XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, rec.arts.tv, talk.politics.misc   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.atheism   
   From: nowomr@protonmail.com   
      
   In tying government shutdown to cutting aid for Ukraine, MAGA Republicans   
   put America last   
      
   Extremists within the GOP have made defunding military aid to Ukraine a   
   centerpiece of their refusal to pass appropriations bills, as the party of   
   Reagan becomes the enabler of Putin.   
      
   In their deadly determination to smash the U.S. government, the MAGA   
   extremists in Congress took the wrecking ball to America’s national   
   security last week.   
      
   Although the government shutdown sought by GOP radicals was averted at the   
   very last minute, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy bowed to the MAGA minority   
   on Ukraine. At a critical moment for Kyiv’s counteroffensive, he   
   eliminated Ukraine aid from a stopgap spending measure that will keep the   
   government open until mid-November — when the whole GOP circus will   
   restart.   
      
   No one can be certain McCarthy will permit a future House vote to restore   
   that aid, given his fear that his party’s bomb-throwers will unseat him as   
   speaker. He knows there is a sizable majority in both houses ready to   
   extend Ukraine funding, but he is afraid to stand up to the MAGA cabal.   
      
   The Republican surrender to these radicals threatens to undermine what   
   could yet become America’s greatest moral and strategic foreign policy   
   success in decades. These blind isolationists have made defunding military   
   aid to Ukraine into a crusade. Their false claims about the war boost   
   Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hopes that he can still wrest victory   
   from his failing invasion.   
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   The party of Ronald Reagan has become the enabler of Putin.   
      
   Most blame for this transformation lies with the inevitable 2024   
   presidential candidate Donald Trump, and the social media (plus Fox News)   
   that misleads the public about Ukraine.   
      
   » READ MORE: On his U.S. trip, Zelensky laid out why Ukraine's fight is   
   ours, too | Trudy Rubin   
      
   It is critical to puncture the lies that Trump and his MAGA acolytes are   
   feeding Americans about the war’s cost and its importance to our country —   
   before the MAGA destroyers hand Moscow a win.   
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   “Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine,” U.S. Rep.   
   Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Pasionaria of the MAGA crowd, fulminated   
   recently at a Trump rally in Iowa. “Our country comes first.”   
      
   Last week, the Georgia representative introduced an amendment to prevent   
   the U.S. State Department from funding the drawdown of existing Pentagon   
   stocks to send weapons to Ukraine, claiming that those weapons were “for   
   the United States” and that any funds for Ukraine should go to the “war on   
   the southern border.”   
      
   Where to start?   
   U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), seen here at a July rally in   
   South Carolina, is a vocal opponent of aid to Ukraine.   
   U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), seen here at a July rally in   
   South Carolina, is a vocal opponent of aid to Ukraine.   
   Chris Carlson / AP   
      
   Let’s begin by recalling that “America First,” Trump’s catchphrase, was   
   the very slogan used by isolationists in the late 1930s who opposed U.S.   
   aid to embattled Britain, which was under siege by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.   
      
   Next, if our country comes first, then we should recognize the importance   
   of helping a country that is battling a primary adversary of the United   
   States. Among other aggressive moves, Russia is threatening the Baltics   
   and the Nordics (which is why Finland and Sweden sought to join NATO).   
   Putin is also militarizing the Arctic, a crucial international waterway,   
   and promising North Korea nuclear technology. By trying to cripple   
   Ukraine, the GOP is encouraging Putin to do more.   
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   As for Pentagon stocks being “for the United States,” Ukrainian troops are   
   fighting a battle that is in our interest. They are not doing this at the   
   behest of NATO — as Putin claims — but because Putin’s imperialist dreams   
   are an existential threat to their nation, just as Hitler was an   
   existential threat to Britain and the United States.   
      
   Moreover, as U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D., Mass.) told the Daily Beast,   
   “For a small fraction of our annual defense appropriations — for less than   
   Americans spend on soft drinks every year — we have cratered half of   
   Russia’s conventional military capacity … got our biggest allies to   
   increase their domestic defense spending … and sent a message to Xi   
   Jinping that we stand with freedom and democracy the world over.”   
      
   In other words, Greene has it backward. As for the southern border, the   
   weapons sent to Ukraine have no resemblance to what is needed there. The   
   border is a political issue, not a financial or military one.   
      
   » READ MORE: Russia’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children under the spotlight   
   at United Nations | Trudy Rubin   
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   Yet Trump, who urged the MAGA crowd to shut down the government, also   
   constantly links Ukraine to the border. Moreover, he insists we are being   
   suckered by our European allies, whom he falsely claims have given far   
   less aid to Ukraine than we have.   
      
   That is untrue. According to Germany’s Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support   
   Tracker — a respected think tank that records all Ukraine aid   
   contributions — Europe is now outstripping the U.S. in aid. The difference   
   is that the U.S. gives far more weapons, while Europe gives much more   
   financial aid (including long-term commitments) and refugee support.   
      
   The constant drumbeat of Trump and MAGA falsehoods has led to a 57% GOP   
   disapproval rating of aid to Ukraine, according to a June Pew poll. Add to   
   that the vicious Tucker Carlson’s berating of Ukraine and praise for Putin   
   on his X (formerly Twitter) show. Carlson is so beloved in Moscow that the   
   leading national news show, Rossiya-24, has been promoting a new show in   
   which it excerpts his rants.   
      
   Finally, let us return to Trump’s encouragement of attacks on Ukraine. In   
   a series of TV interviews — on CNN, Right Side Broadcasting Network, and   
   Fox News — he insisted he could solve the Ukraine war in 24 hours. His   
   technique: Put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a room with   
   Putin, and force Zelensky to give up critical territory or face a cutoff   
   of U.S. aid.   
      
      
   Putin said that idea made him “happy.” Trump responded, “I like that he   
   said that.”   
      
   Trump’s proposal not only encourages MAGA misdeeds and earns Putin’s   
   praise, it denigrates the importance of Ukraine’s success to U.S.   
   security. It encourages the GOP public to believe that the war can be   
   resolved by chopping up Ukraine.   
      
   Ukraine is not a head of lettuce. It is a country fighting for Western   
   values and accepted post-World War II rules that ensured no European   
   country invaded another. Putin has violated those rules in ways that   
   threaten the world.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)