Biden's Kyiv visit 'exposed' major GOP 'division' on Ukraine: report

22 February 2023

On Monday, February 20, U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and expressed his solidarity with Ukraine. Biden vowed to continue offering military aid to the war-torn country, and he promised to escalate economic sanctions against Russia.

It didn’t take far-right MAGA Republicans long to attack Biden for the visit, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Echoing Kremlin talking points, DeSantis and Greene claimed that Biden cared more about Ukraine than he cared about the wellbeing of his fellow Americans. Greene, a conspiracy theorist who supported QAnon in the past, even called for Biden’s impeachment.

But others on the right had a very different response. The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson, a Never Trump conservative and former GOP strategist, praised Biden’s Kyiv visit as an "alpha move" and criticized MAGA Republicans for not being on the "right side of history" with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, some non-MAGA Republicans in Congress are calling for the United States to double down on its support for Ukraine.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters, "(Biden’s) trip to Kyiv to be with President Zelensky, and to stand firm for the principle of liberty, is something which I salute. It was courageous and the right thing to do, and I appreciate him doing that and recognizing that the people of the United States of America stand on the side of liberty."

In an article published by The Hill on February 22, journalist Emily Brooks emphasizes that Biden’s appearance in Kyiv "exposed division" on Ukraine within the Republican Party.

Brooks reports, "On one end of the spectrum, firebrand Republicans criticized Biden for visiting Ukraine and called for an end to Ukraine funding…. Biden’s visit to Ukraine inspired Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to call for a 'national divorce,' tweeting that, 'We don’t pay taxes to fund foreign country’s wars who aren’t even NATO (allies).' On the other end, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) echoed Biden in projecting support for Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference last week, declaring that 'reports about the death of Republican support for strong American leadership in the world have been greatly exaggerated.'"

The reporter points out that House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul, a Texas Republican, recently said of the war in Ukraine, "We need to throw everything we can into this fight so that they can win."

Brooks observes, "Any issue of more aid to Ukraine will likely not be an immediate problem for Republican congressional leaders. Congress approved around $45 billion in aid to Ukraine in December, bringing the total authorized to more than $100 billion."

Read The Hill’s full report at this link.

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