ANALYSIS – Controversial conservative Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio made some incendiary remarks Monday on former Trump advisor Steve Bannon's podcast “The War Room.”
During the segment, Bannon, who is opposed to giving more aid to Ukraine in its fight for survival against Putin's Russia, egged-on Vance by claiming we would soon reach the half trillion-dollar mark in aid to Ukraine.
That would be $500 billion.
However, that figure's a far cry from the $75 billion most sources say we have provided to Ukraine so far. Even when you add the $110-200 billion that Team Biden is requesting now, that is still $185-275 billion, not close to $500 billion.
It is still a huge amount of money, and it could eventually reach $500 billion, or more, but exaggerating the amount 200-300% doesn't help make your case.
Meanwhile, Vance agreed with Bannon's figures, and added wildly: “There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty. Why? So that one of Zelensky's ministers can buy a bigger yacht. Kiss my ass, Steve. It's not happening.”
While making for great populist bravado and nice sound bite, that was apparently too much for fellow Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
As Mediate noted:
…[when] Tillis was asked by Capitol Hill reporters about Vance's comments, and he vehemently denounced them as “total and unmitigated bullshit.”
“I think it's bullshit,” Tillis told reporters, adding, “If you're talking about giving money to Ukrainian ministers — total and unmitigated bullshit.”
“Not productive conversation … not real happy about it,” added the North Carolina Republican.
I would add that there is corruption in Ukraine and credible reports of some aid money being siphoned off to provide lavish lifestyles among certain Ukrainian elites and that should make any U.S. aid contingent on extremely tight controls and transparency from the Ukrainian government.
But it shouldn't mean we simply stop helping Ukraine.
And, as I have repeatedly said, U.S. aid should be directly tied to Europe giving much more aid. The European Union (EU) has a similar population and economy (GDP) as the United States, and the threat is in their front yard.
Europe should be giving more than the U. S., not less.
Neither of these are things Joe Biden has demanded in exchange for our help. That's where the GOP focus should be.
Vance has also made headlines in recent days for publicly calling on Ukraine to “cede some territory” to Vladimir Putin to help end his brutal invasion.
Vance even seemed to say it is the preferred solution to Russia's war of aggression – reward the aggressor.
“There is no plausible pathway to the end of the war where Ukraine goes back to 1991 or 2014. It just isn't … that's not a desirable thing; it's not a good thing,” Vance told reporters.
“It ends the way nearly every single war has ever ended: when people negotiate and each side gives up something that it doesn't want to give up,” Vance said.
I guess Vance never heard of World War II, and the unconditional surrender we imposed on Hitler and Tojo. That war ended in total victory for us and total defeat for the aggressors. That's a much better way to end a war.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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