Zelenskyy’s battle to win over Washington

By Gabriel Gavin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly today. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

CHANGED CITY — The last time Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington, he received a hero’s welcome. Speaking at a December joint session of Congress, the Ukrainian president, wearing his trademark green army sweater, was forced to pause his speech as senators and representatives, Democrats and Republicans, gave him a standing ovation.

“Your support is crucial to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield,” he told U.S. politicians at the time.

Now, expected back in Washington for the first time in nine months for talks with President Joe Biden this week, Zelenskyy will find a changed city. American politicians are more reluctant with their applause — and their support.

With the initial bipartisan unity in response to the start of Moscow’s full-blown invasion fading, the conflict, like all issues in Washington, is becoming political. Amid frustration on both sides of the Atlantic that Ukraine’s long-awaited summer counteroffensive seemingly achieved fewer results than expected, senior Republicans like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are becoming increasingly Kyiv-skeptic.

At one time, anything but full-throated support for Zelenskyy and those defending the country against Russian aggression was limited to the partisan fringes. Today, McCarthy is asking that future support packages be debated as standalone bills rather than tacked on to broader government spending plans, making them easier to defeat. Hardline Republicans in Congress are against any additional aid to Ukraine, and public opinion among Republicans has also shifted against aid to Ukraine in the last year.

That includes an additional $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid that the White House is hoping to have signed off as part of President Joe Biden’s policy to help Ukraine for “as long as it takes.” His unlikely allies, Senate Republicans, are reportedly considering introducing a continuing resolution to keep funding the war and avoid a government shutdown, while less moderate politicians in the House remain split on the plans.

Already, myths about the scale of spending are picking up pace ahead of next year’s elections. There is talk of “blank checks” for Kyiv taking money out the pockets of hard-working Americans. In reality, the combined total of the U.S.’s four rounds of aid to Ukraine amounts to an estimated $113 billion — a small fraction compared to total government spending that last year reached $6.27 trillion.

To secure another round of funding, which would guarantee supplies of critical weaponry and ammunition ahead of what most analysts expect will be a grueling winter standoff, Zelenskyy will have to reassure skeptics that the money is going where it’s needed most. And that means getting a handle on corruption.

To try and win over hearts and minds in Washington and elsewhere, the Ukrainian president has presented plans to consider wartime grift on par with treason. At the same time, ahead of the transatlantic visit today, Zelenskyy sought to play down fears that the war had ground to a halt.

“The situation is tough. We stopped the Russians in the east and started a counteroffensive. Yes, it is not that fast but we are going forward every day and de-occupying our land,” he said.

In a speech at the U.N. today, Biden reaffirmed his commitment to Zelenskyy and Ukraine, arguing, “No nation wants this war to end more than Ukraine. Russia alone bears responsibility, has power to end war, and stands in the way of peace… [the U.N. must] stand up to this naked aggression.”

But unlike last year, Biden’s remarks on Ukraine played second fiddle to other foreign policy goals, coming nearly 20 minutes into his address.

Zelenskyy, for his part, said today at the U.N. that his nation’s fight against Russia was about more than just his country: “Many seats in the General Assembly hall may become empty if Russia succeeds with its treachery and aggression.”

While White House and European leaders are on his side, the Ukrainian president will have to convince those wavering in Congress that sticking with him and ensuring Russia can’t, quite literally, get away with murder remains a worthy cause. And those in Washington will have to choose their battle.

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at ggavin@politico.eu or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @GabrielCSGavin.

A message from the American Chemistry Council:

The U.S. chemical industry fuels our nation's progress in computer chips, healthcare, infrastructure, and more. From EVs to smartphones, chemistry powers essential products. But an onslaught of overly conservative regulatory proposals puts this progress at peril and risks U.S. competitiveness to others like China. This week the American Chemistry Council (ACC) will launch a new initiative calling on the Biden Administration and Congress to promote, not hinder, American innovation and the critical chemistries that drive essential products and technologies. Stay tuned, more to come!

