Donald Trump’s refusal to release the so-called “Epstein Files” earlier this summer marked a rare break between the president and some members of his diehard MAGA base.
Now, a new point of contention has emerged: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “suit.”
America First conservatives are denouncing the wartime leader’s choice of attire during his high-stakes visit to Washington, D.C. on Monday, where he met with Trump in an effort to bring about an end to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
“No suit. No service,” former Trump advisor George Papadopoulos—who spent two weeks in prison for making false statements to the FBI—captioned a photo of Zelensky descending from his plane in a black T-shirt on Monday.
Zelensky wore a military-style, all-black suit jacket to greet Trump on Monday afternoon, a shift from his uniform of combat gear and sweatshirts or polos with the Ukrainian national symbol, which he has donned since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Unlike the fiery Oval Office sit-down in February, where Zelensky was berated and accused of being “disrespectful” to the U.S. by not wearing a suit and tie, this time the Ukrainian leader earned praise from Trump.
“Yeah, you look good,” Trump said, sitting beside Zelensky in the Oval Office. But some MAGA fashionistas disagreed.
“BREAKING: Zelensky did NOT wear a suit,” radical right-wing commentator David J. Freeman, who goes by “Gunther Eagleman” on social media, wrote alongside a now-deleted photo of Zelensky in a suit. “How unprofessional and DISRESPECTFUL. WTF is wrong with this guy?”
What enraged some of Trump’s base the most was a photo of Zelensky from earlier on Monday, wearing a black T-shirt and combat pants while meeting with Trump’s Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg.
“What a disgrace of a human being,” wrote MAGA influencer Ada Lluch, who also denied that the suit Zelensky wore was, in fact, a suit at all.
White House officials reportedly pressed Zelensky to wear the so-called “suit” ahead of his touchdown in D.C. Axios reported on Monday that the White House asked Ukrainian officials what Zelensky would be wearing to the meeting.
Elvira Gasanova, a Ukrainian businesswoman and designer of the Damirli brand that produces one of Zelensky’s signature looks, confirmed to Politico that he would step up his wardrobe for the meeting.
“President [Zelensky] will be in a suit, but the style still remains in a military key with the same symbolism: he is the Head of State, which is at war,” she said.
Monday’s historic meeting between Trump and Zelensky coincided with a rare show of unity from major European leaders, who arrived in Washington to reaffirm support for Ukraine—while a subset of Trump’s suit-denying base chose to focus on fabric.
