In the wake of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ comments that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a territorial dispute that’s not a U.S. priority, two Republican senators are pushing back.
On Tuesday, Florida senator Marco Rubio and South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham criticized DeSantis’s comments to Fox News host Tucker Carlson. It is the first time DeSantis has weighed in on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Florida governor is widely expected to declare his candidacy for president soon, with a new CNN poll revealing he has the support of 36 percent of Republicans, four percent behind former president Donald Trump.
Rubio, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, explained on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show that while China is the biggest foreign policy priority, the U.S. also has an interest in Ukraine.
“It’s not a territorial dispute…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,” said Rubio. “So it’s really more of a desire to dominate their neighbor, have them as part of their sphere of influence, not so much…about the land.”
The Florida senator added that while he isn’t a fan of President Joe Biden’s unfocused strategy, which may promote a prolonged stalemate, pulling U.S. aid would result in a massacre.
“I don’t think if we just stop helping Ukraine that the result is going to be peace. I think if we stop helping Ukraine, the result is going to be a slaughter,” said Rubio. “We’d now live in a world where the message would be pretty clear, and that is that if you want to invade a smaller neighbor and take their land, you can do it, and there won’t be very many consequences for it.”
Rubio’s colleague in the upper chamber, Lindsey Graham, rebuked Ukraine isolationists in even stronger terms.
“When it comes to Putin, you either pay now or pay later,” explained Graham in a tweet. “Giving in to Putin in Ukraine, in terms of American national security interests, is Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan on steroids.”
“The commission of war crimes by Russia’s military on an industrial scale – if forgiven and forgotten – destroys world order,” said Graham. “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.”
Graham explained that Putin is attempting to recreate the old Russian empire, comparing him to Adolf Hitler and explaining that repeating historical mistakes is not an option. He added that the Ukrainians are not even asking for boots on the ground in their fierce fight against the Russians.
“When an American leader tells an adversary what they will NOT do in a conflict, it sends a signal of weakness and generally prolongs the conflict making it more likely to spread,” explained Graham. “We had eight years of Obama sending mixed signals to our enemies that led to more aggression. We do not need to go down that path again.”