OCT 15, 2025
“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”
— President Donald Trump
For the first time in more than three years, a window has opened in the information war — for Ukrainian freedom and for the post–World War II rules-based international order.
It is an opportunity to reframe the discussion on Ukraine. Let’s take it.
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A pivot at the White House, deep divisions within MAGA, the discrediting of key pro-Russian voices on the woke Right, heightened Kremlin overreach against the West, and a whopping 14% increase in Republican support for arming Ukraine since May, have created space for a fresh, humanizing, fact-based conversation about Ukraine in the United States.
After nearly four years of podcast doomsayers, endless Borat-like caricatures, and contempt on the Right for a nation once dismissed by the White House as “not holding any cards,” Ukraine now stands as a winner on the path to victory. Russia, at last, is revealed as the paper tiger.
The shift is drastic and unexpected to many, but reveals how political narratives driven by tribalism, reaction and rage baiting are ultimately unsustainable in the face of Russia’s unrelenting war on humanity.
The Information War: 2022 – 2025
From the start of the full-scale invasion, the Kremlin exploited the cultural and political American divide, feeding disinformation to eager influencers inside the MAGA media ecosystem.
By February 24, 2022, pro-Russian pundits were armed with ready-made talking points:
Maidan, CIA plots, NATO aggression, bio-labs, Ukrainian incompetence, Russian invulnerability,
“Everyone is lying to you about everything,” became Tucker Carlson’s mantra — a siren song for millions of Americans disillusioned by legacy media, elite corruption, open borders, woke politics and weaponized justice.
It fueled a pre-1941 style of American isolationism and deepened cynicism toward the United States’ relationships with its allies, paving the way for the most potent form of political manipulation: contempt for allies and victims of Russian aggression.
Putin successfully manipulated this vocal segment of the American political population to transform Russia’s illegal invasion of a sovereign nation into a referendum on President Joe Biden and America itself, rather than on the war crimes Moscow was committing.
But the world has changed in nearly four years of a full scale invasion. Today, four converging forces are reshaping the reach and effectiveness of Russian disinformation campaigns within America’s media ecosystem.
Four Forces Reshaping the Narrative
I. The Russian Implosion
The first force is the Russian implosion: Russia is not thriving. After nearly four years of war, Moscow has failed in its major military objective, is mired in economic crisis, and has lost the ability to project an aura of invincibility that even months ago empowered its information war in the West.
The Kremlin’s military meat grinder ethics, which has no regard for the lives of its own people, has resulted in approximately a million Russian casualties (killed-wounded-missing). Ukraine strikes are deep inside Russian territory. Significant Kremlin military assets have demilitarized by inexpensive Ukrainian drones. Airports shut down regularly. Oil refineries are disabled. Ukrainian troops continue to operate within Russia’s borders. Moscow itself is vulnerable to attacks. Its reliance on North Korean soldiers to fight Ukrainians only underscores desperation. An over-extended, economically imploding Russia is losing both client states and influence, Syria being a notable example.
The myth of “Russia the invincible” has been shattered. After nearly four years of war, Russia controls only 12% more land than when it launched the full scale invasion. Early phases saw large swaths quickly captured, only to be later retaken by Ukraine. More recently, advances have been incremental, high in cost, spatially limited, with some gains being more symbolic than strategically significant.
The inability of Russia to achieve meaningful battlefield success is deafening. President Trump recently put it this way:
“This [Moscow’s inability to succeed after nearly four years] is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’”
— President Donald Trump
II. The Kremlin Overreach
Second, Putin’s overreach has impacted his ability to manipulate the White House with overtures of peace. The Kremlin’s strategy of testing the boundaries of Russian aggression against the West appears to be backfiring at the moment.
Trump has finally acknowledged, for example, that Putin has “really let me down.”
True, from 2014 to February 24, 2022, to the present moment, the Russian brand has been overreach. The Kremlin strategy has been to test the boundaries of the warcrimes they could get away with without triggering a meaningful western response.
The much-touted “Alaska peace summit” turned sour as Putin escalated drone strikes against civilians immediately afterward. Russia’s perpetual negotiation delays and obfuscations, attacks on American businesses, destruction of sacrosanct NATO nation ambassadorial delegation headquarters, incursions into NATO airspace, mass drone attacks into Poland, exposed the hollowness of Moscow’s peace narrative.
The result – Russia’s credibility is at its lowest point in the recent past.
III. The Trump Pivot
Trump’s recalibration is the most consequential factor. By labeling Putin a paper tiger and acknowledging Ukraine’s capacity to reclaim its territory, Trump has undercut anti-Ukrainian narratives that once thrived in MAGA media.
