Biden gave $700 to Hawaii victims, but he took $900 from them and sent it to Ukraine.
On the left is Kyiv, on the right is Maui. pic.twitter.com/DMGly5RN7k
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) August 22, 2023
Community note aside, this has long been the rallying call of the Left. Take money from defense and pump it into domestic spending. There is a profound policy error here as well, in that most of our aid to Ukraine is what D.C. dweebs call “drawdown authority.” It’s a “color of money” term that means, in English, the overseas transfer of existing bombs, bullets, missiles, and tanks that are otherwise collecting dust on the shelves of American armories. In short, unloading old kit that was purchased years ago.
Heritage will take this sentiment a step further with a paid ad ahead of tonight’s debate on the Ruthless Podcast. (Aside: This is an entertaining gem of a program that you should subscribe to posthaste.) The short commercial is something of a non-sequitur, comparing an apple (the mundane transfer of old military equipment to Ukraine) to an orange (the government’s disastrous response to the Maui fires).
But beyond that logical pretzel, it is a profound example of acting against your own stated interest. A defeated Russian army enables the American military pivot to China that Heritage seeks. That is an impossible outcome if we have an empowered Russian army, fresh off a vanquish of Ukraine, squatting along a newly drawn border with Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland. That’s a recipe for a greater, not smaller, U.S. military presence in Europe.
[I’m not sure if this a shift to the Left, or more a shift to the paleo-Right. This has echoes of Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul, and their isolationism ended up channeled into the current conservo-populist movement that put Trump in the White House. I agree with John’s analysis of the policy, but I think he sells short the isolationist tradition on the Right. — Ed]
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