Editor’s note: Regular text is spoken by Marshall. (Bolded and italicized text in parentheses) refers to Marshall’s actions and aside comments. [Bolded text in brackets] indicate comments and actions by the audience.
Blocks provide additional context (Source cited).
You can watch a video of the entire town hall here.
Senator Marshall’s opening remarks
I usually don’t use any notes, but I had some things that were heavy on my heart as I got ready to share. Usually, every month I find something to focus on which is inspirational to me. The one that I’m focused on is that “we have to be willing to doubt our own infallibility.” In a democracy, we have to be willing to doubt our own infallibility.
(Marshall reads directly from his phone) Quoting President Eisenhower, “May we always remember that no matter how certain we are that we’re right, if we truly believe in democracy, we must also be willing to admit when we are wrong.” (Senator Marshall rambles on about President Eisenhower.)
We have to be willing to accept our own infallibility. We have a lot of folks who have traveled a long way to be here, and this is really Oakley’s town hall, so I will try to focus on their questions.
[Laughter and jeering from audience. An audience member: “You represent the whole state.”]
I’m going to say this one time— if you all keep cutting me off, if you’re rude, which you are being, I’m going to leave. The people of Oakley don’t deserve this.
U.S. Senators are to represent all of the people in their state.During the congressional recess a few weeks ago, Senator Marshall held zero town halls in Kansas. Instead, he held a retreat in Sarasota, Florida, where he owns a $1.2 million “vacation” home (Kansas City Star, 2024). Retreat tickets were going for at least $3,300. Kansas is not mentioned once on the event’s flyer.
[Some applause from the audience. Another audience member: “If you’re from Oakley, raise your hand!” Many audience members raise their hands. More bickering between Senator Marshall and the crowd. Senator Marshall threatens to leave a few more times.]
Should we just break up on different sides and play Red Rover or something?
[Another audience member: “I don’t have a question, I have a comment.”]
I don’t want to hear it right now, okay?
[Same audience member: “Well, when where there be an open session?”]
(Marshall turns around in exasperation, looking to leave.) I’m about done with this interrupting.
[Same audience member: "Thank you for your time, if you do leave."]
You're welcome.
[Another audience member: “Can you answer for me this— did Russia invade Ukraine?”]
No. I want to take on the biggest issue of the day.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 (Brittanica).
[Another audience member: “Yeah, the Constitution!” A man in a red Trump hat turns to the audience member and tells them, “Shut up.”]
I want to take on what I think are the biggest issues of the last 24 hours.
(Marshall checks phone: 2)
Again, I wrote down some notes because I wanted to share this from my heart and make sure that I get it right. First of all, I have a deep amount of passion and empathy for the people of Ukraine…. (Marshall looks at an audience member with their hand raised— "You can put your hand down, I’m not going to call on you.")
I have a deep amount of compassion and empathy for the people of Ukraine. They’ve been fighting this war with Russia for almost 1,700 years. They’ve fought bravely.
(Marshall checks phone: 3)
I wanted to fine Vladimir Putin. Look, I despise Vladimir Putin, he is a blood thirsty war criminal.
Senator Marshall falls in line with Republican messaging on the issue, denouncing Vladimir Putin while avoiding Trump’s criticism of Ukraine (ABC News, 19 February 2025).
[Audience applauses.]
So this is what I’m trying to avoid, the cheering, because we’re going to come right back to booing here in a minute. But I do appreciate the encouragement, thank you.
Look, he’s a thug, he’s a criminal, he’s a murderer. He should be tried at the Hague. I have no use for Vladimir Putin. I have compassion for the people of Russia, I’m sure there’s lots of good people there.
(Marshall checks phone: 4)
The next thing I would say is that, Europe has had 3 years now to step up. This is, in, my humble opinion, Europe’s war. Happy to help. We have 105,000 American soldiers in Europe right now. One of them was my own son, enlisted in the Army, and he was there for a year as well. Thank God he’s back safe.
“Only a small fraction of US forces is based in Europe, while the bulk of US military strength is available to deter or confront the threat from China… Wavering US commitment in Europe would send a worrying signal to [our allies in Asia]. There are few strategic outcomes from the Ukraine war that China would value more than the fracturing of transatlantic cohesion and the NATO Alliance. Working with allies and partners is the United States’ best route to coping with both China and Russia simultaneously” (Atlantic Council, 2024).
But in my humble opinion, Europe has had 3 years to step up and take this on. Russia has an economy the size of Italy.
The comparison between Russia and Italy’s economy was first introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham in 2014. “In terms of nominal GDP, Graham is correct. But if you run the numbers a different way and measure purchasing power parity, Russia's economy is larger than Italy's” (Politifact, 2014).
Europe has an economy multiple times bigger than Russia, and they have to be able to defend themselves.
The GDP of EU and European states is over 5 times the GDP of Russia (World Economics, 2025).
