Over Half of Congressional Republicans Didn’t Attend Zelensky’s Speech

Of the 213 House Republicans, only 86 were in attendance at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s prime time address to Congress on Wednesday. While many of those members stood, cheering and applauding for the foreign leader, notably Matt Gaetz of Florida and Colorado’s Lauren Boebert did not.

Mitch McConnell, minority leader in the Senate, recently declared that “Making sure that the Defense Department can deal with major threats coming from Russia and China, providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians— that’s the number one priority of the United States Right now, according to most Republicans.”

While establishment Republicans expressed a desire to keep funding the nation’s effort to stave off Putin’s advances, those in the MAGA wing of the party were vocal in their opposition to the idea of the US funding another forever war, The Hill reported.

Many MAGA Republicans, such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, chose not to attend the address at all, and said that “The American taxpayers are literally paying to prop up many countries all over the world in foreign aid, but America is virtually crumbling before our eyes. It’s like the American people are raped everyday at the hands of their own elected leaders.”

Showcasing a list of all the aid the US provides to foreign nations, Greene slammed Congress for paying to “prop up many countries” while “America is vitrually crumbling before our eyes.”

Among those who did attend the speech was Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, though he did make a point of not joining the vast majority of Congress members in giving Zelensky a standing ovation, a spectacle he referred to as a “North Korea-style performance.”

“I feel no compunction to go out and applaud some foreign leader from a historically corrupt country who is begging for more than the $100 billion that Congress is set to send them,” he told FOX News’ Tucker Carlson.

He pointed out that the latest spending bill includes $300 million for Ukrainian border patrol while “tying the hands” of America’s border patrol.

“Washington actually thinks that they should go to great lengths to keep Ukraine whole, while at the same time funding the balkanization and division within our own country.”

“At least we found a flag the Democrats are willing to stand for,” he added.

Fellow MAGA Republicans Reps. Jim Jordan and Lauren Boebert also chose not to clap for Zelensky, with the latter explaining that she would not support further aid to Ukraine until a “full audit” of the funds has been completed, a move championed by Greene.

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