Good piece, Ryan, except for your use of Gorka as an expert. I know you try to skate a thin line regarding politics, but we are in the middle of a critically important election in which the Republican candidate is not only currently on trial (an historic first) but has made the refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of the current presidency a litmus test for party loyalty and is the first president in our history to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. It is not an exaggeration (in my view) to see this election in terms of democracy at serious risk.
Gorka, according to Wikipedia “was permanently banned from YouTube for repeatedly violating the company's policy on spreading misinformation related to the 2020 presidential election.” He was a member of the Trump administration and it is very odd that you give credit to the Trump administration for arming Ukraine, but never mention his “perfect phone call” in which he tried to withhold American aid in order to strong arm the Ukrainian president into providing damaging political information about his rival, Joe Biden.
So I understand your desire to remain politically neutral, and it is something you generally do very well, but I think you stepped right into a steaming pile of bias by using this guy.
Reading comments like yours really show where people stand on the whole truth/sensibilities scale. “Don’t let the truth get in the way of your politics”, huh? I’m speaking as someone who was directly involved in US aid to Ukraine from the US military side of things- Trump did good by Ukraine. And if it was done on the advice of Dr. Gorka, then my hat’s off for Gorka. Most Ukrainians don’t know about any phone call because it didn’t affect them in any way*. I know because I talk to people in Ukraine, including military members. The Javelins that started arriving back in December of 2017 on the other hand, affected them a lot and might have saved their country.
*Trump wanted to delay those find for 3 months until October. That had no effect on anything because this was funds meant for next year’s operations.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I wouldn't disagree with anything you said, but it is what is not said that is pertinent. It is pretty widely accepted that Trumps phone call was an attempt at illegal election interference. As reported in the New York Times:
“According to the ICIG (Inspector General of the Intelligence Community), statements made by the President during the call could be viewed as soliciting a foreign campaign contribution in violation of the campaign-finance laws. This quote comes from the Office of Legal Counsel memo.
The Justice Department memo also said:
The ICIG further noted that alleged misconduct by a senior U.S. official to seek foreign assistance to interfere in or influence a federal election could potentially expose the official to serious national security and counterintelligence risks.”
We are all familiar with the subsequent uproar over Trump’s attempts to discredit Biden. Ignoring all of this, whether in your response to my post or in Ryan’s original post suggests bias, in my opinion, and does not help Ryan’s desire to be a neutral source of defense related information. I am sorry about this because I really value the information that Ryan presents.
I don't like the bombastic language in this comment but I agree painting Trump as pro-Ukraine is strange. Trump's first impeachment was for threatening to withhold congress approved military aid. Pro Trump is necessarily anti-Ukraine.
Do you actually go through and reply-guy every comment with absolutely no substantive disagreements? You must have a miserable existence. This is the exact reason why people don't want to engage in micro-communities like this. Substack needs to add a block feature.
I was shocked to see your pivot to political campaigning after hearing you say since I subscribed that you were not interested in politics and wouldn’t be grinding any political axes for anyone. And yet the first thing I hear is that you are writing for NEWSMAX, the most right wing and conspiracy theory promoting of all of the ‘conservative’ news sites. How does that square with your frequent promise that you would never get political in your analysis videos…
AND YET.. here is a video where you quote Trump campaign statements and misstatements word for word. I can’t believe I have to fact check Ryan McBeth. SMH.
1.) it was Trump that said Obama only sent ‘pillows and night vision’ That’s untrue. Fact-check:
2.) You completely misquoted what Trump has said about aid to Ukraine. He has said he would settle the war in 24 hours by convincing Zelensky to give up already lost territory. He has categorically said and his Republican allies have made it clear in congress; NO AID for Ukraine!
3.) I don’t know if it was deliberate or a mistake, but ‘America First’ means isolationism and according to Trump, cutting OFF military aid to Europe and Ukraine.
4.) Russia is Trumps banker, and Putin is his friend. Trump said…”Putin can do what the hell he wants’ if countries don’t spend more on defense. Thats not what an Ally says to its comrade countries.
Russia has dumped hundreds of millions into Trump’s real estate projects. To track corruption, just follow the money.
Frankly I feel betrayed, dude. I have always respected you as a subject matter expert free of political motives or persuasion. But this video is the WORST of what you call ‘deceptive communications’
I am not going to rage-unsub. I want to see how you address this Gaffe and sudden switch to Trump propaganda
Honestly…. Good for them. How many times has he said he’d tear down NATO and leave our allies in Europe hung out to dry?! Not to mention just straight up saying he would END all aid to Ukraine.
