How 'cold-blooded and detached' Ron DeSantis failed Ukrainians miserably: conservative

21 February 2023

It was almost a year ago that Russian forces, on February 24, 2022, launched a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. Politically, economically and militarily, the war has not served Russia well. Ukraine’s military has been much more skillful than Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin anticipated, and sanctions imposed by U.S. President Joe Biden and his European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have been a major source of pain for the Russian economy.

Regardless, Putin is determined to keep fighting in Ukraine. And Biden, during a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, February 20, assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the U.S. will continue to help Ukraine militarily.

Isolationist MAGA Republicans, from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, were quick to respond to Biden’s Kyiv visit — and not in a favorable way. Greene claimed that Biden is more concerned about Ukraine than he is about his fellow Americans. And DeSantis expressed similar "America first” views during an appearance on Fox News’ morning show "Fox and Friends."

In a scathing article published by The Bulwark on Tuesday, February 21, Never Trump conservative Amanda Carpenter argues that the "cold-blooded and detached" Gov. DeSantis had nothing constructive or helpful to add during his "Fox and Friends" appearance — his only motivation was trying to score cheap political points with the MAGA crowd.

Carpenter writes, "The crimes against humanity that Russia has committed in Ukraine are heinous. Putin has indiscriminately attacked civilian targets and summarily executed Ukrainians, piling them into mass graves…. None of those incidents came up during DeSantis' interview. The hosts wanted to know if it was a 'good move' for Biden to visit Ukraine, and that’s when DeSantis blamed Biden for not appropriately focusing on domestic priorities."

The "self-serving" DeSantis, Carpenter adds, "proceeded to criticize Biden for supposedly having a 'blank check policy' when it came to aiding the Ukrainians in the fight to protect their homeland."

"Putin has not backed down," the Never Trump conservative observes. "He continues to conscript scores of thousands of Russians into military service, throwing their lives into the maw of war to further his expansionist dreams. DeSantis disregards this reality so that he can then pretend he is unaware of the 'objective' of the U.S.-Ukrainian alliance — and then declines to say what such an objective should be…. Ron DeSantis isn’t really this dense: Yale, Harvard, QED. He’s just acting dumb because he thinks it’s politically smart."

Carpenter continues, "And in doing so, he has revealed quite a lot about what he might be like as a president. DeSantis has positioned himself on the wrong side of Ukraine because he thinks that opposing Biden, no matter what Biden does, is the only way to stay on the good side of MAGA voters. Even if that means turning a blind eye to the plight of the Ukrainians."

Read Amanda Carpenter’s full article for The Bulwark at this link.

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