Not one. I talk to Americans every day. I live here. Not a single person recently mentioned the war in Ukraine. Even when I insisted on it, for example with Republican voters in the polar cold of Iowa or with Democrats in warmer South Carolina, Ukraine rarely earned me more than a shrug.
No one is against virtue and everyone wants world peace, but Ukraine is suffering from the same suffering as global warming, COVID and, more recently, the destruction wrought by the Israeli offensive in Gaza: We get tired of everything.
Even here in Washington, in my neighborhood or on the way to the White House, last year I often came across a Ukrainian flag hanging in the window of a private home or a handmade poster on the yellow and blue background that read #WeStandWithUkraine. Most of them have disappeared.
Anecdotal, I admit, but it suggests shortness of breath and fatigue in the face of a conflict that drags on. Even the desire to refresh his decorations ultimately takes precedence over the Ukrainian War.
consciousness
Americans' attention spans and ability to concentrate are suffering from attacks of which they are no more aware than we are. They no longer get their news from traditional newspapers, but rather scroll from one epiphenomenon to the next on their favorite social media.
The major television news programs, which until a few years ago offered a common view of current events, rarely send their reporters to the Russian-Ukrainian front.
Out of compassion
What I hear more often – and what pollsters confirm – is that the cost of living has put a strain on the average American's finances and that a majority fear not having the resources to pay for the health care that would be associated with a serious accident.
After immigration, the ongoing opioid crisis and gun violence, Americans are at the end of their compassion for Ukrainians.