Ted Cruz attacks Democratic support for war-torn Ukraine as 'virtue signaling'

28 February 2023

During the Iraq War of the 2000s, many Republicans were quick to shame fellow politicians as unpatriotic if they opposed that invasion — even conservatives and libertarians. But that was before Donald Trump's presidency and the isolationist "America First" tendencies of the MAGA movement.

Now, in 2023, most Republicans are afraid to say anything favorable to Democratic President Joe Biden's policy on Ukraine. That includes GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is belittling Democratic expressions of solidarity with Ukraine as "virtue signaling. "

After Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, February 20 and promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky additional military aid, some conservatives applauded him — including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), The Bulwark’s Amanda Carpenter and The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson, a Never Trumper and former GOP strategist. Wilson hailed Biden's Kyiv visit as an "alpha move" and slammed MAGA Republicans for not being on "the right side of history."

Far-right MAGA Republicans who attacked Biden following the Kyiv trip ranged from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. And Cruz was equally performative when he bashed Democratic Ukraine policy on an episode of his podcast "The Verdict."

The Texas senator, according to the U.K.-based Daily Telegraph, told listeners, "For the Democrats, this has become a virtue signal. A Ukrainian flag has become like a COVID mask. It's a sign to show your virtue…. As we see all these leftists preening around with Ukrainian flags, and you know almost dancing with their fealty to (Zelensky)…. it is driving millions of Americans away and saying, 'Alright, if they're for it, I ain't for it.'"

During the 2022 midterms, now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) promised that if Republicans retook the U.S. House of Representatives, he would not be offering Ukraine a "blank check." And Cruz made similar comments on his podcast.

"Congressional patience for an open-ended commitment to the Ukraine war is fading quickly," Cruz told listeners, "and with a Republican majority in the House, I think you're going to see much more scrutiny on what funds are going. I think there will still be a willingness to provide actual weaponry, to provide ammunition or weapons that the Ukrainians can use to defend themselves…. I think there will be very little interest in unrestrained checks going to the government of Ukraine."

Read The Daily Telegraph’s full report at this link (subscription required).

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