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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s day in Washington, DC, ended with flags.
He brought to the Joint Session of Congress he addressed Wednesday night a battlefield banner he had collected in the city of Bakhmut, the most recent and most devastated target of Russian military assault.
At the climax of his speech, he handed the flag to Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris, who were in their respective positions as speaker of the House and president of the Senate directly behind him.
Two minutes later, Pelosi returned the favor by presenting him with the flag that was flown over the Capitol in his honor. She said someone would carry it out for him. “I can take,” Zelensky said.
So you can call it stagy. You can call it theater. You can cast it in negative terms if you choose. Go ahead. It’s a free country. Be a jerk. Be someone history will quote only to revile your nihilistic cynicism. It’s your prerogative.
The flag exchange was a beautiful and unexpected moment in time. And it was the capstone of a beautiful and unexpected — and gravely important — struggle.
