Several of you have asked, why half the Republican party has voted for Ukraine aid today, if the party is against it.
The truth is, many republicans have wanted this aid for months — even Mike Johnson was for it in the beginning.
But Trump wanted Biden’s Ukraine agenda to fail, and very few Republicans dare to go against the tzar, because if they do, Trump will immediately endorse another political candidate in their home district.
But what turned this around was security briefings…
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where experts told politicians, that if they kept delaying the aid, Ukraine could lose the war.
I think that made Mike Johnson and others realize, they risked destroying their political careers by being the ones to hand the victory to Putin.
Every member of the House depend on being reelected in November, and if Ukraine was suddenly on retreat because of their clown show, many patriotic Republicans might vote for someone else.
They were scared of Trump, but this scared them even more.
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@randahl Still 112 members of the House of Representatives decided to vote FOR #TheKremlinPiglet by voting against the aid for Ukraine. Now that’s crazy numbers.
Would be good with an analyzes over who those are. Important to highlight with regards to the upcoming election. Does the USA really want friends of their enemies within their ranks?? It baffles me!
@stadsplanering @randahl The Republican party recently has taken an isolationist turn. (Trump is just the most obvious archetype of this.)
There's a lot more talk about trade policy, immigration, etc; it's not just about avoiding foreign wars.
Like you might think that Ukraine's cause is totally righteous (I do), but maybe we shouldn't be paying for it? If they need help, maybe the countries that are more directly impacted by the threat should be the ones carrying the most of that burden: Poland has certainly stepped up, other European countries could as well. (As a practical matter, Europe could easily contain this threat.) A+
Another way to look at it is this: over the last decade or so, a lot of Americans don't want to be the world's policeman anymore. I think a lot of other countries probably don't want us to be either.
Don't don't confuse that with support of Putin. (I mean, obviously there are people who like Putin.)
Same with the Houthis in the Red Sea: Europe are the ones hurt by that, and they can easily deal with it. (Shipping companies could probably deal with it on their own, even!) US support for free trade and access to the sea has really generated a lot of wealth over the last 70 years, great, but who really wants a world where we are the ones enforcing that all the time? More and more, not us.
@ech @stadsplanering @randahl ...If I may, I think the Maga side of the GOP are as you say....they will do as commanded by trumpo, thoughtful analysis strongly driving action to do the opposite notwithstanding. The other side of GOP, weakly being dragged along for the swampy, despicable Maga ride, really (imho) see Russia as our forever enemy and want Ukraine support to continue and grow to defeat putin. It is how/why a majority of Americans support aid.