A loud GOP minority vows to make trouble with Ukraine’s military aid
Other Democrats said the anti-Ukrainian sentiments of Mr Gaetz and other Republicans on the hill are clearly attributable to the party’s dominant vote. “I just think these guys are with Trump,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a House manager of Mr. Trump’s impeachment process, focusing on his phone call in which he forcefully armed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about military aid.
“I think Trump has made it clear that he supports Putin and other authoritarian leaders,” said Ms. Lofgren, referring to a recent CNN town hall with Mr Trump. “You saw how he refused to say he wants Ukraine to win the war.”
Mr. Vance stressed that GOP opposition to aid to Ukraine was not fueled by allegiance to Mr. Trump. Still, he acknowledged that his party had left itself open to some cynical interpretations, saying, “We lack some kind of coherent strategic view of what US foreign policy should be.” It was also true, added Mr. Vance admits that “some of my more Ukraine-skeptical colleagues will say things like, ‘They impeached Trump over a phone call.’ There is an acknowledgment, at least on my part, that domestic politics dictate the way we respond to things like this.
The political currents are already evident among some pro-Ukrainian republicans, if only by inference. Representative Michael McCaul, the Texan Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement to The New York Times that while members of his party “largely support” aid to Ukraine, “continued support goes hand in hand with more oversight.” (In an interview, Representative Michael Turner, Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, appeared to suggest that such an investigation into Ukrainian funding was unwarranted, saying, “I can tell you that we have a full accounting of all military aid to Ukraine.”)
So far, defying the Republican base by supporting aid to Ukraine does not appear to be politically detrimental to established GOP members.
“Not right now,” said Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, a vocal enemy of helping Ukraine and a loyalist of Mr. Trump. “But I will be speaking at many of the Trump rallies, and you can bet I will be reporting heavily against the war in Ukraine and anyone who is funding it. And I guarantee that will move the needle.