— McCarthy scrambles: House punts key vote as rebellion rages: Speaker Kevin McCarthy today punted plans to tee up a vote on the party’s short-term spending plan later this week – the latest sign of the ultraconservative fever gripping House Republicans. McCarthy is now left without a viable plan to fund the government, with just 12 days left to avoid a shutdown. A group of nearly two dozen Republicans from across the conference huddled in a GOP leadership suite midday today to seek a way out of their bind.

— Anti-affirmative action group sues West Point over race-conscious admissions: The anti-affirmative action group whose Supreme Court case struck down race-conscious admissions practices at Harvard is now going after West Point. Lawyers on behalf of Students for Fair Admissions today sued the military academy over its alleged use of race and ethnicity in admissions decisions. Also listed as defendants are: the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Steven Gilland and West Point Admissions Director Rance Lee.

— Republicans win a temporary freeze in New York’s redistricting fight: New York’s top court today declined to force a mapmaking commission to immediately start drafting new congressional district lines. The maps drawn in 2022 were tossed when the courts concluded Democrats didn’t take the proper steps before enacting them, leading to court-drawn lines that helped Republicans flip three House seats that were critical to the GOP winning House control. Democrats have since argued that they should now be allowed to redraft the maps for 2024 rather than rely on the existing ones for the remainder of the decade. There’s a lot at stake: The lines drawn by Democrats in 2022 would have given the party a significant edge in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts. The court-drawn one focused on creating as many competitive districts as possible, and those coupled with a relatively strong Republican year meant Democrats wound up winning only 15.

Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here.

DESANTIS V. MCCARTHY — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is gunning for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, attacking the embattled GOP leader from the right and aligning himself with insurgent conservatives in Congress who are threatening a government shutdown, writes POLITICO.

What started as a private strategy session last week between DeSantis and House hardliners has now erupted into a frontal attack on McCarthy. On Monday, DeSantis ridiculed McCarthy’s record on government spending and accused him of being complicit in running up a massive federal debt balance. Today, the governor’s campaign sent out an email admonishing McCarthy all over again while urging House Republicans to buck the speaker in the current government funding negotiations. McCarthy is one of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress and has relied on the former president’s support to keep him in the speakership. While he has not formally endorsed Trump for president, McCarthy said in a Fox News interview over the weekend that Trump was a more formidable candidate than DeSantis.

MIXED MESSAGE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently called recreational pot a “real problem,” lamented marijuana’s “stench” and grimly warned that “drugs are killing this country.”

There’s just one hitch: The person effectively running DeSantis’ presidential campaign is orchestrating a pro-pot push in Florida, POLITICO reports. Axiom Strategies and Vanguard Field Strategies, firms helmed by prominent Republican strategist Jeff Roe, have been paid nearly $29 million by an organization pushing a 2024 ballot initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana. A DeSantis-aligned attorney general is fighting their work, and the governor himself has said he broadly opposes legalization.

But as Axiom and Vanguard try to circumvent DeSantis’ opposition to weed in Florida, they’re also trying to get him elected president — in part on an anti-weed platform.

MUST-WIN — On paper, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is doing everything that a Republican presidential candidate should do to win Iowa, reports the New York Times. He is doggedly crisscrossing the state, visiting 58 of its 99 counties so far and vowing to make it to the rest. He is meeting voters at small-town churches, meeting halls, county fairgrounds and ice-cream parlors, heavily courting evangelicals and racking up endorsements from influential faith leaders and local politicians.

For Mr. DeSantis, who is trailing former President Donald J. Trump in Iowa by double digits, the state has become a must-win. Mr. Trump, who has campaigned sparingly here, appears to know it. The Trump campaign recently announced that he would visit Iowa five times in the next six weeks, including stops on Wednesday, in a clear attempt to scupper Mr. DeSantis’s bid for the presidency with a resounding victory in the Jan. 15 caucuses, the first votes of the race for the nomination.

FAIN BLASTS TRUMP — United Auto Workers Union President Shawn Fain released a statement today blasting former President Donald Trump’s reported plan to speak with auto workers and union members in Detroit amid thousands of workers striking, reports the Messenger. "Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers," Fain wrote.

Trump is planning on skipping a Sept. 27 GOP primary debate in favor of speaking with autoworkers and former and current union members in Detroit, according to a New York Times report. United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) General President Mark McManus also released a statement blasting the former president’s reported plan, calling him a “fraud” and offering praise for President Joe Biden.

