World War III.2 - Republican Politicians

Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, U.S. foreign policy and undocumented immigrants on 28 January 2023 as he kicked off his bid for a return to the White House. "Through weakness and incompetence, Joe Biden has brought us to the brink of World War III," Trump said. "We’re at the brink of World War III, just in case anybody doesn’t know it. As president, I will bring back peace through strength." He called Biden's botched American pullout from Afghanistan in 2021 "the lowest day in the history of our country" and claimed that if he were president, there would be "a peace deal negotiated within 24 hours" to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"If you take a look right now, the 'nuclear' word is being mentioned all the time. This is a word you're not allowed to use. It was never used during the Trump administration," Trump said. "World War III would be a catastrophe unlike any other. This would make World War I and World War II like very small battles," Trump said. Trump claimed that nuclear threats are being made by other countries "because they have no respect for our leadership". To address this potential threat, Trump said he would "build a state of the art next generation missile defense shield, just as Israel is now protected by the Iron Dome." Trump said "America must have an impenetrable dome to protect our people".

Donald Trump believes that only his re-election as President of the United States in 2024 will save the country from World War III. He made the statement on 14 March 2023 at a rally of his supporters in Iowa. "I stand before you as the only candidate who can promise - I will prevent a third world war, because I believe that a third world war will happen," he said. “With this administration, we will come to the third world war, because they do not know how to speak correctly, send the right signals. They act hard when they need to be soft, and soft when they need to be hard,” Trump continued. “They don’t know what they are doing.” "To be honest, we're going to end up with a third world war, a big war with China and others." Trump promised, if elected president, to resolve the conflict in Ukraine in 24 hours.

"World War III has never been closer than it is right now," former US President Donald Trump said 21 February 2023. US President Joe Biden, continuing to support Ukraine, is pushing humanity towards a third world war. This point of view was expressed on February 21 by Trump in his account on the Truth Social social network. “If you follow and understand the steps that Biden is taking regarding Ukraine, he is systematically, but perhaps unconsciously, pushing us towards what could soon become a third world war. Isn’t that crazy?” he asked.

Trump vowed to "clean house of all of the warmongers and America's last globalists," stating that the Obama administration was behind the Maidan Uprising in Ukraine, which took place in 2014. "For decades, we've had the very same people, such as Victoria Nuland and many others just like her obsessed with pushing Ukraine toward NATO, not to mention the State Department support for uprisings in Ukraine," said Trump. Trump added that these people "have been seeking confrontation for a long time, much like the case in Iraq and other parts of the world."

"And now, we’re teetering on the brink of World War III."

"We need to clean house of all of the warmongers and America's last globalists in the deep state, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the national security industrial complex." Trump stated that one of the reasons "I was the only president in generations" not to start a war was because "I was the only president who rejected the catastrophic advice of many of Washington’s generals, bureaucrats, and the so-called diplomats who only know how to get us into conflict, but they don’t know how to get us out."

Trump stated " .... we need to get rid of the corrupt globalist establishment that has botched every major foreign policy decision for decades, and that includes President Biden, whose own people said he’s never made a good decision when it comes to looking at other countries and looking at wars."

"We never had it so good. We’ll also stop the lobbyists and the big defense contractors from going in and pushing our senior military and national security officials toward conflict, only to reward them when they retire with lucrative jobs getting paid millions and millions of dollars. Take a look at the globalist warmonger donors backing our opponents. That's because they're candidates of war," Trump said.

"We could end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours with the right leadership. At the end of my next four years, the warmongers and frauds, and failures in the senior ranks of our government will all be gone, and we will have a new group of competent national security officials who believe in defending America's vital interests above all else," he concluded.

Ron DeSantis on Fox & Friends on 19 February 2023 rehearsed the main themes used by Republican opponents of aiding Ukraine. He described the Biden administration’s policy as a “blank check,” implying that his administration would restrict or end aide to Kyiv. (“Just saying it’s an open-ended blank check, that is not acceptable.”) He dismissed the notion that Russia posesda threat to American allies, interests, or values. (“It’s important to point out the fear of Russia going into NATO countries and all of that, and steamrolling that is not even coming close to happening. I think they’ve shown themselves to be a third-rate military power.”)

DeSantis blamed the invasion not on Vladimir Putin but on Joe Biden. (“I don’t think any of this would have happened, but for the weakness that the president showed during his first year in office, culminating, of course, in the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan.”)

And he used the fallacious conflation of Ukraine’s national sovereignty with immigration policy in the United States, creating an imagined choice between stricter enforcement of the southern border and helping Ukraine: “So I think while he’s over there, I think I, and many Americans, are thinking to ourselves, okay, ‘He’s very concerned about those borders halfway around the world. He’s not done anything to secure our own border here at home.’” We’ve had millions and millions of people pour in, tens of thousands of Americans dead because of fentanyl, and then, of course, we just suffered a national humiliation of having China fly a spy balloon clear across the continental United States. So, we have a lot of problems accumulating here in our own country that he is neglecting.”

