Donald Trump has divided Republican senators after branding Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and blaming the Ukrainian president for starting the war with Russia.
The U.S. president sent shockwaves across both sides of the aisle on Tuesday after an unhinged Truth Social tirade branding Zelensky a “modestly successful comedian” who manipulated the Biden administration for its funding and is doing a “terrible job.”
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote in his rant.
Several GOP senators balked at Trump’s anti-Ukraine rhetoric and have spoken out in defense of Zelenksy, treading a careful line not to alienate the U.S. president.
The Senate’s recent-elected Majority Leader and the chamber’s top Republican, John Thune, disagreed with Trump’s analysis and said that there’s “no question who started the war,” adding that “Russia’s the aggressor here.”
Trump has long threatened to nominate primary challengers against members of his party in both chambers who he feels are going against his wishes.
“President Putin is evil, and he has to be stopped,” said Thom Tillis, senator for North Carolina and the moderate Republican who kicked off his 2026 re-election campaign in December and has angered GOP hardliners with his progressive politics.
Tillis also visited Ukraine over the weekend and is lobbying for continued military funding, told reporters.
Asked whether she believed Zelensky to be a dictator, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, said: “I do not.”
“To the extent that the White House said that Ukraine started the war, I disagree,” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy told the Associated Press.
Texas Senator John Cornyn also told reporters that he “wouldn’t use the same word.”
Utah Senator John Curtis said that Zelensky and Ukrainians have “stood admirable” against unprovoked Russian aggression.
“I want an end to this war just as much as President Trump does, but it must end on terms that bring lasting stability and peace,” he tweeted. “That means ensuring Vladimir Putin does not walk away with a victory.”
North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer claimed Trump is “factually wrong” to label Zelensky a dictator before praising the president’s ability to negotiate.
Despite some objections, other GOP senators toed the line or fell somewhere in the middle.
After initially placing blame on Russian President Putin “above all others,” South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted that Trump is “Ukraine’s best hope to end this war honorably and justly.”
The long-time Trump ally added: “I believe he will be successful and he will achieve this goal in the Trump way.”
Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday, Graham aligned with Trump’s comments calling for an election in Ukraine.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley noted that the U.S. had an election during World War II and said “Democracies have elections.”
Another Missouri senator, Eric Schmitt, told the Associated Press that the “war’s gone on long enough,” before touting Trump as a “master negotiator” that can deliver peace.
Schmitt also told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the “American taxpayer is tapped out on the war in Ukraine.”
Trump’s Zelenksy rebuke came a day after he made comments at Mar-a-Lago pointing fingers at Kyiv, not Moscow, for its role in the three-year-long conflict.
A visibly agitated president also commented on Zelenksy’s complaints of not being included in the U.S.-Russia peace talks between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia.
“Today I heard, ‘Oh, we weren’t invited’ [to Tuesday’s U.S.-Russia talks],” an agitated Trump said at an impromptu press conference on Tuesday. “Well, you’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it three years. You should have never started it, you could have made a deal.”
In addition, Trump poured scorn on Zelensky’s approval ratings and challenged him to call an election stating “We have martial law in Ukraine.” He denied his demand for an election in Ukraine was prompted by the Russians.
