The three-hour interview of Vladimir Zelensky with American podcaster Lex Fridman was specifically aimed at a distinct audience of Donald Trump supporters. This is reported by Politico, which analyzes the conversation.
The publication notes that the Ukrainian president is attempting to win over the "MAGA world." Make America Great Again (MAGA) is a political slogan of Donald Trump, under which American politicians, political activists, and voters dissatisfied with the left-liberal policies of the U.S. government in recent decades have united.
As Politico points out, these individuals distrust traditional media but are keen to listen to opinion leaders representing the right-wing anti-liberal camp. Among them is podcaster Lex Fridman.
"Zelensky spiced his political messages with jokes and profanity, tailored to appeal to the pro-Trump audience, which often views him with hostility. And it seemed to have the desired effect, as even Trump advisor Elon Musk, who is typically sarcastic about Zelensky, reposted the interview without comments," highlights Politico.
The authors of the publication also noted Zelensky's blatant flattery towards Trump. According to him, Trump is the only one who can compel Putin to peace and provide Ukraine with strong security guarantees. He added that Trump won the U.S. elections because he was tougher than Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Zelensky also commented on the topic of corruption in Ukraine, which Republican opponents of aid to Kyiv often exploit. The Ukrainian president emphasized that Ukraine has established one of the best anti-corruption systems in Europe, and this progress has been recognized by the EU. At the same time, Zelensky stressed that eradicating corruption still requires a certain amount of time.
Other statements by Zelensky in the Fridman interview
As reported by UNIAN, Vladimir Zelensky used profanity to express his views on the signatories of the Budapest Memorandum. He reminded that after the onset of Russian aggression in 2014, Ukraine appealed to the guarantors three times, but its appeals were ignored.
Zelensky also debunked the claim that Putin loves the Russian people. The Ukrainian president recalled that Putin sent hundreds of thousands of his citizens to their deaths in Ukraine.