Opinion by Frida Ghitis
Published 12:48 PM EST, Wed February 7
Trump’s Republican allies on Tuesday torpedoed the border bill – and with it, aid for Ukraine.
Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own.
When Donald Trump became president in 2017, Russians popped champagne corks across Moscow, secretly and publicly. Trump’s victory, they believed, would be beneficial for the Kremlin. Today, the bubbly must be flowing again. Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t even have to wait until the 2024 election and Trump’s possible return to the White House to have cause for celebration.
Trump is already proving fantastically useful for Putin.
The former president and his MAGA loyalists are wrapping up an invaluable gift for the Russian leader just in time for the second anniversary of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
With every passing day it looks like they’re going to force the United States to break its word and all but abandon Ukraine – along with other war-torn regions and Indo-Pacific defense.
For a moment, it looked like the US Congress would behave responsibly. It was odd that urgently needed aid for Ukraine was included in a border security bill. But the bill, painstakingly negotiated and containing almost everything Republicans had demanded to deal with a crisis at the border, was suddenly torpedoed by Trump’s Republican allies.
Never mind that MAGA activists had spent years suggesting nothing mattered more than controlling the border. Never mind that the legislation imposes the toughest restrictions in decades. Never mind that it includes the support that Ukraine needs to fight a war that is of vital importance to the United States and its allies, along with funding for Israel’s war against Hamas, humanitarian aid for Gaza, and funding for operations in the Red Sea, where the Iran-backed Houthis are launching missiles at ships and near Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by China.
No, the bill was declared dead by Trump’s allies because the former president decided it was bad for him.
Trump has made it clear that he wants chaos at the border, so he can campaign on the issue, blaming Biden. Solving it, he said, would be a “gift” to Democrats.
For Trump, the worse things are in the United States, the better his chances of capitalizing on discontent and portraying Biden’s administration as a failure. That’s why he said he hopes a recession, an economic “crash,” happens before the end of the year.
It’s an astonishingly cynical tactic for a man trying to convince voters to put him in charge. It may or may not work at the polls, but it’s already turning policy-making into a deliberately counterproductive mess. Incredibly, he expects his supporters in Congress to vote against bills that they believe would benefit their country. It’s the reverse of patriotism.
Trump’s congressional toadies quickly fell into line even before they saw the border bill. And after he threatened anyone who supported it with the “end of their career,” many Republicans who might have wanted to support it quietly peeled away.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) declared himself “gobsmacked” by the result. Republicans got everything they demanded, he wrote on X, then they “killed it.”
Barring a miracle, the legislation is doomed and with it, very likely, the prospects for substantial US aid for Ukraine.
Imagine the joy in Moscow!
CIA Director Bill Burns earlier this year described abandoning Ukraine as a mistake of “historic proportions.”
Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney noted the long-term repercussions. “On Trump’s orders,” she wrote on X, Republicans are not just discarding the border security deal – they’re also abandoning America’s allies in Ukraine. “Trump and the (GOP) are losing the war on purpose in an inexcusable betrayal that will strengthen America’s enemies for years to come,” she added.
The machinations of Trump and his allies are turning the United States into a weaker, less respected force in the world. The country looks dysfunctional and unreliable, incapable of solving its problems and keeping its word even on matters of the greatest urgency.
If Trump’s main reason for sabotaging the border security deal has been perpetuating a problem that hurts Biden, hurting Ukraine and helping Russia doesn’t exactly run counter to what he has told us about his views.
It’s not just that he’s found it so difficult to express any criticism of Putin, or that when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Trump gushed, calling Putin’s moves “genius … pretty savvy!” (Although he later did condemn the invasion, somehow blaming Biden for it.)
When asked in a CNN town hall last year if he wanted to see Ukraine win, he dodged the question, boasting that he would end the war “in one day; 24 hours” and complaining that the US was giving too much ammunition to Kyiv.
The statement was almost universally interpreted as signaling the end of US support followed by pressure on Ukraine to give up land to the Russian invaders if he became president.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky called Trump’s statements “very dangerous.”
With a none-too-subtle sign that the way for a Putin victory would be eased if Trump wins, there’s little incentive for Putin to wind up the war anytime soon.
