What would happen if the United States abandoned Ukraine? Congressional Republicans seem determined to find out. Late last week, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan spending bill that narrowly averted a government shutdown. That the bill was bipartisan was too much for some members of the GOP, as Rep. Margorie Taylor Greene immediately called for the removal of House Speaker Mike Johnson, a fellow Republican, for having the audacity to seek votes from Democrats in order to pass the measure.
The GOP’s MAGA wing already induced the ouster of then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy back in October for similar reasons. Johnson’s job is probably safe for now. But the threat of removal may make him think twice before trying to push through additional aid for Ukraine, for which he would also need votes from Democrats to overcome fierce opposition from these same far-right members of the Republican Party.
Their hostility to devoting U.S. funds to Ukraine’s defense echoes the sentiments expressed by former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee for this year’s presidential election and leader of the MAGA Republicans. At a campaign rally in Ohio two weeks ago, Trump stated that, rather than donating aid to Ukraine, the U.S. should loan Kyiv the money in order to hedge its bets. “They’re against tremendous odds,” he explained. “But if they make it, they pay us back.”