The Ukrainians and their president have shown the world the true meaning of heroism and valor

When we see what is happening in Ukraine, how that country is heroically facing all the might of the far more powerful Russian military, we should remember Trump's July 25, 2019, conversation with Zelensky. The President of Ukraine requested from Trump military aid that would help his country respond to Russian separatists and to the very aggression from Russia that it is now valiantly resisting.

During that call, Zelensky said "We are… ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes." We all know how Trump responded: "I would like you to do us a favor though…" Trump shamelessly held that aid hostage to his personal political interests. Trump – who consistently sought, like Putin, to weaken NATO – never failed to laud the Russian president; and let us not forget Helsinki, where Trump explicitly took the autocrat's word over that of his own intelligence community.

Putin's vain dreams of restoring the glory days of the Russian empire will invariably prove his undoing. Let that be the lesson to dictatorial leaders who look to Putin as a role model. And every time Trump refers to Putin as "smart," let it serve as a confirmation that Trump himself is beneath contempt, that he and his sycophantic followers are poison for this Republic, and the kiss of death to our democratic institutions.

President Zelensky, who refused a US offer to evacuate, instead is fighting for his country, emerging as global hero in battle against Putin. Ukrainian heroism is giving their country hope, thousands of heroic men and women, who are fighting back against heavily armed Russian troops, are showing to the whole world Ukrainian bravery and courage.

The President of Ukraine has proven himself to be a hero, an inspiration to freedom-loving people the world over – indeed he is everything that authoritarian and self-serving dictators like Putin, and wannabe dictators like Trump, are not.