To Russia, With Love: The GOP Divide on Putin and Ukraine – By Claire Hansen (US News) / Apr 11 2023
Recent remarks by Ron DeSantis distancing the U.S. from Ukraine’s war with Russia elevated to the mainstream the GOP’s anti-interventionist vein.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made his views on America’s place in the Ukraine war clear.
Opposing Russian aggression in Ukraine is not in the “vital national interest” of the U.S., the Republican “it boy” said, dismissing the Russian invasion as a “territorial dispute” in a response to a questionnaire sent out to 2024 hopefuls by Fox News last month.
For anyone who has watched DeSantis rise to national prominence through his headline-grabbing, hard-line conservative state policies, his stance on the most pressing global issue of the day may not be surprising – but it is significant.
His view brings him firmly in line with roughly half of the GOP base – coincidentally, roughly the same portion of the party that thinks more favorably of Russian President Vladimir Putin than of Joe Biden
