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Jim Pfaff Says Zelensky Is Running Ukraine Like a Dictator: Jim Pfaff on Bobby Gunther Walsh | Oct 12, 2026

Published: October 12, 2026
Network: WAEB / iHeart
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

On Bobby Gunther Walsh, Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff answered a complaint about President Trump’s diesel deal with Putin. The host said critics ignored money Biden and Obama gave Iran, then got upset about this deal, and that Zelensky still will not make one.

Pfaff called the Russia deal modest. He said diesel prices turn on refining capacity. He then argued Zelensky has stopped two chances for an election and is close to running Ukraine like a dictator.

Topics Covered

• A Modest Diesel Deal and the Price of Moving Oil
• Two Missed Elections and No Accountability
• Winning, Trading Cards, and the War Powers Act
• Ad Money Congress Already Set Aside
• Last Night’s Address and Years of Meddling
• End the Aid, Including the Israel Account

A Modest Diesel Deal and the Price of Moving Oil

Gunther opened on the diesel deal, Iran money, and Zelensky’s refusal. Pfaff started with the Strategic Oil Reserve. Critics also stayed quiet, he said, when Joe Biden drew oil from it to help his reelection. Biden did the same in 2022 for the midterms, Pfaff said, before the party cut him off.

The Russia deal itself is modest, Pfaff said. Trump knows it will not change diesel prices dramatically, but it can change how markets think.

I mean, the real story of our diesel prices is refining capacity.

The price is not primarily the Iran war, he said. A lot of oil is still moving through the Strait of Hormuz. Moving it costs much more than usual.

Two Missed Elections and No Accountability

That oil flow, Pfaff said, shows Trump trying to limit further kinetic action and to put Iran in a hard financial spot. He said American politics twists information so Democrats benefit, instead of describing the situation as it is. Then he turned to Ukraine.

Trump is right that Ukraine needs an election, Pfaff said. Zelensky has stopped two potential times when one could have been held.

He’s really in some ways very close to running that country like a dictator because he has no accountability to his own people.

Pfaff said Zelensky has made very stupid mistakes, and that Trump was right to act. He granted that Russia is hitting Ukraine’s electrical plants. “But this is also meddling in our own election because Zelensky doesn’t want to have to deal with Trump anymore because Trump’s holding him and their whole effort accountable to coming to a deal.”

Zelensky does not want a deal right now, Pfaff said. Trump, in his view, is taking adult and necessary steps.

Winning, Trading Cards, and the War Powers Act

Pfaff called the Washington habit “it’s such bullcrap.” It is mostly a Democratic problem, he said, and Republicans do it too.

“It’s all about what can I do to win. It’s only about what can I do to win.” Benefits have become trading cards for votes, a problem since FDR that got worse in recent decades.

On Iran, he said Trump has limited kinetic action because he is trying not to widen the war. “But honestly, he has not violated the War Powers Act.”

Pfaff has long thought that law was a stupid idea. It gives a president 60 days of kinetic action, then he must return to Congress, and he must report along the way. “Donald Trump has basically followed that to the T.” That limit, Pfaff said, is one reason kinetic action is scarce now.

Trump has not been perfect, he said. He has not ignored court opinions he could have claimed were wrong, because he wants the judicial system back in line. His war policy is to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and Pfaff said he has done a whole lot toward that. A huge government, Pfaff added, makes Washington career games more damaging.

Ad Money Congress Already Set Aside

The host raised federal ads that a judge ordered canceled, and the idea that this had never been done. Pfaff said Trump was a little more blatant. Obama ran ads for Obamacare, he said, and agencies ran ads for the COVID vaccine, using public money to look good.

Every federal agency has dollars Congress appropriated for this, Pfaff said. He thinks the money should not exist. If it does, Trump is not doing anything different from predecessors. The stated reason is signing people up for social welfare benefits. If Congress creates them, post them online. Do not market them. He called this not an egregious problem.

Judges had not substantively blocked this kind of spending before, he said, and they did it to Trump. The money was appropriated. When a court stopped him, he complied and changed course. “He followed precedent. It was done before him.”

Last Night’s Address and Years of Meddling

The host then read a Fox report that Zelensky backed Trump’s energy ceasefire. Pfaff said it was not new in that moment. Zelensky addressed Ukraine the night before, in Ukrainian. Pfaff saw a translation and said Zelensky went along with it.

He was trying to affect U.S. elections, Pfaff said. Ukraine’s corruption has affected the United States for more than a decade, nearly 15 years or longer. The Obama administration also tried to influence Ukraine’s elections. Biden’s line, “give me this money and I’ll make sure you get your money,” Pfaff said, happened.

End the Aid, Including the Israel Account

Pfaff said Sam Bankman-Fried sent money to Ukraine that came back through an NGO and was cycled to certain Democratic campaigns. He called the whole situation corrupt. He asked how much of the money from Europe and the United States reaches people who support Zelensky, “and some people say into Zelensky’s pockets himself.” He left that as what some people say.

I’m for getting rid of foreign aid entirely because it gets misused.

He said he is not anti-Israel. He would still end U.S. funding and sell Israel the weapons, because its economy can support what it does.

Until the Biden administration nearly forced the change, Taiwan did not take U.S. defense money, he said. It used its own resources. The issue was permission to buy equipment. “They should be paying for it themselves out of their own revenues.” Open-ended help, he said, becomes USAID-style spending, a Cold War vestige that ends in corruption.

Key Takeaways

• Modest diesel deal: Pfaff said Trump’s Russia deal will not dramatically change diesel prices, and that refining capacity is the real story.
• Like a dictator: He said Zelensky stopped two potential elections and is close to running Ukraine like a dictator, with no accountability.
• Meddling: He said Zelensky does not want a deal because Trump is holding Ukraine accountable, and called that meddling in a U.S. election.
• War Powers Act: He said Trump followed the 60-day statute to the T, limited kinetic action, and has not ignored the courts.
• Appropriated ads: He said Obama and COVID ads used the same kind of money, and that Trump complied when a court stopped the ads.
• End foreign aid: He wants foreign aid ended, including funding for Israel, and he pointed to Taiwan paying for its own defense.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.

Originally broadcast Oct 12, 2026 on Bobby Gunther Walsh (WAEB).