New Polling; Republican Voters Now Willing to Abandon Ukraine

If the GOP captures either the House or Senate this week, aid to Ukraine is in jeopardy despite Sen Mitch McConnell's statements to the contrary. Support is becoming a partisan issue as Republican opposition grows. A new poll by the Wall Street Journal found that 48% of Republicans now say the U.S. is doing too much to help Ukraine, up from 6% in the previous survey. And only 35% of Republicans support additional assistance for the war-ravaged nation compared to 81% of Democrats.

When Russia first invaded, there was bipartisan support for aid to Ukraine, but that was before Trumpists in the GOP and their MAGA allies in the conservative media began to question our support for Ukraine, NATO, and Eastern Europe generally.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri have all spoken out against continued support for Kiev and their opposition has taken root in the Republican base.

“Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine. Our country comes first.'' — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), at a rally in Iowa.

And Fox's biggest mouthpiece, Tucker Carlson, often seems like a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Media Matters: "Carlson’s coverage of the crisis created by Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine generally aligns with the Kremlin’s preferred narratives, to the point where Russian state media outlets, following their government’s explicit instructions, regularly air clips from his program."

Many Republicans have now embraced the "isolationism,” that was so prevalent in the GOP early in the 20th century. This "neo-isolationism" reflects Donald Trump's populist MAGA philosophy, advocating that the U.S. focus inward, abandoning globalism and the web of international alliances that we carefully nurtured after World War Two.

The irony of this new isolationism is that it rejects the tools that made America "Great" in the first place. The international system represented by organizations like NATO, the United Nations, and GATT [the World Trade Organization] benefitted and enriched America and its people. Moreover, it contained the ambitions of nationalist tyrants like Vladimir Putin.

MAGA Republicans, raising doubts about aid to Ukraine, play right into Putin’s hands. The Russian leader is counting on Western unity and resolve to fade over time, and the resurgence of MAGA idiocy must lighten the darkest moments of his Ukrainian debacle. And, further east, Xi Jinping is closely watching how this all plays out as he eyes his greatest prize just 100 miles offshore.

#politics #internationalrelations

By: Don Lam & Curated Content