The Russian propaganda video is not what they are referencing. Frankly, it’s Ryan’s video. “I’m not into politics” sounds nice, but hollow, after hearing him tell half of a story about foreign aid…that was used as blackmail against Ukraine for trumped up political intrigue. Also, why is Ryan attempting to ingratiate himself to Gorka? Rhetorical, of course, to further his career into whatever Gorka is into, and that’s fascism. Hey Ryan, can you do a video about what the “V” in Gorka’s name is all about? I love Ryan’s analysis, but trying to stay clear of politics will be difficult if he’s working at a “news” channel that is propaganda arm trying to sit to the right of Fox and refers to Gorka as a colleague and invites him on to his channel.
But Trump has publicly stated that he doesn't want to give aid to Ukraine and the Putin can do whatever he likes. You're also not following the money trail the proof of corruption. Putin and elite Russians have given Trump hundreds of millions of dollars for his real estate projects and a Russian even bailed out his true social after thestock crash. Follow the money
Yes, God forbid Ryan talks to someone who has direct knowledge on the matter. Instead we should all get our information from secondary sources. That’s the way truly informed people do it.
First of all you would've known that they are not a neutral news source. But more importantly what happened to your promised to not mix politics in your videos. This is a straight up Trump ad where you even "misinformation that he has been spreading. I'm extremely disappointed Ryan you let us down
Ryan. That is a specious argument. If you were part of a legitimate, credible left or right of center that would be fine and even improve your credibility.
But you can’t take money from an extremist, deliberate promoter of misinformation group and be seen as neutral. AS YOU ALWAYS PROMISED.
Now just put up a notice that your page is a Right Wing Promotional Page. At least that would be HONEST.
It honestly doesn't matter since Trump himself doesn't support funding Ukraine and has publicly said so repeatedly, even helping to cause the months long delay in aid from Congress.
And those supporters you're trying to reach will still vote for him anyways. The only people who watch something as extreme as Newsmax are ones that don't have a chance of changing their overall view of Trump himself and will vote for him even if they think we should still be helping Ukraine.
Even the wording is so awkward. I'm best friends with Ukrainians, they wouldn't say "President Zelenskyy couldn't get any weapons", they say "WE couldn't get any weapons". They are not fighting for Zelenskyy and it's not Zelenskyy's war, he's just a leader. It is everyone in Ukraine's war. That alone makes it extremely Russian.
You might want to look closer at Trump’s statements as of late. Don’t forget he tried to blackmail Ukraine during his presidency. I like your analysis of topics but given a chance Trump will fuck Ukraine and us also.
THIS is consistent with what Trump has actually said and done. Ryan’s redefining America First was just…weird. It has always meant no allies, no aid, isolationism and to stop being the worlds cop, not the opposite as Ryan says. That was such a strange flex on Ryan’s part.
I'm with a lot of the other people here when I say I'm disappointed to see Gorka used as a source.
I don't give a damn if you work for newsmax, or if you like Donald Trump, or if you don't. But Gorka is a pathological purveyor of misinformation.
You should be calling out his disinformation, not holding him up as an expert.
Again, I don't care what your politics are, honestly I don't even care if you bring them to your videos. But you, of all people, should know better than to use Gorka as a source.
Finally, even if the guy was reputable at all, why bother? Trump having ever provided aid to Ukraine isn't relevant to the discussion. I agree with the conclusion that this is Russian, but would you care what some former president did for you once if he was getting your buddies killed right now?
While it's your choice to promote Trump's actions, you should have been aware that he held up the aid that congress passed and tried to extort personal political favors for it. Numerous laws were broken with the delay and the attempted extortion.
Trump didn't "send" aid as he had no choice in the matter. It's like saying that Mike Johnson personally sent 61 billion in aid to Ukraine.
That's what Ukrainians know.
But yes, the pronunciation on some words in the video stands out like a sore thumb.
NO it’s not Ryan’s choice. He has continually told us that he would NEVER mix politics with his analysis. And not only is this a Trump campaign video, but we discover that Ryan is working for NEWSMAX, the most right wing and conspiracy theory peddling of all of the conservative sites.
Given Ryan's stance on Ukraine, he is a welcome contributor to Newsmax imho. Just think about it - would you rather that only Putin supporters brainwash that audience? Or have someone like Ryan explain things to them?
Promoting Trump for stuff that he didn't do is not cool though. Especially given how Trump has been pro Putin.
