The bad news, he admitted, is that most Republicans are willing to deny it only privately.
Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons said legislation to impose sanctions on Russia and strengthen Ukraine’s military and economic position could be on the Senate floor next week, and he hopes it will refute any messages of division.
“This is a time for us to come together and approve a strong, two-pronged sanctions package to send an unmistakable signal of support for Ukraine, Ukraine’s independence and President Biden’s leadership,” he said on Wednesday.
In public, Republican leaders have spoken loudly. After Mr Biden’s blunder last week when he seemed to suggest that a “minor foray” into Ukraine would not deserve a strong allied response, Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 Republican, asked: “Do you think the strong, great people of Ukraine think it would be a minor incursion if Putin moved tanks into Ukraine, even part of Ukraine? Of course they don’t.”
Speaking to reporters in Kentucky this week, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell indicated that such criticisms had prompted the administration to harden its stance.
“What I’ve heard since then is encouraging that they are willing to take steps before a raid, not after,” he said, adding: “It seems to me the administration is moving in the right direction.”
But that direction — and that message — may not be what the most partisan Republican voters want. A Yahoo News/YouGov poll published this week found that 62 percent of Republicans and independents leaning Republicans view Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin as a stronger leader than Mr. Biden. But a survey released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center found that views on Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine didn’t differ much due to partisan ties.
New Jersey Democrat Tom Malinowski said on Wednesday that some callers to his district office had begun to mimic Mr Carlson’s claims that the United States should be allied with Russia, not Ukraine, or that he has the ” reasonable” demands of Russia. for the withdrawal of NATO from Eastern Europe.