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If you like scary stories, former Trump White House adviser Fiona Hill laid out the potential repercussions if the U.S. abandons Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
Hill, a longtime expert on Russian affairs, sat with Politico recently to lay out scenarios that could unfold amid the GOP’s present refusal to supply more aid to Ukraine. And she makes a compelling argument that a desertion of Ukraine could ignite a proliferation of nuclear weapons, impede America’s efforts to engage in diplomacy across the globe, and empower Russian President Vladimir Putin as he looks to violently expand his country’s borders.
Today’s Russophilic GOP openly cries about our nation’s supposed decline. But I’d argue that any such decline, to the extent it’s occurring at all, results from a right-wing turn against democratic ideals. And acquiescence to Putin’s wishes could send that decline into hyperdrive.
If the United States doesn’t pass the supplemental [bill to approve aid to Ukraine], and we get this chorus of members of Congress calling for the United States to pull away from Ukraine, Putin will be able to switch this around and say, ‘There you go. The United States is an unreliable ally. The United States is not a world leader.’
She also countered claims pushed by conservatives — such as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. — that U.S. aid for Ukraine deprives Americans of money that could be spent here at home. She said:
We are providing weapons to Ukraine, we’re buying them from major manufacturers of defense systems here in the United States, which are obviously providing jobs for the people who are making them. And then we’re going back and we’re ordering more because we’re replenishing and upgrading our own weapons stocks. This is all part of our own system. These defense manufacturers account for huge numbers of jobs across the whole of the United States, so arming Ukraine means significant job creation and retention across the United States and also in Europe and elsewhere.
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are among the Republicans who have faced backlash for saying Ukraine should be willing to give up some of its territory to help end the war — and Hill noted that Putin has been making that same argument to other countries.
There may also be a push from many other countries to say, let’s stop, we need to focus on the disasters in Gaza, let’s just get Russia and Ukraine to put their war to one side. Putin’s already playing into this, trying to get other countries to say, ‘Look, we’re always dealing with Europe’s problems. We need to be dealing with the Middle East here. This is more consequential for everyone.’ Putin is likely hoping that there’ll be pressure put on Ukraine that way as well, to come to the negotiating table because of the international imperative to focus on the Middle East crisis.
These predictions from Hill — someone who witnessed Donald Trump’s authoritarian tendencies up close and who has studied Putin’s reign for years — hold weight with me. I highly recommend that you give the full interview a read and pay close attention to her warnings about the distrust the U.S. could sow worldwide.
Hill’s nightmare scenarios paint Republicans and anyone else willing to cast Ukraine into the furnace as willful — or woefully ignorant — participants in Russia’s reign and the United States’ descent. I intend to keep this in mind while I watch the “America First” party as it debates whether Ukraine’s independence is a cause worth fighting for.