Supporters of aid to Ukraine (and Israel) are not giving up. There’s talk of a separate bill of aid for Ukraine, but Trump’s supporters have echoed his skepticism. A standalone bill on Israel aid was already introduced, but it hasn’t made much headway.
Western support for Ukraine is not selfless. NATO members – especially those previously subjugated by Moscow – believe if Ukraine loses, Russia would be emboldened to attack them. Just this week, an assessment by Denmark’s intelligence service concluded it’s very likely that Russia intends to use “military force” against NATO. Moscow, it said, wants to increase its presence in the Baltic Sea and has raised its willingness to take risks. Trump, a NATO skeptic, has cast doubt on his willingness to have the US defend its NATO allies.
This is the Russia that some MAGA members are embracing. Tucker Carlson, the disgraced former Fox provocateur, is in Moscow now interviewing Putin. Russian media are giving him breathless celebrity treatment. No wonder. Carlson, whom Trump has previously said he’d consider as a potential vice president, parroted Putin’s fabricated talking points to justify his invasion of Ukraine, as did other members of MAGA’s far-right media.
As Trump derails aid, Ukraine’s once-vaunted resistance of the Russian invaders is faltering. Ukrainians are still fighting bravely and achieving some spectacular wins, but they are fast running out of ammunition. The failure to replenish their arsenal is causing more casualties.
More Ukrainians are dying, it’s safe to say, as the result of the shameful turn of events on Capitol Hill.
Ukrainians are stepping up their production of drones and artillery pieces, and Europe is trying to fill the gap. The European Union just approved $50 billion in additional aid; the Netherlands just pledged to send more fighter jets, and European countries are rushing to expand production, but that takes time.
The US holds by far the world’s largest military arsenal. Without Washington’s help for a fledgling democracy that is confronting what is arguably the most aggressive of America’s foes, Russia could emerge victorious.
For the United States, its democratic allies, and global stability, that would have immeasurably damaging consequences.
For Putin and his regime, no amount of champagne would be enough to do justice to the significance of that win.
“The US holds by far the world’s largest military arsenal. Without Washington’s help for a fledgling democracy that is confronting what is arguably the most aggressive of America’s foes, Russia could emerge victorious.”
The Ukrainians were winning. Until the counteroffensive failed in its objectives; largely because the Biden administration provided only 20% of the materiel requested by Gen Zaluzhnyi.
Now, Ukraine’s biggest enemy is Trump and his evil cult of Ukraine hatred.
“Schumer vowed the Senate will vote Thursday regardless of where Republicans end up. ”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/07/ukraine-aid-danger-republicans-struggle-00140283
This is the moment of truth for Ukraine and for the Republican Party.
The free world is watching!
We implore you, dear Republican, to remember the legacy of your political movement as a responsible, conservative political force that never compromised with the dark powers who want to take over the free world, a political force that embodied leadership at the level of certain moral values.
Vote for this separate aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel-Gaza.
It’s a vote for the right to life!
Why are Republicans so mean these days?
^bert
Republicans are neither good nor bad; just normal people like everybody else. It’s the magaputler shitheads that are the problem. They aren’t Repubs, nor are they even conservatives. They are fascist scum that are enabling genocide.
Ape Lincoln must be turning in his grave.
That’s for sure, Mike. And let’s not forget that good ole Abe has been killed by an extremist, a fan of the racist confederation. Nowadays, John Wilkes Booth would vote for Trump, we can bet on that.
Have you ever visited Dixie? Of course not. We lost 250k men, our cities were burned downe and Reconstruction was a horror to all southerners. Southern states seceeded because they demanded more autonomy, not slavery. The United States introduced slavery, not the Confederate States. Abolishing slavery overnight would have ruined the southern economy completely. The North refused any compromise and our revolt was the logical result. You are a foreigner and i respect your opinion but you know next to nothing. BTW, the Democratic Party which supports Ukraine is originally a southern party. 😎
I did visit Atlanta once, on the way to NuAwlins, Mike. Admittedly only a short stop. As for your points about Reconstruction and the reasons for the Civil War, I don’t think your views are supported by a majority of modern historians.
