The former president withheld aid from the same nation that Republicans are accusing Joe Biden of slow-walking aid to. They don’t see the parallels.
Republicans clamoring to accuse President Joe Biden of slow-walking support for Ukraine don’t see a shred of comparison with Donald Trump’s impeachment for withholding aid from the very same nation.
Then-President Trump ordered his No. 2 to skip Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 2019 inauguration, put a secret hold on a package of military aid for months and deprived the incoming Ukrainian leader of a White House meeting meant to show solidarity with the West. Simultaneously, Trump and his allies repeatedly asked Zelenskyy to open politically motivated investigations into Democrats, including then-candidate Joe Biden.
But Republicans, only one of whom supported Trump’s first impeachment, are brushing off any suggestion that their frustration with Biden’s pace of Ukraine aid is at odds with their earlier defense of Trump’s posture toward Kyiv. They’re also blaming Democrats for harming Ukraine, now at war with Russia, by launching the impeachment inquiry in the first place.
“That was the biggest nothing-burger in the world that resulted in an impeachment by the House,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) “In many respects, it further validates Donald Trump’s position.”
The GOP’s refusal to acknowledge the Ukraine-related substance of the Trump impeachment as Russia bombards Zelenskyy’s nation is a case study in the hopeless partisanship of the modern Congress, and the difficulties ahead as leaders weigh more support for Ukraine. Democrats are adamant that the former president deserves significant blame for worsening Ukraine’s long-term position, while Republicans dig in and say the impeachment itself — rather than Trump’s conduct — turned a backroom drama among world leaders into a front-page scandal that threw Zelenskyy in the middle of a political cage match.
“That was all getting worked out. It would have been worked out quietly. They would have gotten [the aid],” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), whose efforts to convince Trump to release the aid to Ukraine were documented as part of the impeachment trial. “It was the Democrats, the whistleblowers … who did that, and they dramatically harmed Ukraine as a result. That’s the real lesson here.”
……..
- Discussion
-
Former President Donald Trump withheld aid from the same nation that Republicans are accusing Joe Biden of slow-walking aid to. They don't see the parallels https://t.co/zpwpxiX3pQ
— POLITICO (@politico) March 18, 2022
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.