WASHINGTON –
When US President Donald Trump was impeachable in late 2019 after pressuring Ukraine’s leader for “service” while withholding $ 400 million in military aid to counter Russian-backed separatists, even the toughest Republican defense hawks were virtually united by Trump’s country.
But as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military marched on Kyiv this February, threatening not only Ukraine but the rest of Europe, Republicans and Democrats in Congress rejected impeachment policies, united on Ukraine’s side, and quickly sent billions to the president’s defense. Vladimir Zelenski.
The question that arises as Ukrainians fight Russia’s invasion after its 100th day is whether the rare bipartisan attitude on Capitol Hill is resilient enough to withstand Trump’s isolationist influence on his party or Republicans who are succumbed to Trump’s “America first” approach, they will. again jeopardizing military and humanitarian support for Ukraine.
“Perhaps there is recognition from both the Republican side and the Democrats that this security aid is very important,” said Bill Taylor, a former ambassador to Ukraine, in a recent interview with the Associated Press.
“And maybe neither side wants to break up this coalition.”
Tense party policy comes at a crucial time when Russia’s invasion is dragging on and the United States is deepening its conflict ahead of the November election, when lawmakers face voters with control of Congress.
A recent study by the AP-NORC’s Center for Public Affairs shows that public support in the United States for Russia’s punishment for the war fluctuates if it is at the expense of the economy.
While Congress garnered rare and solid bipartisan support to approve a $ 40 billion package for Ukraine, bringing total US support to a staggering $ 53 billion since the start of the war, resistance to the latest round of aid came only from the Republican side, including from Trump.
This is a warning sign of the strength of the bipartisan coalition, which the best Republican in Congress, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, tried to support when he led a delegation of Republican senators to side with Zelensky on a surprise trip to Kyiv. last month.
“There are some isolationist sentiments in my party that I think are wrong, and I wanted to oppose that,” McConnell told a Kentucky audience last week, explaining his visit to Ukraine.
Disagreements within the Republican Party over Ukraine are routinely fueled by Trump, who initially praised Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as a “genius” negotiating strategy. Trump has repeatedly criticized US aid to Ukraine, including at a rally in Wyoming last weekend. Before the Senate voted on $ 40 billion in aid, Trump condemned the idea of spending abroad while American “parents are fighting.”
As Trump considers running for the White House in 2024, the persistence of his “America First” foreign policy approach leaves open questions about the sustainability of his party’s commitment to US support for a democratic Ukraine. Senators are ready to vote this summer to expand NATO to include Sweden and Finland, but Trump has repeatedly criticized US spending on the Western military alliance.
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, among 11 Republican senators who voted against the Ukrainian package, called the calculation an “astronomical number” at a time when foreign policy should focus elsewhere, including on China.
“This is a nation-building number,” Hawley said in an interview. “And I think it’s a mistake.”
Almost three years ago, Ukraine was at the center of American policy with the impeachment of Trump in 2019, which shook Washington.
Zelensky, a comedian who has become a politician, was just elected when he asked Trump during a phone call on July 25, 2019 for a meeting to strengthen US-Ukraine relations and provide military assistance, according to a transcript published by Trump’s White House.
“We are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes,” Zelensky told Trump, referring to the anti-tank weapons that Ukraine relies on from the West.
Trump replied, “But I would like you to do us a favor.”
Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, Trump’s main Democratic rival at the time and now US president, and Biden Hunter’s son, who was on board a Ukrainian gas company.
The impeachment investigation, sparked by a government complaint about Trump’s call, quickly became a milestone, the first in a generation since Democrat Bill Clinton was accused of an affair with a White House intern.
During weeks of impeachment in Ukraine, witnesses from across national security and foreign services testified under oath about the alarms that went off in Washington and Kyiv over Trump’s talks with Zelensky.
Complex stories have emerged about Trump’s allies struggling to secure Bidens’ investigations – and those of government officials who oppose what they see as a breach of protocol.
However, Americans’ views on the gravity of the allegations against Trump were mixed, according to a poll by the AP at the time.
Trump was impeachment by the Democratic-led House of Representatives and acquitted by the Senate, with only one Republican, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, joining the Democrats to condemn.
“All the accusations are about horse hockey,” said spokesman Morgan Griffith, R-Va, recalling his decision not to impeach.
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Dismissed questions as to whether Trump’s actions then played a role in Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine this February.
“It wasn’t like Putin came in right after that. It’s been almost two years,” Rubio said.
Republicans are quick to point out that Trump was, in fact, the first president to allow the supply of deadly weapons to Ukraine, something the Barack Obama administration, with Biden as vice president, refused to do for fear of provoking Putin.
Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio, co-chair of the Ukrainian Senate group who persuaded Trump on a phone call to eventually release $ 400 million in aid, remained adamant that he would not condemn Trump for delaying that aid.
“As long as it’s done,” Portman said of the result.
But Romney said people need to stay “clear” about Putin’s threat to the world order. “I did the right thing in time and I didn’t look back,” he said.
Democrats have been fierce in their criticism of Republicans over the impeachment sentence.
“It’s a shame,” said Senator Bob Menendez, DNJ, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Every Republican who votes in favor of the geopolitical upheaval of Donald Trump and the blackmail of Vladimir Zelensky and the Ukrainian people must be ashamed of themselves,” said Hakim Jeffries, DN.Y., “because of the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions.” they were understood for us then, and now the world understands. “
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