There is no evidence to suggest that the Trump pivot is about recalibrating America’s moral compassion. Trump’s foreign policy lens is transactional. America works with winners. She ignores or manipulates losers to force outcomes favorable to the U.S.A.
By declaring Russia a loser, the Trump pivot signals his MAGA base and the Republican leadership that Ukraine is now on the winner list. That means a new conversation is welcomed by the White House.
The scope and durability of that new conversation is yet to be determined, but the open door is obvious. At minimal, it is an opportunity to challenge misconceptions which have influenced both fence sitters and hardened MAGA supporters. If past is prologue, a meaningful percentage of Trump’s most loyal supporters will take the White House lead.
The pivot comes with additional benefits at the margins. The first is rhetorical – The White House has dropped the habit of praising Putin and mocking Zelensky. The second is geo-strategic, an example of which is Trump’s recent pledge to defend Finland if attacked by Russia marks a striking reversal in posture on NATO, Russia and the role of the United States in the defense of the West. The third is tactical – Trump floated sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, a consideration which is a 180 degree shift from both Biden Administration policy and Trump policy from January 20, 2025 to July of this year.
IV. The Republic Reevaluation
With the Russian implosion, Putin’s overreach and Trump’s pivot comes immediate benefits to Ukraine. James Lynch of the National Review reports that “Republican support for arming Ukraine and sanctioning Russia continues to increase steadily.”
A Harvard/Harris poll taken earlier this month revealed a whopping 14% increase within the last five months of Republican support to arm Ukraine. 73 percent of GOP voters from 59% in May) believe the U.S. must give weapons to Ukraine if Russia does not negotiate an end to the war.
V. The MAGA Fracture
Fifth, deep internal fractures within the MAGA movement—over issues ranging from the Epstein files to Israel, to antisemitism, to Putin and Ukraine, to the Charlie Kirk assassination—have divided the movement and eroded partisan discipline, creating space for new and more honest conversations about the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s most vocal Western defenders—Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene—are angrily clashing with Team Trump. When their conspiracy theories were aimed at the Biden Administration—no problem. But there is a different response within MAGA now that they are accusing Trump and his staff of “betrayal,” “cover-up,” and being “warmongers.”
Candace Owens is the poster child for pro-Russian right-wing media at odds with the White House. Owens, who presently occupies the second-highest ranking on Spotify and who reached collectively more than 50 million viewers over the last month, famously tweeted “F___ Ukraine” and expressed her support for Putin to lead “orthodox Russia” in a victory over Ukraine. In recent days, she has accused the Trump Administration, Israel, Ukrainian terrorist sleeper cells, of complicity in the assassination of Charlie Kirk. She even the implicated the executive staff of Turning Point USA (which includes Kirk’s wife Erika, the newly appointed CEO) in the cover-up and murder of their founder.
That’s a bridge too far for many MAGA supporters, now forced to choose between Trump and the grieving widow of Kirk on the one hand, and Owens’ antisemitic, pro-Russian conspiracy theories and unhinged tirades on the other.
A Moment to Seize
The present shift is less a return to principle, and more about a swinging pendulum.
In a world of transactional leadership, today’s friend is tomorrow’s enemy. Changing perceptions of winners vs. losers, economic benefit vs. loss, and praise vs. criticism, loyalty vs. betrayals, may provoke big shifts. And in a media ecosystem powered by rage-for-profit, every change in political reality brings a new set of alliances.
Yes, pro-Russian podcasters will continue to spin their webs motivating a dedicated minority to hold Ukrainian freedom in contempt. But their influence has peaked.
By signaling to America and the MAGA movement that his views on Putin and Ukraine have changed, Trump has launched a reset in White House rhetoric with meaningful trickle down effects.
Forced to choose, even Republicans who had previously soured on Ukraine will feel a freedom to embrace the new “Ukraine can win” Trump narrative. Increasingly less appealing is the Owens/Carlson’s hagiography and white washing of the greatest war crime committed by a leading sovereign nation since the Third Reich.
Time to Reboot the information War
Will the Trump pivot last? Good question. But it’s here today, so take it.
Will it result in immediate policies more beneficial to Ukraine? Perhaps at the margins, but those margins matter.
One thing we can count on is the intractability of Russia. Same tricks. Same brutality. Same objectives. But from a position of increasing weakness.
The biggest benefit for Ukraine—for the moment—is the breakthrough in the information war. The Russian implosion, Putin’s overreach, Trump’s pivot, Increased Republican support, MAGA division, and the sidelining of woke Right podcasters allow for fresh conversations with a part of America who might not have listened earlier this year.
It’s big, and it must be seized.
This window means that Americans can once again say the obvious:
Russia is a loser. Ukraine can win. Moscow is hostile to peace.
