US: If Successful in November, Republicans Might Break on Ukraine
Will the Republicans break on Ukraine after the US midterm elections 2022? Defense One, in a panicky article posted on July 11, fears exactly that as a result of the expectation that Republicans aligned with Donald Trump will make big gains in November.
“Nearly five months into the Russian invasion, support for U.S. military and financial assistance to Kyiv is shrinking among the GOP’s right-wing base, a group that has been primed by its leaders and top media personalities to oppose the Biden administration’s plans for American intervention or even side with Russia’s illegal invasion,” writes Jacqueline Feldscher, Defense One’s Senior National Security Correspondent.
“[S]ome observers wonder just how much longer Americans — especially right-wing voters and lawmakers — will fund a costly stalemate between Kyiv and Moscow. Few predict Ukraine can win without significantly more firepower, ground forces, or direct military involvement by NATO-member neighbors. Should the GOP win control of Congress, whether the United States continues to arm Ukraine could depend on who controls the policy and pursestrings: the internationalist moderate Republican leaders sitting atop key committees or isolationist far-right party superstars.”
The issue is the same as in Europe, Americans are more concerned with the nose-diving economy and runaway inflation than supporting a losing war in Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars.
Feldscher’s article quotes Russ Vought, president of the Center for Renewing America and former director of the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget, who believes that while the vote in the House in support of the arms package for Ukraine was “fairly successful, if it took place today, “I think you’d have 100 Republicans opposed to it, and much more GOP in the Senate as well.”
“You have to think through, do you have concerns with the package going to Ukraine, or do you just not like the process?” he continued. “We don’t like the process, but our main fundamental concern is we don’t subsidize a government that’s told ‘as long as it takes.'”
However, those who think the “all that it takes” policy is secure are “a bit naive,” according to Dan Caldwell, vice president of foreign policy at Stand Together, which receives funding in part from right-wing businessman Charles Koch.
In addition, writes Feldscher, some Democrats are also warning that a Republican-controlled Congress would put aid to Ukraine “in the crosshairs”.
Ruben Gallego, a Democratic Congressman from Arizona, tweeted July 1: . “Fact is if the Republicans take over the House in 2022, US support to Ukraine will come to a halt. They will not be able to stop @RepMTG & @mattgaetz from dictating our Ukraine policy,” referring to Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and her colleague Matt Gaetz, who are more concerned with runaway inflation and the economy than a winless war in Ukraine.