A message from the American Chemistry Council:

A damaged residential apartment building following shelling is seen in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan declared today that it started what it called an "anti-terrorist operation" targeting Armenian military positions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and officials in that region said there was heavy artillery firing around its capital. | Siranush Sargsyan/AP Photo

DIRECT AGGRESSION — Azerbaijan has announced a major new military offensive in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, declaring an “evacuation” of ethnic Armenians in “the dangerous area” and opening up a crisis that risks spiraling into all-out war.

The escalation comes after months of fruitless negotiations and amid growing speculation that Turkey-backed Azerbaijan has been gearing up to use force to bring a decades-long frozen conflict to an end. A war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020 killed thousands on each side. Over the past months, Azerbaijan has been tightening a supply blockade of food and medicines into the ethnic Armenian enclave that lies entirely within its territory.

Baku’s defense ministry said today it was launching “local anti-terrorist activities” to “suppress large-scale provocations” in the territory. Reports and film footage from Nagorno-Karabakh showed heavy shelling and gunfire in the enclave. Air raid sirens wailed in Stepanakert, the de facto capital of the unrecognized state.

Azerbaijan’s claim that it would also evacuate the Armenian population from “dangerous areas” triggered instant fears of ethnic cleansing. The prospect of renewed war in the Caucasus is a major strategic and diplomatic set-back for the EU, which has been courting Azerbaijan as an ally and alternative gas supplier to Russia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made an official visit to Azerbaijan last July in an effort to secure increased exports of natural gas. Describing the country as a “reliable, trustworthy partner,” she and President Ilham Aliyev signed a memorandum of understanding on increased economic cooperation, despite warnings from experts that Brussels was simply seeking to replace one autocracy with another.

Azerbaijan’s government said it launched today’s assault in response to the destruction of vehicles by landmines, which killed four of its soldiers and two civilians, but it gave no indication of how besieged Karabakh Armenians laid such weapons.

JOIN US ON 9/20 FOR A TALK ON TRANSFORMING HEALTHCARE BILLING: Bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate would align costs for services across hospitals and doctors’ offices and reduce out-of-pocket spending that could potentially save the federal government billions of dollars. Can this legislation survive a polarized Congress? Join POLITICO on Sept. 20 to explore this and whether site-neutral payments and billing transparency policies could help ease health care costs. REGISTER HERE.

LEGALIZE IT (AGAIN) — In the 1960s, when Nepal was along the route of the colloquially known “Hippie trail,” cannabis — used for centuries in the small country — exploded in popularity. Responding to the increased use of weed, the government banned the drug in 1973. But after decades marred by a protracted civil war and the increased use of harder drugs like heroin, there are now committed advocates trying to legalize weed once again. And many of them have harrowing stories to tell about their life in Nepal and how marijuana helped pull them out of a difficult time or replace a more obviously harmful vice like heroin use with something less toxic. For Harper’s Magazine, Sean Williams spent time in Nepal profiling the nation’s first “weed influencer” and trying to make sense of the legalization movement.

On this date in 1994: Haitians wave to a U.S. Army helicopter in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as U.S. troops began Operation Uphold Democracy to remove the military regime that took control of the country in 1991. The regime was deposed and peacekeeping forces took over operations in 1995. | John McConnico/AP Photo

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A message from the American Chemistry Council:

Did you know that U.S. chemistry forms the backbone of the nation’s supply chain?

Computer chips, automotive, healthcare, affordable housing, infrastructure, and energy all rely on chemistry. From electric vehicles to smartphones, chemistry powers innovations we can't live without.

However, there’s a serious challenge. The Biden Administration's regulatory overload threatens access to these essential products, jeopardizing our economy and our ability to compete with countries like China. The U.S. chemical industry is already buried under over one million federal restrictions. A current avalanche of new, unproductive restrictions could disrupt the supply chain for crucial technologies and everyday products.

Stay tuned! Later this week the American Chemistry Council (ACC) will launch a new initiative calling on the Biden Administration and Congress to support, not thwart, critical chemistries and innovation.

U.S. competitiveness and America's success relies on American chemistry.

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