Russia invaded Ukraine. Putin is a war criminal. There is nothing traditional or Christian about Moscow’s vision.
The Kremlin’s military is a rape culture without mercy for age or gender. Its regime kidnaps and traffics children, persecutes people of faith, and wages war on freedom itself.
Ukraine fights a just war — for its families, its land, and its liberty. Its courage strengthens the West. It deserves not only support, but gratitude.
As to the core issues, this is a black and white conflict.
Russia can and will be defeated.
DW Phillips, Esq.
Executive Producer, Ukraine Story
Director, Ukraine Story
Next Article:
Ukraine Needs a Rebrand
What That Means — and How We Do It
One of Ukraine’s greatest arguments is the purity and beauty of her people. Ukraine is a fun, culturally vibrant world of innovators in technology, cuisine, art, music, education, and athletics. Her cities are beautiful. Her people are filled with humor, warmth, and resilience.
Yet few in the West know this.
For decades, Western perception has been poisoned by two forces: Hollywood clichés and Kremlin propaganda. Together, they have painted Ukraine as a caricature — a backward, Borat-like land of babushkas and bandits. Layered on top are endless images of war, death, and destruction that obscure the nation’s soul and hide the solidarity she shares with Western nations like America, France, Netherlands, Belgium and England.
The truth is this: those of us fighting the information war have been so focused on countering Russian disinformation and supporting Ukraine’s survival that we’ve had too little time to simply humanize her — to show the inspiring, modern, creative, and deeply human country she truly is.
Now, a window has opened in the American dialogue on Ukraine. Trump’s pivot brings a chance to bring fresh air into the conversation. It’s time to tell a different story: one that celebrates Ukraine’s brilliance and beauty, her solidarity with the West, and the shared humanity and hope that unite us.
In the next article, I’ll break it down. It’s time for a rebrand — and a new conversation about Ukraine.
Let’s give Ukraine that much needed fresh conversation: For a heavy does of encouragement, humor and humanity, watch the sizzle to our film series Kyiv of Mine:
DW Phillips is a filmmaker, attorney, and journalist. He serves as Director of Ukraine Story, a foundation for documentary reporting, and is a contributor to The Kyiv Post. Phillips is also the author of the Substack publication Lights, Camera, Freedom, where he writes on film, freedom, and the information war for Ukraine. His is executive producer of the groundbreaking new film seriesKyiv of Mine.
🇺🇸 Lights, Camera, Freedom 🇺🇦 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
DW has been quiet for a while. This outstanding new work is why.
However, I am already fearful that the “pivot at the White House” is already pivoting back to putler. The new talk from Krasnov about “settling the war” is indicative of a pivot back to fucking land for peace.
“Russia’s most vocal Western defenders—Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene—are angrily clashing with Team Trump. When their conspiracy theories were aimed at the Biden Administration—no problem. But there is a different response within MAGA now that they are accusing Trump and his staff of “betrayal,” “cover-up,” and being “warmongers.”
“Candace Owens is the poster child for pro-Russian right-wing media at odds with the White House. Owens, who presently occupies the second-highest ranking on Spotify and who reached collectively more than 50 million viewers over the last month, famously tweeted “F___ Ukraine” and expressed her support for Putin to lead “orthodox Russia” in a victory over Ukraine.”
Owens has managed to outdo even Moscow Marge in terms of genocidal hatred of Ukraine.
People like her and Carlson, who use their huge followings to poison the minds of magas against Ukraine are as guilty as the vermin who press the buttons on the child-murdering missiles that putlerstan sends to Ukraine.
They are modern-day Lord Haw-Haws and they need to go the same way as that bastard.
“There is no evidence to suggest that the Trump pivot is about recalibrating America’s moral compassion. Trump’s foreign policy lens is transactional. America works with winners. She ignores or manipulates losers to force outcomes favorable to the U.S.A.”
“One of Ukraine’s greatest arguments is the purity and beauty of her people. Ukraine is a fun, culturally vibrant world of innovators in technology, cuisine, art, music, education, and athletics. Her cities are beautiful. Her people are filled with humor, warmth, and resilience.”
These two quotes struck me as being part of the most important parts of the article. Trump is going peace for land (I pray I’m wrong) and Western perception just doesn’t know the true nature of Ukrainians. Their love, their culture, their moral values, their innovations are second to none. Anyone think the likes of Putin, Orban or Fico can instill or lead such greatness in their countries. I think not. Ukraine and Ukrainians have shown the world their greatness and I’m so proud to being raised Ukrainian American and having that DNA in my blood.
Have you seen DW’s movie yet Cap?
It’s really superb.
Unfortunately I haven’t. Do you have the link
Watch the trailer in the article. Then go to YouTube and you can get the first three parts.