Graham Schools GOP Leaders Questioning Support For Ukraine, Christie Slams DeSantis For Sounding Like ‘Neville Chamberlain’

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tore into the Republican 2024 presidential contenders who told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson in various statements read on-air Monday night that defending Ukraine against Russia is not a “vital” U.S. interest.

Among the various questions Carlson asked the GOP leaders, the first one was, “Is opposing Russia in Ukraine a vital American national strategic interest?”

Fox News summed up the responses from former President Donald Trump, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie:

Trump said, “No, but it is for Europe,” adding that European allies “should be paying far more than we are, or equal.” DeSantis told Carlson, “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.” Noem pointed to China as being the “primary external threat” to the U.S. instead of Russia, saying the war in Ukraine “should be Europe’s fight, not ours.” Ramaswamy said it’s not vital to oppose Russia while stressing it is vital for the U.S. to have energy independence, insisting that had Europe relied more on the U.S. for oil and gas instead of Russia, the invasion might not have happened.

While Trump, DeSantis, Noem, and Ramaswamy either said outright or signaled defending Ukraine is not in our “vital” interest, Pence and Christie took a stronger position harkening back to traditional Republican foreign policy values:

Pence touted the “Reagan doctrine” of fending off enemies on their shores to prevent America’s direct involvement, telling Carlson, “There is no room for Putin apologists in the Republican Party. This is not America’s war, but if Putin is not stopped and the sovereign nation of Ukraine is not restored quickly, he will continue to move toward our NATO allies, and America would then be called upon to send our own.”

Scott said it is a vital national interest to degrade Russia’s military. Christie similarly stated, “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a national security issue that threatens our alliances and our standing in the world,” adding “this is a proxy war being waged by Russia’s ally China against the United States” and that “it would be naive to call this anything but Chinese aggression.”

On his program Monday night, Carlson noted Pence was likely referring to him by deriding “Putin apologists” in the GOP and ended his segment by tearing into Christie as a “neocon.”

Graham, a prominent hawk on Capitol Hill, weighed in on the segment Tuesday and strongly argued for supporting Ukraine against Russia, recalling the lessons of World War II.

“To those who believe that Russia’s unprovoked and barbaric invasion of Ukraine is not a priority for the United States – you are missing a lot,” Graham wrote in a lengthy thread, adding:

Ukraine willingly gave up their nuclear weapons in 1994 in exchange for Russia’s recognition of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty, which included Crimea.

Putin is openly saying that his long term goal is to recreate the old Russian empire and he has no intention of stopping in Ukraine.

The last time someone in Europe claimed the land of others, and tried to take it by force of arms, was Adolf Hitler’s attempt to build a Third Reich.

Those who miscalculated Hitler’s intentions paved the way for a wider war and missed many opportunities to stop him early on.

Now is not the time to repeat the mistakes of the past.

By the way, China’s claim to Taiwan is also based on the proposition of a territorial dispute. I hope both the Democrat and Republican parties will reject this proposition.

Christie responded directly to DeSantis in a statement to Axios on Tuesday, “[DeSantis] sounds like Neville Chamberlain talking about when Germany had designs on Czechoslovakia.”

The emerging GOP primary has quickly split on the war in Ukraine, with Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Chris Christie, and Mike Pence invoking Reaganism and strongly supporting Ukraine, while Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis – who are leading the field – have struck a much more isolationist, nativist tune.