Former U. S. Vice President Mike Pence toured Washington this week with high-profile speeches, almost confused when he described how Ronald Reagan helped fuel his transition from a young Democratic Party supporter to a staunch Republican.
Republicans have long adored Reagan for projecting American strength into his relations with the Soviet Union in the final years of the Cold War era. But today’s Republican Party rarely resembles the aggressive foreign policy organization that stretched from Reagan to George W’s presidency. Bush.
In a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation, Pence lamented some recent comments by Republicans in Congress related to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
“There can be no position on the conservative motion for [Vladimir] Putin’s apologists. There is no position in this motion for the champions of freedom,” he said.
“Appeasement has always worked in history. “
Pence’s comments came a day after Kevin McCarthy, potentially the next president, made comments about long-term aid to Ukraine if Republicans win the House after next month’s midterm elections.
“I think other people are going to be sitting in a recession and not writing a blank check to Ukraine,” McCarthy told Punchbowl News.
The comments followed a key investment bill due last month by a government shutdown, which also included aid to Ukraine. Only about two handful of House Republicans supported it; McCarthy and his control team were not on board.
In the spring, 57 Democratic-led House Republicans voted No to an aid bill for Ukraine.
The stakes are high for Ukraine, of course, and for Western unity opposed to Russia.
U. S. Security Assistance The U. S. invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 amounted to more than $17. 5 billion after the announcement of an army ammunition and car package last week, while U. S. materials from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) were vital in the Ukraine fight. . .
According to recent research through The Economist, U. S. military, financial and humanitarian aid is in the past. The U. S. economy, in total dollars, dwarfs the sum total of that provided through the European Union and European NATO members (although given the long duration of the U. S. economy). In the US, several small and medium-sized European countries have given a higher percentage as a percentage of GDP).
Not everyone may see it, but Trump’s surrogates have embarked on a rather relentless crusade to protect Putin’s invasion and oppose Ukraine. We are only now seeing the effects of polling. https://t. co/XO0KIW7Fth
Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, in a Newsweek op-ed aimed at McCarthy’s comments, feared the symbolic message that significant relief in the U. S. would be a major U. S. world. “. “
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted his fear that Republican ambivalence is also affecting how the American public perceives aid to Ukraine.
Some Republican contenders for the House and Senate have shown withering indifference to the plight of Ukrainians, echoing former President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.
“Another billion for Ukraine. . . ,” Texas congressional candidate Wesley Hunt tweeted in August. “At this rate, at least we’ll make it the 51st state so they can start paying the federal source of income taxes. “
To the extent that there is Republican opposition or hesitation, several points were mentioned: the precedence of the myriad internal disorders facing the United States, such as inflation and immigration; a primary fear that China is the biggest threat; and grievances with European nations over the belief that the U. S. it does not join NATO.
“I have to be fair to you, I don’t care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” J. D. said. Vance, a U. S. Senate candidate from Ohio, in February.
Since then, Vance has selected his words more carefully, he and others have advocated for a negotiated peace settlement as soon as possible.
Trump, who remains an influential figure within the party, has taken Putin’s nuclear threats seriously and attacked what he sees as the Biden administration’s generosity toward Ukraine. I will end up in World War III and there will be nothing left of our planet, all because other people’s stupid people had no idea. “
During his presidency, Trump has been criticized for his praise of Putin and his ambivalence toward Ukraine’s future. Trump’s heavy-handed tactics to make non-public gains while dealing with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy resulted in Trump’s first Democratic-led impeachment.
Trump also denounced the point of defense spending across NATO members, echoing comments from others such as Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters, who called the Russian-Ukrainian standoff a “European problem. “
Senator Josh Hawley, the only Republican who did not recently vote for Sweden and Finland to join NATO, explained that the United States will not abandon this alliance, but that European nations will have to do more to ensure their own security interests. and that Americans need to focus on the risk of Chinese Communist Party dominance in Asia.
A similar view that Pentagon priorities cannot be derived from China’s claims to Taiwan and Asian waters emerged recently through House Whip’s Republican Steve Scalise.
Republican recalcitrance in the House on Ukraine may spark heated discussions within its caucus in 2023 and with its Senate counterparts, regardless of who wins this chamber.
Republican Mitch McConnell, who could again become the Senate majority leader, expressed support for Ukraine and did not announce a vacation in Kyiv in the spring to meet with Zelenskyy.
Unlike McCarthy, McConnell, who entered Congress in the Reagan years, chided Biden’s management for not bringing aid to Ukraine faster.
Senior Writer
Toronto-based Chris Iorfida has been at CBC since 2002, writing on topics such as politics, business, health, sports, arts and entertainment, science and technology.
With The Associated Press
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