Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know.
Donald Trump was on the receiving end of considerable criticism after he and is Vice President JD Vance launched a series of attacks against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28. But in the middle of the internationally condemned dressing-down, there was a curious side story that highlights the conservative movement’s hypocritical approach to international fashion.
Brian Glenn, the White House correspondent for the extremely right-wing cable network Real America’s Voice, was in attendance and positioned just inches away from the action. Glenn, who is dating the notoriously trollish Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, was in place thanks to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s mandate to give MAGA-friendly media as much access as possible.
Instead of asking the leaders about the implications of the meeting—lives are at stake in Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of Europe, after all—Glenn instead angrily brought up fashion.
“Why don’t you wear a suit?” Glenn asked Zelenskyy. “You’re at the highest level in this country’s office, and you refuse to wear a suit. Do you own a suit? A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the dignity of this office,” Glenn huffed.
Taken aback because he was probably thinking more about the civilians that have been murdered by Russian bombs than his simple shirt and pants, Zelensky responded, “I will wear costume after this war will finish.”
Zelenskyy has become an international icon for his defiance of Russian encroachment and part of that world-famous imagery has been his decision to abandon a suit and tie in favor of casual clothing, denying himself luxury in solidarity with his citizens and the crisis they are facing. The other world leaders that he has met with since Russia invaded his country haven’t made an issue of his clothing—not former President Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, nor French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Ukrainian leader’s choice of dress echoes British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who wore a “siren suit” when he visited the United States in 1942 to request aid in his country’s fight against the fascist Axis powers.
Conservatives getting up in arms about Zelenskyy’s wardrobe is particularly strange considering how often Trump wears his ill-fitting red MAGA hat, along with the extremely casual dress choices associated with previous Republican presidents.
A look at past conservative tantrums about clothing shows that the right’s anger seems to be depend on who is doing the wearing, instead of what they wore. In other words, Republicans’ perceived enemies get a dressing down, not their own heroes.
The most infamous right-wing freakout over clothing has been mocked for just how over-the-top the reaction was. Former President Barack Obama wore a tan suit to a 2014 White House briefing—and the world was never the same.
Now-retired Republican Rep. Peter King took a break from attacking Muslim people to complain that Obama’s suit demonstrated a “lack of seriousness,” and expounded on the problem in a CNN appearance.
“If you were the head of ISIS, if you were Baghdadi, if you were anyone in the ISIS, would you come away from yesterday afraid of the United States?” King said.
The mainstream media took the ball from there, spending endless airtime on the suit.
In another instance, George W. Bush’s chief of staff Andrew Card fumed in 2009 at Obama for not having a “dress code of respect” when he was seen working in the White House without a suit jacket. Card claimed that this was a break from decorum—but then photos of his boss and Ronald Reagan doing the same thing surfaced.
Perhaps if Card had focused on more important matters, Bush would not forever be associated with the failed war in Iraq and a global recession.
Conservatives have also had a lot to say about women’s fashion—particularly women in a position of leadership within the Democratic Party, like Hillary Clinton and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Their crime of fashion: wearing pantsuits.
Rep. Kevin Cramer chided female Democratic representatives for their choice of garb at Trump’s presidential address in 2017, complaining about “bad-looking white pantsuits” worn in homage to suffragettes. Conservative conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck said Clinton’s trademark pantsuits were part of an “antichrist” ensemble back in 2009.
Meanwhile it was crickets from conservatives when Bush posed for photos “clearing brush” while wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and a cowboy hat, and they were even fine with Reagan wearing jeans while on horseback. There was no “-gate” style controversy when Reagan wore a ridiculous looking pair of high-waisted sweatpants while speaking to the media on Air Force One.
Trump’s cartoonishly long red ties are no problem at all, and when Trump allowed his financier and co-President Elon Musk to essentially run a Cabinet meeting, the right had no issue with the billionaire wearing a baseball cap, T-shirt (which read “Tech Support”), and jeans.
Even Fox News noted the hypocrisy of it all. The propaganda network’s White House correspondent Peter Doocy recently noted that Musk “never wears a suit” during his trips to Washington. Press secretary Leavitt replied that Musk wore a suit while attending Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress on Tuesday and “he looked great.”
Her statement gave up the right’s game on fashion, which just echoes conservatives’ double standards on everything else.
What makes them gnash their teeth when their enemies do it is accepted behavior on the right. Because being on their team is what matters, and Zelenskyy’s stance in favor of freedom isn’t what the GOP signed up for.