcast alive through 2022, 2023, and 2024, until the moment of the biggest possible turning point since 2022, just as Team Trump was preparing to take power. I know many people in the White House--and so these could have been extraordinary reports from Kyiv! ⤵️

When Biden finally let Ukraine fight back, the war changed overnight. Then he stopped.

What can a Trump White House learn from the Kharkiv Blitz? It’s the same old story: some people use words to hide problems—others use action to solve them. 🧵⤵️ Just 30 miles from Russia, Kharkiv is a major city with a grand metro, beautiful parks, and low crime. Since 2014, Moscow has tried to control Kharkiv's Russian-speaking population. But even under missile fire, Kharkiv people have refused to surrender.

Every time I piss off both MAGA people AND the Democrats, the Kremlin bots lose their minds. Why?

Because I’ve found the key to breaking Russia’s game. Here it is ...⬇️ Here’s the trick:

🔥 MAGA thinks corrupt Democrats got rich off Ukraine.
🔥 The truth? Those Dems got rich off Russia.

The lie is precious to MAGA.

Exposing the lie requires criticising people precious to the Democrats.

And in this deadlock, the Kremlin smiles.

Let’s break it down. ⬇️

Hello from Kyiv. You can argue all day about why Ukraine matters, but if you don’t address the core beliefs of American skeptics, you’ll never change minds.

Here are the three biggest blind spots that keep goodwill Americans—including those in power—from supporting Ukraine.

Remove these blinders, and suddenly, security, freedom, and America’s future all come into focus.

Let’s peak through the blinders ... 🧵⤵️ 🚨 Myth #1: "Victoria Nuland & the U.S. created Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution."

Many believe a leaked call proves that the U.S. State Dept engineered Ukraine’s 2014 uprising.

But listen closely to what Nuland was actually doing:

➡️ She was pushing protest leaders to make a deal with the pro-Kremlin government that the Ukrainians were fighting to overthrow!

She wasn’t running the revolution. She was trying to stop it!

Ukraine’s people—against the Washington deep state establishment's orders—forced their dictator to flee. ⤵️

This is a story about the cost of not asking questions.

The CIA now says COVID-19 was likely from the Wuhan lab. In February 2020, I had assembled some astonishing information suggesting the same, but no one would publish my story.

Now, much of what I was asking is suddenly of interest. But some shocking pieces are still ignored.

To me this is of high importance because if we can't ask questions, democracy cannot function.

Let me piece it together for you. 🧵⤵️ I was in Sweden when the pandemic began. I flew to Ukraine on the last day of February 2020—just before the world locked down.

I was heading to Lviv for a conference on Information Overload, AI, and Responsibility. The irony?

A massive information war was already raging—and the one thing that helps us find truth, the ability to ask questions, was being buried. ⤵️

1/ 🎥 I want to show you my favorite city in the world. It’s an insane place. I think it holds the secret to thriving no matter what hits you. ⤵️🧵 2/ Kharkiv, Ukraine, is just 30 miles from Russia. Regular missile attacks should have emptied this city. Instead, it’s full of life, with even foreigners and Western Ukrainians moving here.

Why? Because the freedom here is so damn energizing. ⤵️

If I’d never been to Ukraine, I’d probably oppose it.

From afar, to those quite tired of Washington's games, Ukraine might look like another endless U.S. war—pushed by media spin, the defense industry, and Hunter Biden’s Burisma connections. Even Hollywood seemed in on it until they got bored.

And I’d think the 2014 Maidan Revolution was staged by some State Department lady handing out cookies.

But up close? The truth isn’t what you’d expect. 🧵[1]⤵️ 2/ On Trump’s Inauguration Day, 2025, I made a deliberate choice—not to join gatherings in Washington, but to take a train to Kharkiv, 30 miles from Russia.

It felt worlds away from Inauguration Day 2009, when a call from Rupert Murdoch’s consigliere sent me into the manufactured, manipulative world of media power.

Now, I’m in the actual, factual world—where freedom is fought for daily. ⤵️