Trump's Ukraine affair makes Senate Republicans look like patsies

For Senate Republicans, the picture is more complicated. But some are having second thoughts after allowing Trump to run roughshod over Congress’ appropriations power.

Unlike aid for Puerto Rico or Central America, Ukrainian assistance is something the GOP cares about as much as Democrats do. Second, unlike Trump’s use of emergency powers to build his border wall, the president’s goal in this case had less to do with some shared goal for his party — such as slowing immigration — and more his political self-interest…

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the committee, is a highly educated attorney with a Phi Beta Kappa pin and degree from Oxford. He vowed to “burn fresh hell” if future aid to Ukraine were withheld again by the White House. Yet in the same voice, he plaintively turned to committee Democrats like Durbin and Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, asking them to explain what the stall had been about.

Providing no answer, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) assured his colleagues that the White House had learned its lesson and there would be no future delays in aid for Ukraine. “I think they’ve got the message. If you are listening in the Ukraine on C-SPAN, you’re gonna get the money,” Graham said.