On Monday evening, MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell touted that a potential Democratic Senate majority would lead to a bill passed to cease President Trump’s purchase of Russian oil. Joining in on O’Donnell’s argument was Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D), who claimed that Trump and Ukraine’s President Zelensky shared similarities to Hitler and Churchill, leading to O’Donnell’s bloviating that Trump was providing finances in support of enemy troops against the U.S.’s own service members.
O’Donnell began his dramatics by recounting the recent video call between members of the House and Senate and Zelensky showing their support to Ukraine after Trump’s announcement to buy Russian oil to bring down the price of diesel ahead of the election.
As opposed to seeing the purchase of oil as relief for Americans’ pockets, Senator Whitehouse made it clear that he viewed Trump as the enemy:
The dismay and the disgust about the President's behavior was palpable, irrespective of whether it was a house or senate member, whether it was a Republican or a Democrat. And I hope that President Zelensky and the Ukrainians who are fighting so nobly and bravely against the savagery of Putin, took some consolation from that.
And when we have the chance, I think, to legislate will make clear through law that the President's attitude about this and his conduct is just dead wrong.
O’Donnell took the mention of the legislature and took the opportunity to pitch the Senator on the idea that a Democratic majority in the Senate could pass a bill to reverse Trump’s attempt to lower prices.
Whitehouse jumped at the opportunity to present Democrats to be on the right side of history, going so far as to compare Trump and Zelensky to Hitler and Churchill (Click “expand”):
I think there are great, many things that we can do. And I think it's really important that we do it. If you, you know, think back to the famous we shall fight speech of Winston Churchill. There's that part in it where he says, you know, we just have to hang in there until the new world, with all its power and might, comes to the rescue and salvation of the old.
That's the America I think that most Americans believe in. And I think it makes our stomachs turn that we now have a president who, in that circumstance would have chosen the side of Adolf Hitler rather than the side of Winston Churchill and the beleaguered British nation. And I think there's going to be a very strong revulsion in the house and senate alike when we return.
With the comparison of Trump to a dictator who executed millions, O’Donnell harped on how the President's decision to buy oil from Russia was a purposeful attempt to help generate finances for Dictator Vladimir Putin and his continued killing of innocent Ukrainians and children.
O’Donnell went on to make ridiculous comments on Russia’s aid to Iran, suggesting a proxy relationship between Trump and Iranian terrorist groups to go against American military forces:
So, Donald Trump helping Russia get revenue through diesel sales and other things, is basically revenue to use in his war of killing children and others in Ukraine. But Russia's also helping Iran. And so this is a way of Donald Trump helping fund the Iranian resistance, which is to say the Iranian combat against American troops. This is a president of the United States providing resources for the enemy that he started a war against.
Whitehouse finished off the flawed conversation by reiterating an apparent relationship between the President and Putin, suggesting a corruptive alliance where Putin holds power over Trump (Click “expand”):
Yeah, it's pretty stunning. And it really demands that we pursue the question why, you know. Donald Trump is a person who demands to be the dominant person in every relationship except one.
In his relationship with Vladimir Putin, he is the submissive and Putin dominates him. And we need to understand why. I think that there's a lot that we don't yet know about Trump Russia.
What we do know is that it was never a hoax. There is something going on there. And we need to understand why this president is leading our noble country down such an ignoble path, leading it so astray from our American values. In deference to this creepy little gangster from Russia.
Despite his shocking argument, O’Donnell failed to make any connection as to why Trump would want to put American troops in danger or have any desire for a relationship with Russia outside of economic stability.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW’S The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell
October 19, 2026
10:39:22 p.m. Eastern(...)
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Today, Donald Trump's friend, war criminal Vladimir Putin, launched a daytime drone strike in a public park in Ukraine that killed six people, including two children. Send your drones to parks and you will kill children. Donald Trump seems to approve of that. Donald Trump said today, quote, Russia has been fine on Ukraine, end quote. Donald Trump seems to think killing children in parks in Ukraine is fine, something Vladimir Putin has been doing since the first day of his war.
Today, Republican and Democratic members of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, including Republicans who are running for reelection in 15 days, held a video call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to show their support for Ukraine after Donald Trump has decided to, in effect, financially support Russia's war against Ukraine.
Joining us now is senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the senate judiciary committee, who was on that call today. Senator, what can you tell us about that call today?
(D) SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE: Well, some important things about it are that it was bicameral. House and senate members and bipartisan and contained, you know, some of the real senate leadership, chairmen of important committees. And the message was very uniform to Volodymyr Zelensky. We are still with you.
The dismay and the disgust about the President's behavior was palpable, irrespective of whether it was a house or senate member, whether it was a Republican or a Democrat. And I hope that President Zelensky and the Ukrainians who are fighting so nobly and bravely against the savagery of Putin, took some consolation from that.
And when we have the chance, I think, to legislate will make clear through law that the President's attitude about this and his conduct is just dead wrong.
O’DONNELL: Does this call indicate that there will be, if the Democrats win the senate, that there will be 60 votes in the senate for the Democrats to pass a bill there, such as you just described?
WHITEHOUSE: Yeah. I think there are great, many things that we can do. And I think it's really important that we do it. If you, you know, think back to the famous we shall fight speech of Winston Churchill. There's that part in it where he says, you know, we just have to hang in there until the new world, with all its power and might, comes to the rescue and salvation of the old.
That's the America I think that most Americans believe in. And I think it makes our stomachs turn that we now have a president who, in that circumstance would have chosen the side of Adolf Hitler rather than the side of Winston Churchill and the beleaguered British nation. And I think there's going to be a very strong revulsion in the house and senate alike when we return.
O’DONNELL: So, Donald Trump helping Russia get revenue through diesel sales and other things, is basically revenue to use in his war of killing children and others in Ukraine. But Russia's also helping Iran. And so this is a way of Donald Trump helping fund the Iranian resistance, which is to say the Iranian combat against American troops. This is a president of the United States providing resources for the enemy that he started a war against.
WHITEHOUSE: Yeah, it's pretty stunning. And it really demands that we pursue the question why, you know. Donald Trump is a person who demands to be the dominant person in every relationship except one.
In his relationship with Vladimir Putin, he is the submissive and Putin dominates him. And we need to understand why. I think that there's a lot that we don't yet know about Trump Russia.
What we do know is that it was never a hoax. There is something going on there. And we need to understand why this president is leading our noble country down such an ignoble path, leading it so astray from our American values. In deference to this creepy little gangster from Russia.
O’DONNEL: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, we will leave it there for tonight. Thank you very much for joining us.
(...)
