In tying government shutdown to cutting aid for Ukraine, MAGA Republicans put America last

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.

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.

“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?

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.

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

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.

Right now in Congress, MAGA Republicans led by Trump are putting American security last.