In Washington to shore up support for Ukraine, the former prime minister says she hopes a Republican becomes the next president
By Tony Diver, US EDITOR
28 November 2023 •
Liz Truss has called for Reaganite “American leadership” on the war in Ukraine, as she attempts to persuade wavering Republicans to continue support for Volodymyr Zelensky.
The former prime minister said she hopes a Republican candidate will win next year’s presidential election, but called for the party to look to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as a model to deal with authoritarianism around the world.
Ms Truss is among a delegation of Conservative politicians visiting Washington this week, where they will meet with Republicans in Congress to shore up support for Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Enthusiasm for sending expensive munitions to Ukraineis falling among both the public and politicians on Capitol Hill, with the focus of American foreign policy moving towards the conflict in Gaza.
Polls show less than half of Americans now think that funding for the Ukraine war should continue, while Joe Biden’s recent request for a $61 billion war chest failed to make it onto the floor of the House of Representatives, amid opposition from the GOP.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal, Ms Truss called on Republicans to “embrace conservative leadership in the US that is once again bold enough to call out hostile regimes as evil and a threat”.
“To tilt the balance in favour of Ukraine, we must ensure that Ukraine has a quantitative military advantage when it is facing off against a Russian military backed by Iranian weapons and diplomatic support from the Chinese,” she argued.
“Today, Ukraine most urgently needs to establish air superiority either through stealth jets or advanced drones that can support front-line troops. We should also be fast-tracking its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”
Her calls clash with the policy positions of several of the Republican primary frontrunners, including Donald Trump, who currently has a 47-point poll lead over his rivals.
Mr Trump has said he would end the war in Ukraine “in one day” if he was elected president again, by bringing Mr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin together to negotiate.
Ron DeSantis, who is polling in second place, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who is fourth, have both called for cuts in support for Ukraine to allow the US to spend more on domestic priorities, like immigration.
Of the major contenders left in the Republican race, onlyNikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, has been vocal in support for Ukraine.
In her article, titled “The World Again Needs American Leadership,” Ms Truss said: “For as long as most of us can recall, the U.S. has led the free world.
“During the Cold War, for example, it was American power that successfully held off the communist threat from the Soviet Union.
“Working in tandem with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, President Ronald Reagan was unflinching, calling the Soviet Union an ‘evil empire’. The world would benefit from more of that kind of American leadership today.”
In the aftermath of Mr Trump’s first presidential term, many on the Republican Right have shifted away from the party’s 1980s neoconservatism and towards a “Make America Great Again” isolationist policy.
On China, Mr Trump and other contenders say they would impose trade barriers to prevent economic competition between them, but are less concerned about tension between China and Taiwan.
While Ukraine has support among both parties in the Democrat-held US Senate, House Republicans have consistently opposed more spending on foreign wars.
Mr Biden’s most recent supplemental request for military aid for Israel and Ukraine will likely require significant White House compromises on border control to make it to a vote in the lower house.
There is a ready-made Thatcher-Reagan combination that would save Ukraine, save capitalism, save democracy and kick the asses of the CRINKS. But very, very sadly they aren’t in power and never will be.
They are Liz Truss and Roger Wicker.
When she became PM, Liz; a staunch Ukraine supporter, immediately ordered a doubling of the UK’s defence spending to 5%. Then she began a massive Thatcherite tax-cutting programme.
A cabal of leftists in the civil service, Bank of England, money markets and Whitehall Mandarins conspired to engineer a run on the pound and she was out.
Rishi, her replacement, now has a year to turn the UK economy round to stave off Sir Kier Starmer, who is a Marxist wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“To tilt the balance in favour of Ukraine, we must ensure that Ukraine has a quantitative military advantage when it is facing off against a Russian military backed by Iranian weapons and diplomatic support from the Chinese,” she argued.”
Very good. But even that is not enough to crush the putinaZi horde totally.
NFZ now.
I think Liz Truss is still living in the 1980’s.
The economic policies of Reagan and Thatcher would be a disaster in 2023.
You cannot lower taxes when public debt is through the roof.
Also, social security, healthcare, education and infrastructure have been stripped bare already.
Especially the U.S. has a decaying transportation, poor and inaccessible health care and only the happy few can
afford to go to university.
Budget cuts will eventually hurt business as well, as they need transport solutions and a healthy and well educated workforce.
The low public expenditure, low taxes principle will only hurt companies in the long run.
Tax cuts will provide a short term economic boost, but not long term growth.
I think living in the past is always a bad idea, as circumstances where a lot different in the 1980’s.
What worked 40 years ago doesn’t work in today’s economy.
If they want sustainable growth, they should look at the Nordic countries.
Their economies are currently the world’s best performing economies and have been for decades.
I must say that I do like Reagan’s policies towards the Soviet Union: I would definitely put Reagan on foreign affairs if he was alive right now. But his economic policies are hopelessly outdated.
^bert
I apologize. but I don’t understand your comment.
If Liz Truss refers to Reaganism it is only as a symbol of resistance to communist or totalitarian ideologies. In the articles I have read, I do not see an extension or incitement of any policy or program from another era. But I don’t have access to certain articles on news sites (for free).
It seems to me that his message is intended above all to be a call for conservatives to “refocus” on Republican bases. Populism is the trap of the conservative right and clearly no one sees the abyss that is opening under their feet.
I dare say it, I am far left and even I was able to understand it! 🙂
Well, Liz Truss was often saying things that Thatcher would have said, like a “trickle down economy”.
There is no such a thing, if you lower tax for the most wealthy they only end up saving more money, not really boosting the economy. When you give a million to someone that has already 10 million pounds in savings, he will end up having 11. If he would be willing to invest it, he wouldn’t have been sitting on this 10 million pounds beforehand. That is basically the principle and explains why 1980’s style economic policies won’t work.
I think Liz Truss is a person stuck in the 1980’s, probably as she was young and happy at the time. Also in her speeches she often refers to the good old days. I wasn’t born yet but I believe the 80’s were amazing, but there is no way going back. Even when you enact 1980’s policies, we will still be in 2023 and soon 2024.
^bert