‘This is an Invasion’: Marco Rubio Breaks With Ron DeSantis Writing Off Russia’s Attack on Ukraine as a ‘Territorial Dispute’
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) disagreed with his state’s Governor Ron DeSantis (R) over the latter’s characterization of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Rubio spoke with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday — who began by noting that DeSantis just broke with much of the Republican Party with his announced stance on the war in Ukraine. In his statement, DeSantis referred to Russia’s brutal invasion of a sovereign nation as a “territorial dispute,” and he said that helping Ukraine protect itself is not a “vital national interest” for the United States.
Asked for his opinion, Rubio said “I think we do have an interest” in aiding Ukraine, even if “I don’t think it’s the number one interest in the world.” He laid out how the war in Ukraine represents a national security interest for the U.S., explaining that the implications more broadly extend to how America stands up to Russia and China on the world stage.
The Chinese want Russia to be successful in Ukraine. They want them to be successful for two reasons: the first is because they believe that it’s keeping us distracted. The other is because I think it helps them lay the groundwork and set the precedent for what they intend to do in terms of Taiwan and then in any other areas. And so what they want to be able to tell the Indo-Pacific region is ‘The Russians invaded Ukraine, people complained about it for a while, but in the end, they all backed down and Russia got what they wanted. What makes you think they’re going to stand up to Russia, which has a bigger economy and a lot more power than to China. What makes you think they’re going to stand up to China when they couldn’t stand up to Russia?’
After Rubio warned of what could happen if Ukraine fell to Russia, Hewitt asked him if he views DeSantis as a “neo-isolationist,” and what he thinks about describing the war as a “territorial dispute.”
Rubio clearly disagreed:
Well, it’s not a territorial dispute in the sense that any more than it would be a territorial dispute if the United States decided that it wanted to invade Canada or take over the Bahamas. Just because someone claims something doesn’t mean it belongs to them. This is an invasion. I mean, the Russians basically decided that we want a government in Ukraine that we have control over, and their goal was we’re going to go in, we’re going to topple their government — or they’re going to abandon the country — and then we’ll install a puppet through some fake election, and then they’ll be in our orbit of influence…This is basically the Russians want Ukraine to be under their thumb.”
Listen above, via The Hugh Hewitt Show.
