Wall Street Journal Blasts Republicans ‘Sneering’ at Zelensky, Reminds Them ‘Beijing and Moscow Are Working Together’ Against the U.S.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board offered a dose of geopolitical reality to right-wing critics of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s well-received speech before the U.S. Congress on Wednesday evening.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned publication began its editorial on Thursday evening by noting Zelenksy came to Congress and the made case that aid to Ukraine, which he repeatedly expressed thanks for, has a solid “return on investment.”
“U.S. aid is helping to degrade an enemy military without the death of a single American in uniform,” wrote the Journal’s board, asking, “The question is what some Republicans are thinking as they spent Thursday portraying Ukraine’s President as a grifter.”
The narrative on the far-right of American politics, in which Donald Trump Jr. calls Zelensky a “welfare queen” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) declares he is the “shadow president” has become so pervasive in recent months that Tucker Carlson declared on Wednesday night the U.S. only supports the war in Ukraine because “we hate ourselves so much.”
The Wall Street Journal called out House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) by name for their criticism of congressional aid to Ukraine. The editorial board took aim at a common criticism of the recent spending bill and noted that provisions within the spending for Ukraine also benefit the U.S. national security posture generally:
Congress’s spending bill includes about $45 billion in security and economic assistance for Ukraine, and that could put the total north of $100 billion. But plenty of the cash is flowing to core American priorities: almost $12 billion in the latest round is for replenishing U.S. weapons stocks, and nearly $7 billion for U.S. troops in Europe.
The board goes on to defend Ukrainian’s use of funds – another major critique from many on the right, who are calling for an audit of where the money has gone, while accusing Ukraine of corruption.
“But war is destructive and some waste is inevitable, as the Pentagon regularly proves. One concern has been keeping the best U.S. weapons out of Russian hands, and the Ukrainians have so far been judicious users of the equipment,” the board argued, while noting the Ukrainian aid will “certainly feature some lost or misused money, as all U.S. aid programs do.”
The main punch of the editorial, however, is reminding Republicans – who often rail against China as their archenemy – that Russia and China are “working together” to undermine the West and that a defeat in Ukraine would embolden Chinese aggression globally.
“Many of the same Republicans sneering at Mr. Zelensky will claim the U.S. needs to abandon Ukraine to focus on China,” the editorial board writes.
“But Beijing and Moscow are working together to undermine the West. The best step the U.S. could take to deter another assault like Mr. Putin’s is delivering to Ukraine more of the best long-range weapons, aircraft, missiles, tanks, and other tools it needs to defeat the invasion,” the board concludes.
Read the full editorial here
