An American-affiliated Ukrainian news website has released an “enemies list” of prominent Americans who are against increasing military spending, including Breitbart News, former President Trump, and various media sites and personalities.
The DATA Journalism Agency (TEXTY) in Ukraine produced the study “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists.” Many prominent Americans on the anti-war and populist left are simply repeating “key messages of Russian propaganda targeted at depriving Ukrainians of the ability to defend themselves with West-provided weapons and funds,” according to “the forces in the US impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it.”
The website asserts its independence and claims that readers exclusively financed its investigation into purported anti-Ukrainian sentiment in the United States. Yet, TEXTY is one of the Ukrainian organizations mentioned as working with USAID and UK Dev on the TAPAS Project, which stands for Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services.
Co-founder and current deputy editor of TEXTY, Anatoly Bondarenko, also serves as a trainer for the US Department of State’s “TechCamp” program. This program aims to “connect private sector technology experts with important populations — journalists, NGOs, civil society advocates, and more — to explore and use innovative tech solutions to global issues.”
Despite acknowledging that the majority of the individuals and organizations mentioned in the study “do not have direct, proven connections to the Russian government or propagandists,” the report persists in depicting a bizarre and allegedly linked network of 390 people and 76 groups, with a particular emphasis on those “affiliated with the Trump wing of the Republican Party.”
The report names several prominent conservative political figures in the United States who have allegedly shown anti-Ukraine bias. These include Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and several senators (R-MO, J.D. Vance, Josh Hawley, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Bob Good, Jim Banks, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Vivek Ramaswamy, etc.). The list continues to include numerous prominent figures.
The TEXTY report also features Republicans like Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who were in favor of providing funding to Ukraine at first but are now against sending additional US dollars to Kyiv.
In response to the news that he was named in the report, Congressman Jim Banks stated: “I’ve just been notified that I am on an ‘enemies list’ issued by the Ukrainian government, alongside other U.S. congress members and a some few Americans.”
“To exacerbate the situation, the US government provided funding for the database that compiled this list.” My office will provide assistance to the other Americans targeted by the Ukrainian government.
According to the study, news and media outlets like Breitbart News, the American Conservative, One America News Network, and Real America’s Voice “endorsed” former president Trump’s approach to “foreign and domestic policy,” which they say attracts many neoconservatives and far-right supporters. Some of the pressure groups involved in the study were the CATO Institute, The Heritage Foundation, Concerned Veterans for America campaign, Stand Together Foundation, and Turning Point USA.
Tucker Carlson, allegedly a lover of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky from the 19th century, was one of several prominent media personalities cited in the article. Jordan Peterson was another Canadian academic.
The US government-funded website links Breitbart News to the “alt-right,” “the European populist right, and the so-called pan-European nationalist identitarian movement,” and labels it as “far-right.”
Breitbart cited two tweets as examples of “anti-Ukraine statements,” according to TEXTY. One tweet criticized the Biden administration for diverting billions of dollars to Ukraine instead of building a wall to secure the southern border, and the other criticized Biden for ignoring the threat posed by Communist China in favor of Russia.
