More outstanding Republicans have come out against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ argument that helping Ukraine fight a Russian invasion isn’t a “vital” U.S. interest – warning that withdrawing aid could set off a “negative chain of events” all over the world.
US Senator Mike Rounds on Sunday flatly rejected DeSantis’ description of the war as a “territorial dispute”, arguing that the final result of the invasion has greater global repercussions.
“I do not think it is a territorial dispute,” Rounds told NBC’s Meet the Press. “While he [Vladimir Putin] may occupy territory, and it’s technically correct to say that territory is captured. It’s larger for us.
The rounds warned that withdrawing support from Ukraine would send a message to the Kremlin and leaders in Beijing that america would not be a player on the world stage, which the senator believes could have long-term consequences.
“I believe that is something we have now to lean on lots,” Rounds added.
DeSantis made controversial comments in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson last Monday, declaring that “continuing to change into entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia isn’t” in the vested interest of the US.
Recent Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu also denounced DeSantis for his view, claiming that the Florida governor was simply pursuing partisan politics in his expected 2024 presidential bid.
The op-ed piece for Recent York Times On Saturday, Sununu, who’s considering his own candidacy for president, wrote: “Just opposing aid to Ukraine because President Biden supports it isn’t a viable foreign policy. Leaving Ukraine would set off a negative chain of events for U.S. interests at home and abroad.”
Sununu claimed that DeSantis’ position represented a split in the Republican Party over what America’s future global policy must be.
“Some in the Republican Party have lost their moral compass in foreign policy, as evidenced by former President Donald Trump, who once called Putin’s invasion “genius” and “cunning,” he wrote. “As Republicans, we should always support freedom, not abandon it.”
DeSantis also earned the contempt of one other Florida Republican senator, Marco Rubio, last week, who agreed that the war in Ukraine was not about territory, but reasonably Russia’s expansion of influence.
“It is not a territorial dispute in the sense that it would not be a territorial dispute if america decided it desired to invade Canada or take over the Bahamas,” Rubio said on Tuesday’s Hugh Hewitt Show. “Simply because someone claims something doesn’t suggest it belongs to them.”
Together with Rubio, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley took a peek at DeSantis, comparing him to former President Donald Trump.
“President Trump is correct when he says Governor DeSantis is emulating him – first in his style, then on powers reform, and now in Ukraine,” Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, said in a press release.