Paul Rieckhoff: Ukrainians Are ‘More American than We Are, the Last Couple of Years’

RUHLE: “So for the person who’s watching, who just heard you say, ‘Donald Trump is not standing up for Ukraine,’ what do you say to the person who says, ‘Well, I don’t care about Ukraine, I want Donald Trump to stand up for America?’ What do you say to them?”
RIECKHOFF: “I don’t know where you got that . I mean, I don’t have time for it.”
RUHLE: “Yes, we hear it, we hear it —
RIECKHOFF: “Here’s the — where did you grow up? Did you grow up in a place where you thought the Russians were the good fuys? What part of America did you grow up in where they taught you the Russians were the good guys and our allies were the bad guys? That’s — that’s the flip here that we need to continue to remind people: the Russians are the bad guys, they’re raping women, they’re killing children, they’re bombing cities. The Ukrainians are the noble, good guys. In some ways they’re more American than we are, over the last couple years. And we must stand with them in the same way we stood with the allies in World War II and since this country was founded. This is not just about Ukraine, this is about the core and the integrity of American values, and that’s what he’s also betraying. Not just Ukraine. He’s betraying American values.”
RUHLE: “That’s what I was hoping you would get at, because this isn’t just about Ukraine. This is about Russia. And don’t we need to remind the American people that they are the bad guy?”