Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell embarked on a press tour to praise President Biden’s foreign affairs and take credit for a significant funding package for Ukraine.
McConnell also criticized the 11 Republican senators and 57 Republican representatives who voted against it.
The Wall Street Journal used a negative and misleading term to describe the emerging coalition opposing Biden’s non-strategic foreign policy.
McConnell’s Role
McConnell deserves to be remembered for helping approve the Democrats’ bill.
He pushed with Democrats to extend the bill from President Biden’s $33 billion proposal and smooth parliamentary hurdles for simple passage. The bill increases U.S. support for Ukraine’s defensive fight against Russia to $50 billion.
McConnell’s triumphal visit was gobbled up by a D.C. corporate media that holds his goal of returning the GOP to its Bush-era foreign policy.
The corporate media also disparages any voices supporting former President Trump, who voiced dismay about escalating the war in Russia.
As Trump stated on Truth Social, “Why are we sending upwards of $40 billion to Ukraine while Europe is giving very little?”
National Review applauded the bill’s passing and mocked budget concerns. One-quarter of Republican senators opposed the spending bill.
Avoiding debacles and nuclear conflicts during an economic downturn is not isolationism; the group against McConnell and Biden is not “tiny.”
The D.C. establishment fought hard to block J.D. Vance’s Senate nomination. He opposed neoliberal foreign policies, especially in Ukraine. Vance won.
Another of the 11 senators who voted nay, John Boozman of Arkansas, did so to win his primary.
Senate Republicans who voted to send 40,000,000,000 US taxpayer dollars to Ukraine:
Ted Cruz
Lindsey Graham
Marco Rubio
Mitch McConnell
Tom Cotton
Tim Scott
Ben Sasse
Mitt Romney
Rick Scott— Kingsley Cortes (@KingsleyCortes) May 19, 2022
McConnell got Cruz and others to vote for the war plan with Mitt Romney and John Cornyn, but people didn’t approve.
Republicans voted before polls revealed they were sour on McConnell’s idea to embroil them in another protracted war, barely months after the poorly managed Afghanistan conflict.
U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s war against the Russian invasion was initially welcomed. Pollsters liked to emphasize this when few pundits and analysts opposed the D.C. groupthink favoring escalation.
Wary Americans
Morning Consult found “Republican voters are warier of America’s participation in Ukraine.”
“The number of Republican voters who feel America is overdoing its help in Ukraine has doubled since early March.”
For the first time, more Republicans say the U.S. is doing “too much” than say it’s doing “too little.”
A new AP survey reveals respondents across the political spectrum disapprove of Biden and McConnell’s Ukraine policy.
“Americans are less favorable to punishing Russia for its incursion into Ukraine if it costs the U.S. economy,” the AP says.
$28 million to address the baby formula shortage.
$40 billion to Ukraine.
Mitch McConnell, RINOs, and Democrats don’t care about you.
— Eric Greitens (@EricGreitens) May 19, 2022
In March, most Americans felt the US should prioritize penalizing Russia. Most now agree that reducing U.S. economic damage should be a priority.
McConnell’s choice to support Biden’s foreign policy strategy and trash his colleagues who reject it comes as Biden’s approval ratings are at their lowest, according to the AP.
Only 44% of Americans supported transferring funding directly to scandal-ridden Ukraine. 32% are against, and 23% are neutral.
49% of Americans want the U.S. to play a minimal role. The US is the largest war financier.