I appreciate the comment. But it goes against Ryan’s continued promises of a neutral stance. Especially as this is a straight up ad for Trump and chock full of misinformation. This is the same as being paid by Occupy Democrats or CNN. He is now no longer credible. He started the video as a straight up DIP analysis and then put his political views in there. THAT is DECEPTIVE
And NOW we have a political conversation in this thread and not on the topic.
It’s Hypocritical to the nth degree to promise neutrality but then take money from and extreme publication.
I think the intent was to show that Ukrainians would not have done that because they like Trump due to him helping them. The reality is quite different and he ended up doing some of the DIP himself (I am calling the video imagery).
Hey Ryan! Thanks for a great video. As a former E6 who served as a 35P(RU) and worked in Ukraine from 2014 to 2019 I gotta say you covered US aid to Ukraine accurately. I remember all the meetings with Ukrainian officers who were practically begging us for lethal aid prior to 2017. And I remember how much more we started doing for Ukraine after 2017. When it came to Trump administration policy on Ukraine, SecDef under Trump, Gen. Mattis said it best: “President’s goal is to turn Ukraine into a porcupine, because even a bear won’t mess with a porcupine.” There’s no doubt in my mind that Ukrainian military remembers that.
Good piece, Ryan, except for your use of Gorka as an expert. I know you try to skate a thin line regarding politics, but we are in the middle of a critically important election in which the Republican candidate is not only currently on trial (an historic first) but has made the refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of the current presidency a litmus test for party loyalty and is the first president in our history to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. It is not an exaggeration (in my view) to see this election in terms of democracy at serious risk.
Gorka, according to Wikipedia “was permanently banned from YouTube for repeatedly violating the company's policy on spreading misinformation related to the 2020 presidential election.” He was a member of the Trump administration and it is very odd that you give credit to the Trump administration for arming Ukraine, but never mention his “perfect phone call” in which he tried to withhold American aid in order to strong arm the Ukrainian president into providing damaging political information about his rival, Joe Biden.
So I understand your desire to remain politically neutral, and it is something you generally do very well, but I think you stepped right into a steaming pile of bias by using this guy.
Reading comments like yours really show where people stand on the whole truth/sensibilities scale. “Don’t let the truth get in the way of your politics”, huh? I’m speaking as someone who was directly involved in US aid to Ukraine from the US military side of things- Trump did good by Ukraine. And if it was done on the advice of Dr. Gorka, then my hat’s off for Gorka. Most Ukrainians don’t know about any phone call because it didn’t affect them in any way*. I know because I talk to people in Ukraine, including military members. The Javelins that started arriving back in December of 2017 on the other hand, affected them a lot and might have saved their country.
*Trump wanted to delay those find for 3 months until October. That had no effect on anything because this was funds meant for next year’s operations.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I wouldn't disagree with anything you said, but it is what is not said that is pertinent. It is pretty widely accepted that Trumps phone call was an attempt at illegal election interference. As reported in the New York Times:
“According to the ICIG (Inspector General of the Intelligence Community), statements made by the President during the call could be viewed as soliciting a foreign campaign contribution in violation of the campaign-finance laws. This quote comes from the Office of Legal Counsel memo.
The Justice Department memo also said:
The ICIG further noted that alleged misconduct by a senior U.S. official to seek foreign assistance to interfere in or influence a federal election could potentially expose the official to serious national security and counterintelligence risks.”
We are all familiar with the subsequent uproar over Trump’s attempts to discredit Biden. Ignoring all of this, whether in your response to my post or in Ryan’s original post suggests bias, in my opinion, and does not help Ryan’s desire to be a neutral source of defense related information. I am sorry about this because I really value the information that Ryan presents.
MAGA/ America First is no longer supporting Ukraine. If they were, Ukraine would have funded last fall.
The Trump administration may have held those policies in 2018, but this is no longer true.
Disappointed you didn’t present this information. It is dishonest. Exactly what you say you are fighting against.
Ryan, I don’t understand your motives on this issue. You need to come clean on this.
I don't like the bombastic language in this comment but I agree painting Trump as pro-Ukraine is strange. Trump's first impeachment was for threatening to withhold congress approved military aid. Pro Trump is necessarily anti-Ukraine.
Bombastic? LOL. Made me laugh. I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
The comment is straightforward, factual and brief.
Do you actually go through and reply-guy every comment with absolutely no substantive disagreements? You must have a miserable existence. This is the exact reason why people don't want to engage in micro-communities like this. Substack needs to add a block feature.