However, economic power alone cannot deter a key issue: nuclear warfare. “In the last three years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly engaged in nuclear saber-rattling to get his way… [Russia] has conducted military exercises together with Belarus that include the use of tactical nuclear weapons, which has heightened anxiety in Europe, particularly in those countries bordering Ukraine or Russia” (Politico, 2024).
Europe has largely relied upon the American nuclear umbrella for protection. After the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU in 2020, France is now the only EU country with nuclear weapons, maintaining independent control over the world’s fourth largest stockpile behind Russia, the United States, and China. Nuclear deterrence has been a cornerstone of NATO’s policies, however, the EU and NATO are not synonymous. Several EU member states are opposed to implementing a European nuclear umbrella (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2025).
(Marshall checks phone: 5)
There has been at least a million casualties in this war so far, and maybe even a million deaths. How many of y’all grew up in the Vietnam war era, or served in Vietnam? (Senator Marshall raises his hand) I just remember driving by the cemetery on the way to my grandparents’ farm, and seeing flag bury coffins of young men that were playing high school football last year. And I said if I ever had a chance to stop any of those wars, I would do that. So that is where this is coming from. I don’t want anyone out there to be dying. Millions of people dying.
This war has gotten nowhere. This war is stuck. It is absolutely stuck… If we could give Ukraine the tools that they needed— and I begged the Biden administration to give them the tools that they needed, before it happened, when it happened.
Marshall was among 11 GOP senators who voted against a $40 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine very early on in the war— just three months after Russia’s initial invasion (Kansas Reflector, 2022).
I begged him to put maximum sanctions on Russia, and he never did.
Marshall is possibly referring to the call for sanctions on Russia back in 2021, regarding the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Russia and Germany. Both the Bush and Obama administrations had warned against the EU’s reliance on Russian energy (Foreign Policy, 2018). Germany accused the U.S. of interfering with its internal affairs when the sanctions were implemented by the Trump administration (BBC, 2019). The Biden administration defied Congress and suspended the sanctions in 2021, citing the need to reduce friction with Germany and Russia (BBC, 2021).
The effectiveness of sanctions on Russia is suspect. “Russia’s dominant position in the global energy and commodities trade… provides it with substantial leverage over markets and economies, making it less susceptible to sanctions and less easily cowed by Western pressure” (National Interest, 2023).
(Marshall checks phone: 6)
And remember what Eisenhower said about war. Ike said that, “I hate war, as only a soldier who has lived it can, with all of its brutality and futility.” I don’t want war. At the end of the day, we should be focused on the goal. Will we disagree on how to get there? Often times. But as long as we realize the same goals, I’m willing to have that conversation. My goal, and I believe President Trump’s goal is to have peace in this situation.
Peace by appeasement rarely holds for long.
As Mark Rutte, the current Dutch prime minister and likely next NATO secretary general, has said, “If we were to accept for one moment that Putin could be successful in Ukraine, that he would get Kyiv, that he would get the whole country, it won’t end there. History has taught us that” (The Atlantic Council, 2024).
(Marshall checks phone: 7)
And avoid World War III. This really could have turned into some kind of a WWIII or some type of a nuclear holocaust.
(Marshall checks phone: 8)
In my opinion, Ukraine has now been three years of a bottomless pit. We’ve spent over $175 billion dollars there, maybe more. And it just feels like we are throwing good money after bad money. I want there to be a peace agreement.
“When compared to the critical support to Ukraine from other countries, the size of U.S. aid stands out. However, many European governments are making larger financial contributions to Ukraine relative to the size of their economies” (Council on Foreign Relations, 2024).
(Marshall checks phone: 9)
I want it to be done sooner rather than later.
(Marshall stammers)
You know, I was not surprised at all to see the blowup yesterday. I was not surprised at all. Based on what the under currents were, there are ways to have avoided that event, but Mr. Zelensky insisted upon coming to the White House to sign this agreement.
“Zelenskyy’s main objective going into the sit-down had been to press Trump not to abandon his country and to warn against moving too close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead he got shouted at while Trump appeared to play up the drama for the cameras” (AP News, 2025).
[Crowd protests.]
Again. This is so interesting. We all have a set of facts that we believe are right. We all have a set of truths we believe are right. I go back to the same fallibility thing. To think that you're not infallible. To think that only your facts are right.
“Fact (noun): a piece of information presented as having objective reality” (Merriam-Webster). By definition, a fact cannot be false.
I think that's not what democracy is about. I bet that 95% of the people in this room-- let me back up. I know that based upon polling, 70% of Americans want there to be a swift peace. I think that, that is President Trump's goal as well. For those of you that want to keep waring in Europe, I hope that you're willing to go send your son or daughter, or yourself, over there to fight. I think we've done enough there. We're willing to support them, but basically, we've done enough.
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