A Tale of Two Cities (and Two Presidents)

Featured image courtesy of Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via The Hill

President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday, Feb. 20th to show his support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and to mark the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion that sparked prolonged conflict and generated mixed global response. 

Since Sunday there have been 1.6 million total mentions of Biden and Ukraine or Zelenskyy on Twitter, with the hashtag #ukraine used 83.3 thousand times. After news of the visit broke, conversation on social media consisted of volleys between political opinion leaders as they argued about whether the trip was appropriate in light of major concerns here at home, particularly the train derailment that took place earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio. 

Fox news offered their own analysis of the “Ohio vs. Ukraine” conversation’s polarizing effect, describing how “conservative and liberal pundits sparred on Twitter”. As usual, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Congresswoman from Georgia, gained considerable traction with her tweet that criticized Biden for traveling to Ukraine rather than attending to issues here in the States. 

Greene usually features prominently on conservative Twitter, and this tweet was no different, reaching 5.2 million viewers. While the high number of likes and interactions with MTG’s tweet does imply that many users agree with her statements, it should also be noted that the majority of the quote tweets and replies to the tweet are negative and express disagreement. 

Greene was not the only one tweeting vitriol at Biden, and her sentiment above was echoed by many other popular conservative accounts. However, Biden supporters made their voices heard as well, with many users interacting with tweets that compared Biden favorably to Trump. 

Themes comparing Biden to Trump continued throughout the week, since President Trump visited East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday to hand out beans and water to victims of the toxic conditions created by the train derailment. While some responded to Trump’s visit with support, others couldn’t help but question Trump’s motives for the trip.

The dramatic situation in Ohio remains deeply entangled in social media conversations about Biden’s choice to visit Zelenskyy. On Twitter, the words most commonly associated with Biden’s visit to Ukraine include war (161k mentions), people (127k mentions), Russia (123k mentions), and Ohio (119k mentions), demonstrating the importance of the Ohio derailment to America’s understanding of the Ukraine visit’s impact, success, and utility. 

Most conservative backlash on social media seems to take issue not with the visit itself, but with the prioritization of foreign issues over our own, local problems here in the States. The New York Times reports that planning for Biden’s trip to Ukraine had been “under way for months”, but that the final decision was made Friday. This left some Americans feeling snubbed.

Was Biden “brave” and “strong” for going to Ukraine, or is he showing “weakness” and “disgrace”?  As the social media conversation continues, we at the SMLC keep listening.

Author: Molly Riddell