In a series of tweets coupled with an appearance on Fox News, powerful GOP Senator Lindsey Graham ripped into MAGA politicians playing the America First card to an increasingly isolationist supporter base.
Graham’s comments come on the heels of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘s controversial assessment of the Russia-Ukraine war, in which the likely presidential candidate characterized the conflict as a “territorial dispute.”
(Note: Even lawmakers who lament the level of financial support the U.S. has provided Ukraine have still largely tended to characterize the conflict as a Russian invasion, not a land “dispute.”)
In what’s being seen as a direct rebuke to DeSantis, Graham writes that “if you do not understand that success by Putin in Russia invites aggression by China against Taiwan, then you have seriously miscalculated one of the most obvious nexuses in the world.”
Taking more direct aim at DeSantis, yet without naming him, Graham writes: “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.”
Finally, if you do not understand that success by Putin in Russia invites aggression by China against Taiwan, then you have seriously miscalculated one of the most obvious nexuses in the world.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 14, 2023
Implying that DeSantis both doesn’t “understand” and accusing MAGA of “miscalculating,” Graham unleashed a series of tweets in stern warning against naiveté when it comes to Putin.
“When it comes to Putin, you either pay now or pay later,” Graham writes. The Senator also threw a punch at President Biden‘s withdrawal from from Afghanistan, calling it “disastrous” and suggesting that a similar situation could occur in Ukraine.
When it comes to Putin, you either pay now or pay later.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 14, 2023
Giving in to Putin in Ukraine, in terms of American national security interests, is Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan on steroids.
Graham continued to link resolve against Russia to effective China policy. (Below he directly uses DeSantis’s “territorial dispute” language.)
Now is not the time to repeat the mistakes of the past.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 14, 2023
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.
The kowtowing to an isolationist voter segment is a national security danger, Graham implies, invoking the domino theory and saying weakness against Putin in Ukraine sends a message of weakness to other U.S. rivals — especially China as concerns Taiwan.
DeSantis’s seemingly Putin-friendly assessment has roiled the GOP, which beyond the boisterous MAGA contingent also boasts serious (but embattled) foreign policy pedigree in its ranks. These Republicans, Graham among them, believe that shrinking America’s influence and role in global geopolitics only provokes U.S. enemies and weakens the nation’s security.
GOP Senator Mitt Romney puts the stance succinctly, saying: “It is in America’s interest to support Ukraine. If Russia can invade, subjugate, and pillage Ukraine with impunity, it will do the same again to others, and a world at war diminishes the security of Americans.”
It is in America’s interest to support Ukraine. If Russia can invade, subjugate, and pillage Ukraine with impunity, it will do the same again to others, and a world at war diminishes the security of Americans.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) February 23, 2023
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