The original title of this article was going to be “Can a rational person be a Republican anymore?”. That’s a bit too weighted. Some Republicans, however, are using the same spin about Ukraine they put on just about everything else.
This is an interesting perspective. It more or less covers the MAGA and non-MAGA versions of GOP policies about Ukraine. The main problem is that GOP credibility outside the US is not in good condition.
The GOP position seems familiar:
Some are anti-aid to Ukraine.
Some are ambivalent depending on their audience.
Some are very pro-aid to Ukraine.
The anti-aid party is basically the MAGA crowd. Statements like “Ukraine demanded F35s” are patently ridiculous. Ukraine would take years to set up the support systems for F35s. Very few countries in the world can actually operate those planes, and Ukraine has had other things on its mind.
One MAGA-like representative used the standard if outdated, ploy of comparing a foreign war to constituents’ worries about fentanyl. Two totally unrelated subjects, but you can be self-righteous about both.
The question is whether or not these guys can tell the difference between the equivalent of the invasion of Poland in 1939 and drugs. Apparently not. External threats seem to be selective. You just go shopping for the external threat you like.
For example – Uncle Vlad clearly isn’t an issue for some Republicans, but Russia’s ally China is an issue. Russia’s chat show cretins can threaten an all-out nuclear war, but that’s OK. He’s a “strong leader” who like so many before him, is turning into a solid 24-karat loser before the eyes of the world, but he’s still their guy.
After all – It’s Little Donny’s friend, Vlad, so what could possibly be wrong with anything? Prighozin said in so many words that Russia directly interfered with US elections and that’s just peachy dandy, too. The Russian mafia, heavily involved in drugs, must be great guys as well. You should all get out your sunbonnets and have an oil-funded picnic.
Let’s try to stay on topic.
It’s not easy, the way these people connect dots.
The subject of Ukraine reflects all too well an actual worldview of some of the GOP. It’s pure isolationism in all its inglorious ugliness. The last time this type of US worldview got an airing was just before Pearl Harbor. Isolationist America was exactly the wrong option.
Now, with all that foreign nuclear goodwill about 20 minutes away from the US, it’s a very much worse option. Fentanyl is an external threat, but it’s hardly on the same level. It’s like complaining about the seating arrangements on the Titanic a few decades after it sank while making a big useless noise about impolite icebergs.
The US doesn’t have the luxury of picking and choosing threats. Neither does anyone else. This worldview is dangerously naïve. The world doesn’t give a damn if you insist that the grass is blue and the sky is green. It doesn’t matter how much money or peanuts you make out of parroting two-dimensional self-serving political dogma. Nukes and criminals don’t care what you think or say.
There’s a less obvious side to being this Star Spangled Sitting Duck. America traditionally believes they’re the good guys. Most of the time, with a few massive clangers, they are.
You can’t be the good guys and have your eyes so closed for long. America didn’t become a superpower and a super-economy by being accommodating to foreign nutcases. It was by standing up to tyranny, not welcoming it, that America began, prospered, and survived.
One of the reasons that Rome fell was because they ran out of Romans. Looks like someone’s running out of Americans.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
