On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, spoke during a debate in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday condemning far-right Republicans who he said “effectively support the unlawful invasion and unprovoked Ukraine by Vladimir Putin”.
Chuck Schumer said that “on the very day that a Russian plane intercepted and shot down an American reconnaissance drone in the Black Sea, it was unpleasant to hear how some far-right politicians not only do not condemn Putin, but justify him “. Schumer believes that these Republicans do not have the courage to condemn Putin.
Schumer also said that “one Republican governor in particular said yesterday that defending Ukraine and opposing Putin are not vital national interests of the United States. He called Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of another sovereign democracy a “territorial dispute”. In essence, he thinks the United States is wrong to support a Ukraine that fights and dies defending its democracy.
Schumer rhetorically asked where this Republican politician would be if he lived in the 1930s. “We know what happened when many refused to stand up to the aggression. The result was a world war,” the Senate Majority Leader said in his speech.
Schumer also noted that such remarks are “not unique to the Republican Party.” Schumer said that “For years, an isolationist fever has raged among the far right, propagated night after night by Fox News. Far-right isolationism is dangerous, un-American, undemocratic, and woefully blind to the lessons of history.
Schumer pointed out that “ironically, many on the far right, who historically opposed communism and authoritarianism, are now openly flirting with autocrats like Putin. These MAGA isolationists are undermining American security and American leadership on the world stage.”
Schumer believes that “the desire to justify Putin’s goals is just one of Donald Trump’s many terrible legacies, and it is no less a good reason why he – and those who think the same – should not not approach the Oval Office”.
Schumer’s speech is a response to the position of some Republican congressmen, who mostly support former President Trump, as well as statements by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which he made on March 14 and which provoked a broad discussion within the Republican Party itself.
DeSantis responded in writing to a questionnaire that Fox News host Tucker Carlson sent to all potential Republican presidential candidates. The Florida governor has yet to announce his entry into the presidential race, but is expected to do so soon and be a likely rival for Trump’s Republican nomination.
DeSantis called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute”. DeSantis also believes that protecting Ukraine “is not of vital interest to the United States” because Ukraine is far from America.
“The Biden administration’s funding of this conflict on an ‘unlimited check’ ‘for as long as it takes,’ with no defined purpose or accountability, distracts from our nation’s most pressing challenges,” DeSantis wrote. in response to Carlson’s questions.
According to DeSantis, “American citizens also have a right to know how billions of American taxpayer dollars are being used in Ukraine.”
The Governor of Florida believes that the United States’ goal in Ukraine “should certainly be peace”, and therefore “the United States should not provide assistance that may require the deployment of American troops or allow Ukraine to participate in offensive operations outside its borders. DeSantis rules out the possibility of supplying Ukraine with F-16 jets and longer-range missiles. This, in his view, would prevent the danger of US involvement in a conflict with Russia, “a hot war between the world’s two largest nuclear states”.
DeSantis is not a supporter of regime change in Russia. On this occasion, he wrote that it would “raise the stakes of the conflict by making the use of nuclear weapons more likely. Such a policy would not stop the death and destruction of this war and would not lead to the emergence of a pro-American constitutionalist like James Madison in the Kremlin. According to DeSantis, “History shows that Putin’s successor in this hypothetical situation will likely be even more ruthless. The cost of such a dubious result could be astronomical.
DeSantis believes that Washington is now pursuing “regime change policy in Russia,” and that, they say, will not lead to policy change in Moscow. And on top of that, according to the governor of Florida, China is profiting from the war, receiving cheap Russian fuel.
DeSantis also believes that “through his deliberate depletion of the strategic oil reserve and his support for the leftist Green New Deal, Biden, at the expense of the Americans, has further strengthened Russia’s energy-dominated economy and Putin’s military machine. “. According to DeSantis, the Biden administration’s policy “has pushed Russia into a de facto alliance with China.”
DeSantis’ stance on Wednesday drew criticism from many Republican lawmakers who believe Ukraine must continue to provide all necessary military and financial assistance, and that this war is the fight of the entire free world against invasion. illegal in the territory of an independent State. .
