Bureaucrat Main Character Syndrome is killing Ukraine — and America

Last week, Texas congressman Pat Fallon asked why Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the US Secret Service, appeared in a 9/11 memorial photo op rather than focusing on his duty to protect Presidents Biden and Trump — just two months after an assassination attempt left Trump grazed by a bullet.

Instead of addressing the concern, Rowe, an unelected bureaucrat, lashed out: “Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!” Citing his presence at Ground Zero on 9/11, Rowe seemed insulted by the congressman’s challenge to his judgment.

But Rowe’s job wasn’t to be part of the story — it was to protect those who actually are the key players, current and former presidents. This “Main Character Syndrome,” where unelected officials elevate their own importance, is rampant among Washington’s power elite. And it’s rife overseas: there are a number of figures whose egos have overshadowed the Ukrainian people’s efforts.

For one, critics of Ukraine, from Joe Rogan to Elon Musk, often claim that former State Department official Victoria Nuland orchestrated Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity, painting her as the mastermind behind regime change. They cite a leaked phone call in which she discussed potential opposition members who could join Ukraine’s Yanukovych government, which tens of thousands of Ukrainians had been protesting for months. 

At first glance, it sounds damning. But the reality? Every time US and EU bureaucrats tried to craft a deal to calm the protests, the people in Kyiv’s Maidan Square rejected it. They didn’t want opposition members joining a corrupt government; they wanted the corrupt government gone. Nuland’s goal seems to have been to prevent such a regime change. Ukrainians ignored these Western machinations and stayed in the streets until Yanukovych fled.

Rather than refuting the “puppet-master” storyline, Nuland quietly has allowed it to linger. Why? Perhaps ego. After all, what bureaucrat wouldn’t want to be seen as the secret architect of a historic revolution?

Then there’s the Vindman brothers, Soviet-born Americans who served honorably in the US military, and later turned Ukraine into a stage for their grievances against President Trump. While working for the National Security Council at the White House, these unelected officials disclosed details of a private 2019 call between Trump and President Zelensky, alleging Trump was using Ukraine to play politics.

Two days before that call, the Washington Post ran a front-page story about Biden family dealings in Russia and Ukraine. Was it unreasonable for the incumbent US president and the new Ukrainian president to discuss corruption allegations involving the Biden family and Ukraine, especially when major US papers had raised similar questions? The Vindmans decided for the rest of us that it was unreasonable and, in doing so, plunged Ukraine into an American political scandal.

The Vindmans claimed Trump was using Ukraine for political purposes, even as, ironically, their actions impaired Trump’s relationship with Zelensky. They have embraced their status as partisan symbols, critical of Trump but silent about Biden’s severe restrictions on Ukraine. One twin, Alexander, has even parlayed this notoriety into a cameo on Curb Your Enthusiasm, his brother Eugene meanwhile just won a congressional seat. Their actions alienated deep-state wary Americans who might otherwise support Ukraine’s fight for freedom. 

Would the Vindmans ever make it clear that the cause of the Ukrainian people has nothing to do with whatever one thinks of their actions against Trump? Or do they prefer to be Main Characters?

Hunter Biden’s ties to Burisma have become a rallying cry against Ukraine. For many Americans, the word “Burisma” is argument enough to oppose support for Ukraine. President Biden is helping Ukraine, they say, because his son made money from a Ukrainian company. 

As Hunter must know full well this is not true. Burisma was part of the pro-Russian corruption that Ukrainians revolted against in 2014. Its CEO fled to Moscow after the revolution, aligning himself with forces opposed to Ukraine’s freedom. It was in Moscow that Burisma’s CEO, a member of Ukraine’s ousted Yanukovych government, met with Hunter’s business partner Devon Archer and soon thereafter hired Hunter. 

Hunter Biden, now unburdened by what has been pardoned, has a chance to shift the story without legal consequences. By acknowledging that Burisma’s leadership opposed Ukraine’s revolution, he could defuse its symbolic power and refocus attention on Ukraine’s real fight for freedom. Instead, his silence fuels suspicion.

The 2014 Revolution and Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s full-scale invasion weren’t driven by Washington insiders. They were fueled by ordinary Ukrainians standing together.

This should be clear after nearly three years of resistance: despite entire cities being erased, 100,000 citizens losing limbs, horrific front-line conditions and yet another winter without reliable electricity or heat, Ukrainians, on the whole, refuse to surrender. Ukrainians have carried on, despite the Washington deep state’s continued limitations on their efforts. 

This is Ukraine’s story — not Nuland’s, not the Vindmans’ and not Hunter Biden’s. Will the fake Main Characters please stand down so that the real ones can stand up?