In a stark break with Republicans determined to defend Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement released Monday that becoming “further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia” is not in the best interests of the United States. He added that politicians should instead focus on domestic issues.
DeSantis, who is considering a run for the White House, poses the biggest challenge to former President Donald Trump’s candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, according to public opinion surveys.
On Monday, Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson shared on Twitter replies to a questionnaire about the situation in Ukraine that Republican candidates and potential contenders were asked to fill out. “While the U.S. has many vital national interests … becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis said in his reply.
Distancing himself from Republicans who argue that Mr. Biden’s Ukrainian strategy is flawed because he isn’t doing enough, DeSantis made it apparent that he believes Biden is doing too much, without a clear goal in mind, and is taking moves that risk inciting conflict between the United States and Russia.
“The Biden administration’s virtual ‘blank check’ funding of this conflict for ‘as long as it takes,’ without any defined objectives or accountability, distracts from our country’s most pressing challenges,” he added.
Mr. DeSantis’ views on Ukrainian policy now coincide with those of Trump. Republican hawks, notably Mike Pence and Nikki Haley, have characterized Ukraine’s resistance as a fight for “freedom.” Mr. McConnell has made similar arguments, framing the conflict as a fight to preserve the post-World War II international security order. All have urged President Biden to go farther — to deploy more lethal weapons, sooner — to assist Ukraine in driving Russia off its borders.
On the contrary ,when questioned about whether the US should back regime change in Russia,Trump wrote: “No. We should support regime change in the United States, that’s far more important. The Biden administration are the ones who got us into this mess.”
