Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said Wednesday the majority of Senate Republicans disagree with the view shared by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) this week that supporting the war in Ukraine is not a “vital” national interest.
“There are lots of different opinions on U.S. involvement in Ukraine but I think the majority opinion among Senate Republicans is that the United States has a vital national security interest there in stopping Russian aggression, and that’s certainly the view I have,” Thune told reporters at a Republican leadership press conference, where he stood in for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who is recovering from a fall and concussion he suffered last week.
Thune is one of several Senate Republicans who distanced themselves from DeSantis’s statement minimizing the war in Ukraine as a “territorial dispute.”
“While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis said in a statement to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told The Hill that the United State would lose credibility as an international power if it backs away from supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
“I don’t think it’s a territorial dispute. I think Ukraine is not the most important national security interest we have but it’s important because China’s chief argument that they’re using to fracture our alliances is that we’re unreliable,” he said.
“We haven’t just committed money to Ukraine, we’ve committed our prestige and our credibility. If we walk away from that now, it will have an impact on how the world views us. It will have an impact on our alliances,” he added. “If we’re not willing to stand up to Russia, we’re not going to stand up to China, which has a much larger economy and a more sophisticated military.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he “completely” disagreed with DeSantis’s statement on Ukraine.
“I completely disagree with it and the elaboration that it’s a boundary dispute between two Eastern European countries made it even more incorrect and troubling,” he said.
DeSantis’s comments are particularly troubling to many Senate Republicans because he is viewed as one of the strongest potential candidates in 2024 GOP presidential primary. Many lawmakers see him as the candidate most likely to defeat former President Trump.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also pushed back on DeSantis’s comments.
“To say this doesn’t matter is to say war crimes don’t matter,” Graham warned in a CNN interview. “He’s going to go beyond Ukraine, Putin, if you don’t get that, you’re not listening to what he’s saying.”
“This is a chance to stop Putin before it gets to be a bigger war and China’s watching,” Graham added.
A Gallup poll published on Monday showed that 62 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of Democrats believe the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses a critical threat to vital U.S. interests.