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McConnell Blames Tucker for Delay in Ukraine Aid

Tucker Carlson is being blamed for the GOP delay in passing Ukraine aid.
Tucker Carlson is being blamed for the GOP's six-month delay in passing Ukraine aid. 

Now that the historic $95 billion USD foreign aid bill has passed and has officially been signed by President Biden, Republicans are starting to point fingers. The bill's passage, which was fraught with Republican in-fighting, took an astounding six months to finally make it to the President's desk. As Republicans bickered among themselves and levied petty threats against one another, Ukrainians were dying by the thousands, many left wondering whether the country should have ever signed the Budapest Memorandum. The 1994 deal saw the Ukrainians give up their nuclear arsenal in exchange for promises of American protection against Russia. 

Now that the bill is signed and weapons are already on their way to Ukraine, a fractured Republican party is starting to play the blame game. Led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had this to say about right-wing media mogul Tucker Carlson,

"I think the demonization of Ukraine, began by Tucker Carlson, who in my opinion ended up where he should have been all along, which is interviewing Vladimir Putin. So, he had an enormous audience, which convinced a lot of rank-and-file Republicans that maybe this was a mistake."

Readers will remember that Carlson recently visited Russia, producing glowing pro-Kremlin propaganda that is still popular with Russian state media today. Carlson also openly advocated for Russia to win the war against Ukraine. 


On the Senate floor, McConell openly discussed the negative effects of such a delay,

"Failure to help Ukraine stand against Russian aggression now means inviting escalation against our closest treaty allies and trading partner. It means greater risk that American forces would become involved in conflict. It means more costly deployments of our military, steeper military requirements to defend against aggression. Make no mistake. Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression. Dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face. Today's action is overdue, but our work does not end here. Trust in American resolve is not rebuilt overnight. Expanding and restocking to our sum of democracy doesn't just happen by magic."

McConnell had this to say about members of his own party who choose Russian propaganda over America's national interests,

"I will not mince words when members of my own party take the responsibilities of American leadership lightly."

The whole affair has revealed a rift in today's Republican Party. One one side the MAGA Trump supporters, who hold to Kremlin disinformation. On the other side, traditional Republicans, who more adhere to the days where Ronald Reagan stood strong against the Soviet Union. The MAGA wing favors isolationism and is reluctant to support American allies. Content to allow Russia to take center stage of world affairs, the MAGA wing favors allowing the Kremlin to carve the world into its own image unimpeded. Traditional Republicans, the Reaganite wing of the party, voted with Democrats to pass the historic bill, to stand against Russian aggression and support our allies. It is worth noting, however, that the majority of the Republican Party voted against the bill. 

Still, there has been a noticeable shifting of the political winds in recent weeks. As Trump's poll numbers continue to dwindle, some Republicans are abandoning ship. The shifting political headwinds reveal that Trump, mired in legal trouble, is not a viable or electable candidate. Many in the GOP are taking notice. It was only several months ago that Senate Minority Leader McConnell openly endorsed Trump, but oh how things change in the matter of months, 

"I'm going to consistently avoid discussing the Presidential Election." 

Perhaps one of the reasons a segment of the Republican Party is aligning against the former president, is his deliberate tanking of the border bill. The bill, which was conceived by Senate Republicans, made its way to the House where it died in quick order. Why? Donald Trump put pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans in Congress. Even though the bill was a dream bill that Democrats caved on in order to get Ukraine aid passed, Republicans were forced to shelf the bill for one solitary reason: Donald Trump. The former president did not want a bill that might make President Biden look good in an election year. That isn't an opinion either. Trump has been bragging about forsaking border security and tanking the bill while at his rallies. 

Here's how McConnel describes the betrayal,

"We all felt the border was a disaster. First there was an effort to make law, which requires you to deal with Democrats. Then a number of our members thought it wasn't good enough. And then our nominee for President didn't seem to want us to do anything at all."

Arguably, no politician has been more loyal to Trump than Senator Lindsay Graham, but the Senator from South Carolina put the blame on the former president, 

"Everybody who comes on this floor and says our border is broken and we should do something about it, you're absolutely right. Unfortunately, we didn't get there. President Trump opposed the Senate bill. We couldn't find a better way forward that would get 60 votes. I hate that....."

For those keeping track at home, the Republican party delayed Ukraine aid for six months because the Russian wing of their party was too propagandized to do the right thing for America or our allies. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell openly admits that this will embolden Russia and make it more difficult to win the war. His words, "Make no mistake. Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression," are particularly haunting. Further, Democrats were willing to give Republicans everything they wanted in the border bill, as a deal to pass Ukrainian aid. Republicans were gleeful to finally get their dream border bill, but their own presidential nominee killed the bill, so they passed the foreign aid Democrats wanted in the first place without any concessions whatsoever. This was due nearly entirely to the 88-time indicted conman and rapist they have chosen as the leader of their party. 

The ever-serious Tucker Carlson, meanwhile, is on to bigger and better things, discussing little green men on Joe Rogan's show. Readers who wish to see one of the final nails in the GOP's proverbial coffin, may do so below:

 

 

********************READ: Russia's Secret Weapon - The Border************************

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Location: Chicago, IL, USA

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