I was shocked to see your pivot to political campaigning after hearing you say since I subscribed that you were not interested in politics and wouldn’t be grinding any political axes for anyone. And yet the first thing I hear is that you are writing for NEWSMAX, the most right wing and conspiracy theory promoting of all of the ‘conservative’ news sites. How does that square with your frequent promise that you would never get political in your analysis videos…
AND YET.. here is a video where you quote Trump campaign statements and misstatements word for word. I can’t believe I have to fact check Ryan McBeth. SMH.
1.) it was Trump that said Obama only sent ‘pillows and night vision’ That’s untrue. Fact-check:
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-donald-trump-ap-fact-check-barack-obama-981ef7feb11053c1340a9d028d6f357b
2.) You completely misquoted what Trump has said about aid to Ukraine. He has said he would settle the war in 24 hours by convincing Zelensky to give up already lost territory. He has categorically said and his Republican allies have made it clear in congress; NO AID for Ukraine!
https://www.politico.eu/article/why-donald-trump-hates-ukraine-us-congress-kyiv-war/
3.) I don’t know if it was deliberate or a mistake, but ‘America First’ means isolationism and according to Trump, cutting OFF military aid to Europe and Ukraine.
4.) Russia is Trumps banker, and Putin is his friend. Trump said…”Putin can do what the hell he wants’ if countries don’t spend more on defense. Thats not what an Ally says to its comrade countries.
Russia has dumped hundreds of millions into Trump’s real estate projects. To track corruption, just follow the money.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/21/how-russian-money-helped-save-trumps-business/
Frankly I feel betrayed, dude. I have always respected you as a subject matter expert free of political motives or persuasion. But this video is the WORST of what you call ‘deceptive communications’
I am not going to rage-unsub. I want to see how you address this Gaffe and sudden switch to Trump propaganda
Honestly…. Good for them. How many times has he said he’d tear down NATO and leave our allies in Europe hung out to dry?! Not to mention just straight up saying he would END all aid to Ukraine.
Did you even watch the video? Russians pulled a psyop and you’re lapping it up.
The Russian propaganda video is not what they are referencing. Frankly, it’s Ryan’s video. “I’m not into politics” sounds nice, but hollow, after hearing him tell half of a story about foreign aid…that was used as blackmail against Ukraine for trumped up political intrigue. Also, why is Ryan attempting to ingratiate himself to Gorka? Rhetorical, of course, to further his career into whatever Gorka is into, and that’s fascism. Hey Ryan, can you do a video about what the “V” in Gorka’s name is all about? I love Ryan’s analysis, but trying to stay clear of politics will be difficult if he’s working at a “news” channel that is propaganda arm trying to sit to the right of Fox and refers to Gorka as a colleague and invites him on to his channel.
Gorka wrote the policy. If I can reach one pro-Trump guy who thinks that being pro-Trump means being anti-Ukraine, I've won.
But Trump has publicly stated that he doesn't want to give aid to Ukraine and the Putin can do whatever he likes. You're also not following the money trail the proof of corruption. Putin and elite Russians have given Trump hundreds of millions of dollars for his real estate projects and a Russian even bailed out his true social after thestock crash. Follow the money
Ya, OAN I can’t support someone who supports that shyte. I love his analysis on certain things but man…. OAN is pure propaganda news.
Yes, God forbid Ryan talks to someone who has direct knowledge on the matter. Instead we should all get our information from secondary sources. That’s the way truly informed people do it.
Calm down. Keep your fighting word for Twitter
I was shocked to see this. Especially because Ryan said he would never mix politics with his posts and videos.
And we find out he works for NEWSMAX?????
I do intel stuff for Newsmax, like how many missiles Iran has, not politics.
Learning that you are receiving money from Newsmax seriously endangers your credibility. They are famous for conspiracy theories and misinformation
First of all you would've known that they are not a neutral news source. But more importantly what happened to your promised to not mix politics in your videos. This is a straight up Trump ad where you even "misinformation that he has been spreading. I'm extremely disappointed Ryan you let us down
But how many pro Trump supporters who don’t believe in funding Ukraine did I reach?
Ryan. That is a specious argument. If you were part of a legitimate, credible left or right of center that would be fine and even improve your credibility.
But you can’t take money from an extremist, deliberate promoter of misinformation group and be seen as neutral. AS YOU ALWAYS PROMISED.
Now just put up a notice that your page is a Right Wing Promotional Page. At least that would be HONEST.
It honestly doesn't matter since Trump himself doesn't support funding Ukraine and has publicly said so repeatedly, even helping to cause the months long delay in aid from Congress.
