On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a joint session in Congress and gave a press briefing alongside President Joe Biden. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) even threw in some hero worship during the day, comparing Zelenskyy to Winston Churchill. It wasn't enough, though, that not everyone toed the line, especially not for NBC News' Historian Michael Beschloss.
As our friends at Twitchy highlighted, Beschloss is concerned about members of Congress who did not applaud Zelenskyy's speech, tweeting "we need to know from them exactly why."
Many users pointed out in the replies and quoted retweets how authoritarian Beschloss sounded with such insistence. Even those who would have applauded Zelenskyy expressed concern.
Others suggested he set up camps and gulags, just like the the Russians he's criticized for their war against Ukraine did in past decades.
Solzhenitsyn tells a story in the ‘Gulag Archipelago’ of a 10+ minute ovation for Stalin at a local party convention — the first man to stop clapping was arrested https://t.co/EzzQ9T9ebD
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) December 22, 2022
I’m not at all comparing Zelensky — advocating boldly his country — to any historical menace, but it’s fair to say that the people saying “we noticed you weren’t clapping for the speech” have basically never been the good guys
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) December 22, 2022
Beschloss didn't stop there, though. He also tweeted out a demand about why those members who did not attend chose not to do so.
How many Members of Congress refused to attend tonight's speech because they do not support Zelenskyy's Ukraine? Important to know this and why.
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) December 22, 2022
This is nothing new from Beschloss. Early last month, ahead of the November midterm elections, it was Beschloss who warned about an "authoritarian system" if the midterms did not go as he wanted them to.
"The story in 50 years from now, if historians are allowed to write in this country, and if there are still free publishing houses and a free press, which I'm not certain of, but if that is true, a historian will say what was at stake tonight and this week was the fact, whether we will be a democracy in the future. Whether our children will be arrested or conceivably killed. We're on the edge of a brutal authoritarian system and it could be a week away," he claimed.
MSNBC "historian" claims that children will be "arrested" or "killed" if Democrats lose elections. pic.twitter.com/4QfWTgB30h
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 3, 2022
The election seemed to go enough his way, given Beschloss' tweets the days following the elections, which included comparing former President Donald Trump to scenes from the "Sunset Blvd" film.
Never bet against our beloved American democracy.
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) November 9, 2022
Red wave might turn out to be ketchup thrown at wall.
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) November 10, 2022