In 1941, Blitz-bloodied Great Britain stood alone against metastasizing Nazi tyranny. Winston Churchill, desperate for American aid, arrived to address Congress. Imagine how detestable it would’ve been – how embarrassing it would’ve been for our nation at that crisis point for freedom and democracy – if most House members of one political party had boycotted his appearance; if others had shown up only to sullenly sit on their asses; and if various right-wingers had denounced Churchill as a “leech” and a “clown.”

But that’s what we got last night when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his pitch to Congress for the military aid he needs to defend freedom and repel Russian tyranny.

Sixty percent of all House Republicans – 127 of 213 – reportedly boycotted his address, and some of the cult’s attendees (I need not name the usual suspects) contented themselves with playing on their phones. Zelenskyy tried to reassure GOPutin appeasers that his cause was just, that American military aid was a crucial “investment” in “global security and democracy,” but alas, MAGA apparatchiks hither and yon stayed in character – led by Donald Trump Jr., who called Zelenskyy “an ungrateful international welfare queen.”

What I well remember, about Junior’s daddy, is how he tried to blackmail Zelenskyy back in 2019. I know that seems like ancient history, but it’s essential to our understanding of how far Zelenskyy has come since – and how much better off we are with Joe Biden in the White House.

Congress in 2019 had signed off on military aid to Ukraine, which was already being imperiled by Putin, but Trump sought to blackmail Zelenskyy by using that promised aid as a bargaining chip. In his purportedly “perfect” phone call, Trump said that Zelenskyy could get the money only if he agreed to gin up (fake) dirt on presidential candidate Biden. This blackmail scheme triggered Trump’s impeachment. (Correction. His first impeachment.)

Fortunately, a record 81 million voters replaced Trump with a guy who doesn’t suck up to Putin. The current president understands the stakes in Ukraine and leads a party that’s tough on Russia – erasing the Democrats’ Cold War image of a party overrun by wimps and doves. That’s the good news, especially for Zelenskyy, who yesterday finally got the White House meeting he’d so long desired.

The bad news, in a historic switcheroo, is that Republicans and their right-wing echo chambers are now infested with fans of tyranny who are soft on Russia. Naturally, they take their cues from Trump, who set the tone last February after the Russian imperialist launched his full-scale invasion: “This is genius. Putin declares a big portion of Ukraine…as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper.”

Trump’s impact on cult-thought is reflected in the polls. Last March, according to a nationwide Wall Street Journal survey, only six percent of Republicans said that America was doing too much to aid Ukraine; in November, that stat ballooned to 48 percent. Also in November, 81 percent of Democratic respondents said they favored additional aid; only 35 of Republicans said the same.

Flash forward to last night. What a sick spectacle.

GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy was conspicuously AWOL when Zelenskyy was escorted into the chamber by congressional bigwigs. On Fox News, Putin apologist Tucker Carlson ridiculed Zelenskyy for looking like “a strip club manager” in his military fatigues. On Twitter, ex-congressional candidate Scott Stephenson, a self-described “proud Trump Republican,” said: “The reception of Zelenskyy’s speech tonight – mass adulation by our ‘leaders’ — seals the deal. Our republic is dead.” On the conservative website Townhall, Scott Morefield wrote: “I don’t give a damn about Volodymyr Zelenskyy or which particular international criminal cartel rules in Ukraine, especially not when my own country is being purposely collapsed by the very same people funneling billions to this clown and his cronies. They can all go to hell.”

And Texas congressman Joey Arrington said: “I can’t celebrate using billions of taxpayer dollars to help another country while politicians allow our own nation to burn to the ground.”

Billions of taxpayer dollars...That frequent complaint is my favorite. Yes, the aid thus far is sizable. The Department of Defense says it has committed more than $19.7 billion in security assistance since Biden took office. But let’s put that figure in perspective (I’m amazed that so few observers haven’t pointed this out):

We spent $2 trillion on our war in Iraq, which was launched on the basis of lies about (non-existent) weapons of mass destruction. During the depths of George W. Bush’s tenure, we spent $10 billion a month. And Republican outrage about “taxpayer dollars” was virtually nil. There was no whining about how those billions should be better spent at home.

So why are they so ticked off now, about money for Ukraine? Duh.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy nails it: “There’s an element of the Republican hostility to Ukraine that’s derived from their hatred of Joe Biden. At the outset, Republicans were willing to support Ukraine, but as Joe Biden has had more success in defending Ukraine and more of his identity is attached to the defense of Ukraine, it draws Republican hostility because they simply can’t stomach being on the same side as Joe Biden on anything.”

So we’ll see what happens next year, when the GOP runs the House and its loudest voices shriek for a reduction or cessation of military aid to those on the front line of freedom. Rather than ape the rhetoric of the Putin appeaser who pleaded bone spurs to avoid the military, they should spend $99 on a digital trading card depicting Zelenskyy in his military fatigues. That’s what true heroism looks like.