Vance VP Pick By Trump Sends Shivers Through Ukraine Advocates

The Ohio senator has not just been opposed to helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia — he’s been among the most vocal voices in Washington on the issue.

In April, it was clear a bill to provide Ukraine with another $61 billion in weaponry and aid to fight against invading Russians would pass the Senate, its final hurdle before reaching President Joe Biden’s desk.

It had already passed the House on a massive 311 to 112 vote and was only hours away from passing the Senate by a similarly overwhelming 79 to 18 tally. The bill’s success was all but foreordained.

But Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), now the GOP’s vice presidential nominee, still railed against it on the Senate floor, comparing the rush to help Ukraine defend itself from an unprovoked Russian assault to the U.S. rush to invade Iraq. He recalled the 2005 image of triumphant U.S. lawmakers holding ink-stained fingers in the air to show solidarity with Iraqis holding free and fair parliamentary elections.

“What I am saying is not that the people of Iraq were bad or that they were bad for voting in their elections. What I am saying is the obsessive focus on moralism — ’democracy is good, Saddam Hussein is bad; America good; tyranny bad’ — that is no way to run a foreign policy,” Vance said.

Russia’s breaking of the post-World War II consensus against redrawing borders by force has been a big reason Ukraine has garnered support from the U.S. and across the West. But Russia’s sheer ruthlessness in the conflict has been another.