Few issues have been more divisive among Republican presidential candidates than the war in Ukraine and how the United States should be involved, if at all.
It has illuminated one of the biggest ideological divides within the Republican Party: between traditional members who see the United States as a major player in world affairs, and an anti-interventionist wing that sees foreign involvement as a distraction from more important issues. At home.
The old school has more supporters in the 2024 field, including Nikki Haley, Mike Pence and Tim Scott, who support sending military equipment and weapons to Ukraine, but not troops. This is in line with President Biden’s strategy, although they insist Mr Biden is executing it wrong.
But the anti-interventionist wing is dominant in terms of influence, with two members, Donald J. Trump and Ron DeSantis, far surpassing all others.
Only one candidate, Will Hurd, wants to significantly expand US involvement.
The anti-interventionists
Donald J Trump
Former President Donald J. Trump said that the war in Ukraine is not vital to the United States.
At a DailyExpertNews event at the town hall, he did not give a clear answer when asked repeatedly if he would continue to provide military aid, but stated that he would end the war “within 24 hours” by meeting with Presidents Vladimir V Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. He falsely claimed that the United States was sending so much equipment that “we have no ammunition for ourselves”.
Mr Trump — who was impeached in 2019 for withholding aid from Ukraine to pressure Mr Zelensky to aid him electorally — also suggested to Fox News that he could have prevented war by ceding Ukrainian land to Russia . “I could have made a deal to take over,” he said. “There are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly.”
Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called the war a “territorial dispute” whose outcome does not materially affect the United States.
“While the US has many vital national interests – securing our borders, addressing the preparedness crisis with our military, achieving energy security and independence, and controlling the Chinese Communist Party’s economic, cultural, and military power – further getting caught up in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson in March.
After criticism from fellow Republicans, he backtracked and said his comments were “mischaracterized” and that the Russian invasion was wrong.
He has since approved a ceasefire and says he wants to avoid a situation “where all you get is massive casualties, massive costs and a stalemate.” He maintained his position that the United States should not become more involved.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is against aid to Ukraine because he says the war will not harm US interests.
He says he will pursue an agreement that would offer major concessions to Putin, including ceding most of Ukraine’s Donbas region to Russia, lifting sanctions, closing all US military bases in Eastern Europe and excluding Ukraine from NATO. In return, he would demand that Russia end its military alliance with China and rejoin the START nuclear treaty.
“I don’t think it would be preferable for Russia to be able to invade a sovereign country that is its neighbor, but I think it’s the job of the US president to look after US interests, which I think is the biggest threat. the US military is our biggest military threat right now, the Sino-Russian alliance,” said Mr. Ramaswamy to ABC News. “I think that by continuing to fight in Russia, by further arming Ukraine, we are driving Russia into the hands of China.”
The traditionalists
Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations, says it is “in America’s best interest” if Ukraine repels the Russian invasion and will continue to send equipment and ammunition.
“A victory for Ukraine is a victory for all of us because tyrants tell us exactly what they are going to do,” she told DailyExpertNews. She added: “China says Taiwan is next — we better believe them. Russia said Poland and the Baltic states are next – if that happens we are looking at a world war. This is about preventing war.”
Victory for Ukraine, Ms Haley said, would “send a broader message”: warning China against invading Taiwan, Iran against building a nuclear bomb and North Korea against testing more ballistic missiles. For Russia it would mean “it’s over”.
Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute, she said President Biden had been “way too slow and weak in helping Ukraine.”
Mike Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence supports aid to Ukraine and has accused Mr Biden of not delivering it quickly enough. In June, he traveled to Ukraine as the first Republican candidate, where he met Mr. Zelensky.
Like Mrs. Haley, he described how he helped Ukraine as a way of showing China that “the United States and the West will not tolerate the use of military force to push international lines”, a reference to a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
This position distinguishes him from the president under which he served. Pence criticized Trump’s description of Mr. Putin as a “genius,” saying on DailyExpertNews that he “knew the difference between a genius and a war criminal.”