Anyway, you claim to be a Serbian Expat living in Sourüthern Germany, so what do you know about this? Where does your idea come from that you’re more of an expert on all things US than I am?
I’m a native of Louisiana who joined Arkan’s Tigers back in the 90’s, since the Nazis murdered 750.000 serbs during WWII and i had a serbian girlfriend back then.
Ha, my favourite state in the US! Love the Cajun culture. Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Now you are my friend. 👍
Maybe we can have a Hurricane after the war, Mike. There’s gotta be some bartenders in Southern Germany who know how it’s done.
Ha,ha,ha!
“seceeded … not slavery”
Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, put his “great truth” in unequivocal terms: “That the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery – subordination to the superior race – is his natural and normal condition.” Or, as Mississippi declared in seceding, “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery – the greatest material interest of the world.”
“the Democratic Party which supports Ukraine is originally a southern party.”
Yes, and back then they were conservative and quite racist. Back in Lincoln’s time, the Republicans were the “good guys” and the Democrats were the racists. It wasn’t until 1960 or so that the Republican “Southern Strategy” of appealing to Southern white racists took force. Today, of course, it’s the Democrats who are the “good guys” and the Republicans the party of the racists – as evidenced by their racist president trumpkov, who was supported by both the KKK and the American Nazi Party.
(Note that saying that the Republican party is the party of the racists doesn’t claim that *all* Republicans are racists. But that’s where the racists feel at home.)
You really felt you had to post some bullshit for the uneducated idiots who confide in dirty trolls like you?. So be it.
The “bullshit” was the claim that the civil war wasn’t about slavery. Even your hero, Nikki Haley, had to admit that, “Of course the Civil War was about slavery.”
Focus on african slaves in central Africa, including children, being kidnapped and forced into slave labor to get gold for RuSSia instead of going me on my nerves with your pitiful paranoid antifa bullshit.
“It’s the magaputler shitheads that are the problem.”
True, but the magaputler shitheads have taken over the Republican party.
Besides killing the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, Trump-aligned MAGA Republican senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) are calling for McConnell to step down because he backed the national security measure with the border fixes MAGA demanded, suggesting that negotiating with Democrats is off-limits.
Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party is showing as well in his attempt to take over the Republican National Committee, in particular a plan to replace as its chair his hand-picked loyalist Ronna McDaniel, who has ties to the old party, with someone even closer to him. Since 2016, “[t]hey’ve merged the DNA of the president’s campaign and the RNC,” a Republican operative told Matt Dixon, Olympia Sonnier, and Katherine Doyle of NBC News.
Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer reported yesterday in the Washington Post that Republicans are afraid to stand up to Trump out of fear that he will retaliate against them.
Yesterday, Politico’s Adam Wren pointed out that Trump has spent much of the last week attacking elections officials in Indiana for helping former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is running against him for the Republican presidential nomination. He is apparently working with loyalist Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) to push the lie that Haley had forgotten to fill out the paperwork to get onto the Republican primary ballot and that election officials were cheating to get her onto it.
Officials say that these baseless accusations are an attempt to sow distrust of the 2024 election.
Trump’s base is shrinking as his actions become more extreme, but he has a big megaphone, and it is getting bigger. As Robyn Dixon and Natalia Abbakumova pointed out in the Washington Post today, Putin’s awarding of an interview to right-wing former Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson in Moscow this week “demonstrated Putin’s interest in building bridges to the disruptive MAGA element of the Republican Party, and it seemed to reflect the Kremlin’s hope that Donald Trump would return to the presidency and that Republicans would continue to block U.S. military aid to Ukraine.”
[Some extracts from a Heather Cox Richardson post.]
Generally, hardcore Republicans have always been mean people, without much empathy nor compassion. It’s always only about their own interests, so they couldn’t care less about what happens to a struggling democracy far away in Eastern Europe. The only thing compensating for this is their high patriotism, evident in their belief that the US is always Number One in the world. But since America has no boots on the ground in this war, they don’t see a Putin win as a loss for their country.
Also, Putin’s strong man posture, homophobia and anti-woke policies appeal to them. They would rather vote for him than Biden.