ruhle starts now. r with stephanie ruhle starts now tonight, president biden s surprise visit to ukraine, meeting with president zelenskyy while announcing more military aid. what this historic trip means for the future of the war. meanwhile, some far-right republicans criticize the presidents trip to ukraine. what we are hearing from a small but loud minority. then, ron desantis visits new york city to talk policing and crime. is this the unofficial start to a presidential run? as the 11th hour gets underway on this monday night. greetings, i m simone alexander s townsend, in for stephanie ruhle. president biden makes a historic top secret trip to ukraine, as russia s war there nears the one year mark. the presidents trip included a ten hour train ride from the polish border into kyiv. now, this is biden s first visit to ukraine since the war began, and it s the first from a modern-day president to an active war zone with no u.s. military presence on the ground or the ai
they can keep him. this comes amid questions of whether the republican-led house will continue to sign off on support for ukraine as the war enters year two. so here to discuss with me is leon caldwell, she s an anchor for washington post live and coauthor if its morning newsletter the earlier 202. leigh ann, greetings to you. okay, can we just be very clear. this is a very small minority leveling these criticisms. but they are some of the loudest voices in this republican led house. so what you make of that? hey, simone. they are a small minority. but they also have power. we saw that power over the same members were the ones who tried to withhold the speakership for kevin mccarthy. and we saw how that all played out for 15 rounds of voting. so for over an all support for ukraine as far as monies concerned is not necessarily in doubt, but there is a lot of but there, there will likely be
in the east in particular, simone, the battle has already begun. it s many weeks into unfolding. the key location is a city known as bakhmut, that area right around there. the wagner militia groups, mercenaries, the prisoners have taken massive casualties. the russians continue to push just north of there along an access that goes straight north all the way up to the russian border, using four or five different efforts to really advance with the observe of russian forces saying behind it. but the offensive that we have expected to come is occurring, but i think the key point is that it s not going that well. they re bogged down, going through minefields. it s more dismounted and in terms of the armor formations, they just don t have the armor that they and they don t necessarily have those artillery shields that they once had. so, in terms of all supplies and all advances, the russians are pushing forward.
michael, i can honestly hear you tell me the stories of history all day long. there is recent polling from the ap, it actually shows that fewer americans support military aid for the ukraine. now than they did in may. it makes me wonder, is the biden administration effectively conveying the meaning of this war and it s significance to folks here at home? and do you think that americans understand its importance? i think so far so good. but i think you re absolutely right, simone. you come from nebraska, i come from illinois, especially in the midwest, traditionally the midwest is the most resistant to committing american forces to a distant country that doesn t seem to be directly related to our defense. in spite of that, joe biden during the last year has done a pretty good job of making americans feel we need to support this democracy, have to
i m going to advise desantis, i need to see does this message have residents outside of the state, but you and i were talking about on break? i need to see, can i articulate a strong enough message to potential donors as basil pointed, out that this is someone that is palatable with those suburban voters that we know republicans have lost because of trump. can they win them back? that s the only way they can mathematically regain any age, potentially two out-see biden. and i think it will be a tough mountain to climb, but to the point that you raised, simone, it was really, really important. can ron desantis distortion self enough from trump? i don t think he can. he s like a second version of trump. and i don t think that people necessarily want. that but let s see how this works out. basil, i hear you. desantis has leaned very hard into the culture wars. i have noted that i think the culture wars have been the playbook for the modern-day republican party apparatus for a while now.