He has stressed that he would “never” send US troops to Ukraine, and said he did not want Ukraine to join NATO just yet because he wanted to avoid the US being forced to send troops. But he said he was open to admitting the country to NATO after the war.
Tim Scot
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina supports aid to Ukraine and told NBC News that Mr. Biden had done “an awful job of explaining and articulating to the American people” what the interests of the United States are there, an argument Mr. Pence also argued.
“First, it prevents or reduces homeland attacks,” Scott said. “Second, as part of NATO and a country bordering Ukraine, it will reduce the likelihood that Russia will have the weapons or will to strike on NATO territory, which would involve us.”
He has endorsed a strong defense of Ukraine from the start, writing in March 2022 that the fight was “for the principles that America has always defended”. In May, he voted for an emergency funding measure that went beyond what Mr Biden had proposed. He accused Mr Biden of “waiting too long to provide too little support”, but Mr Biden supported the increase.
Chris Christie
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has said the United States should continue to support Ukraine until the war is “resolved.”
“None of us like the idea that there’s a war going on and we’re supporting it, but the alternative is for the Chinese to take over, the Russians, the Iranians and the North Koreans,” Christie told a DailyExpertNews. city hall and called the conflict “a proxy war with China”.
He added that “some kind of compromise” with Russia may eventually be necessary, and that the United States should help negotiate once “Ukraine can protect the land taken by Russia in this latest incursion.”
He has said Mr Trump “laid the groundwork” for the war and called him “Putin’s puppet.” And he compared Mr. DeSantis to Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who tried to appease Hitler.
Asa Hutchinson
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson supports aid to Ukraine with audits to ensure funds are being used as intended. He told C-SPAN that US leadership was “important to support Ukraine and bring Europe’s allies together” against Russia, and that he disagreed with the more “isolationist view” of Mr Trump and Mr DeSantis.
Like several other candidates, he has argued that if Russia won, Russia and other authoritarian countries would be encouraged to attack elsewhere.
“If we stand by and let this nation falter, it will leave a hostile Russia at the doorstep of our NATO allies,” he saidadding: “By taking a supportive and public position in Ukraine, we are sending a message to Russia and China that their aggressive attitude towards other nation-states is unacceptable.”
Doug Burgum
Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota has indicated that he supports military aid with “accountability on every dollar.”
“Russia can’t get a win out of this because if it’s a win for them, it’s a win for China,” Mr Burgum told KFYR, a North Dakota television station, adding that he wanted Europe to get more of the financial burden.
He told DailyExpertNews in June that domestic unrest in Russia had created an opening for the United States and NATO to exploit. “Let’s give them the support they need,” he said of Ukraine, without elaborating. “Let’s end this war now instead of letting it go on for a long time.”
Francis Suarez
Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez supports aid, but wants to link it to new NATO rules that should bear an equal burden from Europe.
In a National Review essay, he said Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko had warned him that if Putin was not stopped, Russia and China would continue to attack the West, possibly including the United States. Mr Suarez added that Russia had to be defeated because it was part of “a wider resurgence of communist-inspired regimes”, even though Mr Putin’s Russia is not communist.
Without mentioning his name, Mr. Suarez criticized Mr. DeSantis’ position. “It doesn’t take a Harvard lawyer to see that the war in Ukraine is not a territorial dispute,” he wrote, shortly after DeSantis used that phrase to describe it. “It is a moral and geopolitical battle between two visions of the world.”
The hawk
Will Hurd
Former Representative Will Hurd of Texas – who said from the outset that the United States should send Ukraine “as many weapons as possible” – has pursued a more aggressive policy than any other major candidate, arguing that the United States should go far beyond supplying equipment and weapons.
Mr. Hurd told ABC News that he supported establishing and helping to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine. NATO leaders and US lawmakers from both sides rejected that last year, saying they feared escalation. Mr Hurd has brushed aside those concerns, arguing that Mr Putin had not escalated when a mercenary soldier threatened a coup.
He said the United States should help Ukraine recapture not only territory that Russia invaded in 2022, but also Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
