CNN Pundit Slams Zelenskyy For Not Wearing A Tie — But An Expert Makes This Damning Point

LOADING ERROR LOADING Conservative commentator Scott Jennings was sharply criticized on social media this week after he condemned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a CNN panel discussion for not wearing “a tie” to his disastrous meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the Oval Office last week. While analyzing what went wrong in the heated and ineffective Oval Office meeting, “NewsNight” guest panelist and Republican New York lawmaker Bruce Blakeman turned his sights on Zelenskyy’s clothing. via Associated Press Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting with President Donald Trump at the Oval Office in the White House on Feb. 28 in Washington, D.C. Zelenskyy’s attire can be seen as a symbol that Ukraine is “fighting for its survival.” “I think that Zelenskyy’s attire is a signal to the world that Ukraine is on a war footing and is fighting for its survival,” Neiheisel said, adding that Zelenskyy’s attire emerged when Russia was moving toward Ukraine’s capital and “there was an expectation that everyone capable of fighting in Ukraine was going to have to do so.” He pointed out that there is a “great deal of heterogeneity in terms of how world leaders have decided to adorn themselves when their nation is at war,” and that while “leaders in the U.S. have rarely deviated from the norms of the day,” past leaders have indeed sported different types of clothing and gear to send messages. Neiheisel also pointed out that Zelenskyy isn’t “just throwing on drab-colored clothing,” and that he’s often worn the brand M-TAC — a Ukrainian tactical clothing and gear maker — as a “tangible reminder that Ukraine is doing everything it can to provide for its own defense.” In 2022, Rebecca Arnold, a senior lecturer in history of dress at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, told The Independent that the olive green T-shirts Zelenskyy wore while delivering speeches to U.S. Congress and other elected officials around the world was a way to “connect him to the armed forces, without seeming militaristic.” “He’s communicating, therefore, with those around him in government, but importantly, through digital and heritage media, he connects to his country’s people and the wider world,” she said at the time.