Justin Ling is a freelance investigative journalist who writes the Bug-eyed and Shameless newsletter.
Ukraine’s fight for survival is “pointless,” the Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy declared recently. It is a war happening on some “faraway foreign lands,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre shrugged earlier this month. U.S. Senator J.D. Vance suggested the best way to end the war is for Ukraine “to cede some territory to the Russians.”
It’s been a tough few months for Ukraine, and the vultures are swirling. Mr. Ramaswamy is keen to present support for Ukraine as warmongering. Mr. Poilievre has tilted at a Ukrainian trade deal in a quixotic war on carbon pricing. Mr. Vance and his fellow legislators have used Ukrainian military aid as a bargaining chip in Congress.
These feckless politicians, to varying degrees, have all contributed to a growing apathy for Ukraine’s cause. In chasing domestic political gains, they have depressed their supporters’ desire to aid in the fight: Recent polls have shown that only a third of Republicans and Conservatives support continued aid to Ukraine, levels far below their rival partisans. Emboldened, a rump of far-right ideologues in Congress are holding up billions of dollars of aid.
Opposition to........