And those supporters you're trying to reach will still vote for him anyways. The only people who watch something as extreme as Newsmax are ones that don't have a chance of changing their overall view of Trump himself and will vote for him even if they think we should still be helping Ukraine.
Came here to bring up those exact points. I need to get one and burn one myself.
Man is fkn menace to the world. Upjumped landlord. Nothing more.
Even the wording is so awkward. I'm best friends with Ukrainians, they wouldn't say "President Zelenskyy couldn't get any weapons", they say "WE couldn't get any weapons". They are not fighting for Zelenskyy and it's not Zelenskyy's war, he's just a leader. It is everyone in Ukraine's war. That alone makes it extremely Russian.
You might want to look closer at Trump’s statements as of late. Don’t forget he tried to blackmail Ukraine during his presidency. I like your analysis of topics but given a chance Trump will fuck Ukraine and us also.
THIS is consistent with what Trump has actually said and done. Ryan’s redefining America First was just…weird. It has always meant no allies, no aid, isolationism and to stop being the worlds cop, not the opposite as Ryan says. That was such a strange flex on Ryan’s part.
I'm with a lot of the other people here when I say I'm disappointed to see Gorka used as a source.
I don't give a damn if you work for newsmax, or if you like Donald Trump, or if you don't. But Gorka is a pathological purveyor of misinformation.
You should be calling out his disinformation, not holding him up as an expert.
Again, I don't care what your politics are, honestly I don't even care if you bring them to your videos. But you, of all people, should know better than to use Gorka as a source.
Finally, even if the guy was reputable at all, why bother? Trump having ever provided aid to Ukraine isn't relevant to the discussion. I agree with the conclusion that this is Russian, but would you care what some former president did for you once if he was getting your buddies killed right now?
While it's your choice to promote Trump's actions, you should have been aware that he held up the aid that congress passed and tried to extort personal political favors for it. Numerous laws were broken with the delay and the attempted extortion.
Trump didn't "send" aid as he had no choice in the matter. It's like saying that Mike Johnson personally sent 61 billion in aid to Ukraine.
That's what Ukrainians know.
But yes, the pronunciation on some words in the video stands out like a sore thumb.
NO it’s not Ryan’s choice. He has continually told us that he would NEVER mix politics with his analysis. And not only is this a Trump campaign video, but we discover that Ryan is working for NEWSMAX, the most right wing and conspiracy theory peddling of all of the conservative sites.
Given Ryan's stance on Ukraine, he is a welcome contributor to Newsmax imho. Just think about it - would you rather that only Putin supporters brainwash that audience? Or have someone like Ryan explain things to them?
Promoting Trump for stuff that he didn't do is not cool though. Especially given how Trump has been pro Putin.
I appreciate the comment. But it goes against Ryan’s continued promises of a neutral stance. Especially as this is a straight up ad for Trump and chock full of misinformation. This is the same as being paid by Occupy Democrats or CNN. He is now no longer credible. He started the video as a straight up DIP analysis and then put his political views in there. THAT is DECEPTIVE
And NOW we have a political conversation in this thread and not on the topic.
It’s Hypocritical to the nth degree to promise neutrality but then take money from and extreme publication.
Ryan i
I think the intent was to show that Ukrainians would not have done that because they like Trump due to him helping them. The reality is quite different and he ended up doing some of the DIP himself (I am calling the video imagery).
I don't think it is intentional though.
VERY good Ryan. Thank you!
I’m not lapping it up. The man is a scumbag no matter the Russians do or say.
I hope you have people in your life who love you and care about you. And I hope their love is enough to undo the hate in your heart that you carry.
Not every time, but this one seems different. and saying nothing makes it look real.
Hey Ryan! Thanks for a great video. As a former E6 who served as a 35P(RU) and worked in Ukraine from 2014 to 2019 I gotta say you covered US aid to Ukraine accurately. I remember all the meetings with Ukrainian officers who were practically begging us for lethal aid prior to 2017. And I remember how much more we started doing for Ukraine after 2017. When it came to Trump administration policy on Ukraine, SecDef under Trump, Gen. Mattis said it best: “President’s goal is to turn Ukraine into a porcupine, because even a bear won’t mess with a porcupine.” There’s no doubt in my mind that Ukrainian military remembers that.
So why hasn't Thye Ukranian government disavowed this?
You think the Ukrainian government should be disavowing every piece of misinformation?
This is a poorly made propaganda video aimed at USA - couldn't even find fluent Ukrainian speakers for it.