Jonathan Chait noted "Vladimir Putin has built his strategy on the assumption that he can keep throwing conscripts into the trenches of eastern Ukraine longer than the United States is willing to keep sending money and arms to Kyiv. Putin’s main hope has rested on Donald Trump returning to office in 2025. Now he has a second option should Trump falter"

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced the “Ukraine Fatigue” Resolution on 09 February 2023, continuing a recent push among a subset of Republican lawmakers who want to change course in Washington’s support for Ukraine. The resolution states that “the United States must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine, and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement.” Initially, the resolution has ten co-sponsors: Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Barry Moore (R-Ala.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.)

Gaetz said in a statement “President Joe Biden must have forgotten his prediction from March 2022, suggesting that arming Ukraine with military equipment will escalate the conflict to ‘World War III.’ America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war. We must suspend all foreign aid for the War in Ukraine and demand that all combatants in this conflict reach a peace agreement immediately”.

Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said 04 June 2023 helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression is in the U.S. national interest, breaking with leading party candidates Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, who have voiced more ambiguous positions on the war. "This is bigger than Ukraine," Haley said. "This is a war about freedom, and it's one we have to win." Haley called Russian President Vladimir Putin a tyrant and refuted claims the conflict is purely a territorial dispute -- comments targeted at Trump's close relationship with Putin and DeSantis's initial comments about the war.

The United States must force Ukraine to make "serious concessions" to Russia in order to focus on confronting China. Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswami, who announced his participation in the 2024 presidential race in February, expressed this opinion on ABC television. "I think we need to end the fighting in Ukraine on peaceful terms, make serious concessions to Russia, including the freezing of controlled territories through a truce agreement similar to the one signed following the Korean War," Ramaswamy said. He also made a proposal not to accept Ukraine into NATO. Ramaswami noted that he does not consider Ukraine a foreign policy priority for the United States. In his opinion, the main threat to Washington is China, as well as the alliance between Beijing and Moscow. The politician stressed that the job of the US president is to "take care of American interests," and it is unprofitable for the United States "to be in conflict with two nuclear powers at the same time."

Businessman Vivek Ramaswami was the only one who opposed the continuation and expansion of assistance to Ukraine of the eight participants in the first debate of the candidates for the US presidency from the Republican Party 23 August 2023. Commenting on his position, Ramaswamy said that US resources should be focused on protecting the southern border from migrants. "Now the biggest danger that no one talks about is a military alliance between China and Russia. We must prevent it," the businessman argued. According to Ramaswamy, military assistance to Ukraine is pushing Moscow towards closer cooperation with Beijing.

During the debate, which was broadcast by Fox News, the host offered to raise hands for those who believe that the United States should continue and expand assistance to Ukraine. Hands raised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Former US Vice President Mike Pence, Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, Governor of North Dakota Doug Bergam.

Ukraine is losing in the conflict with the Russian Federation, but the media does not write about it. Former US President Republican Donald Trump stated this in an interview with NBC 17 September 2023. “I will say this: something is happening, and it is not good for Ukraine. Because the media is no longer reporting about the war. Lying media, they are not reporting about the war anymore,” Trump said. “You won’t find many reports. This means that Ukraine is losing... Ukraine’s spring offensive never happened because they ran into a wall of weapons and bombs”.

The richest man in human history, Elon Musk, criticized the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), noting that Kyiv lost too many people, but gained very few territories. The zillionaire wrote about this on the social network X (formerly Twitter) 18 September 2023. Musk was responding to a series of posts by businessman David Sachs, who began writing back in June that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was “not achieving any of its originally stated goals.” In his latest post, Sachs published a map with the caption, “Ukrainian territorial gains from their long-awaited counteroffensive are so slight they can barely be seen on the map.” Musk reacted to this recording with the words: “So many deaths for such a little thing.”

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., was sworn in as the 56th speaker of the House this afternoon. His election ends three weeks of leaderless chaos in the House after conservatives ousted Kevin McCarthy. Johnson is an ally of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump. He defended Trump during impeachment hearings and supported the lawsuit to overturn the results of the 2020 elections in four states. Johnson has taken an openly anti-Ukraine stance. In May 2022, Johnson voted against a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine. He explained his position by stating that these funds would be better spent on strengthening the southern border of the United States and other domestic needs. "We should not be sending another $40 billion abroad when our own border is in chaos, American mothers are struggling to find baby formula, gas prices are at record highs, and American families are struggling to make ends meet, without sufficient oversight over where the money will go," he said at the time. Johnson has a "Very Poor" rating from the group Republicans for Ukraine. He voted in favor of The Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, which allowed the lending/lease of American defense materiel to Ukraine. But Johnson

• Voted against the 2022 Ukraine Supplemental Appropriation
• Voted in favor of Amendment 21 to H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act, which would have stricken $300 million of assistance for Ukraine.
• Voted in favor of Amendment 22 to H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act, which would have prohibited all security assistance for Ukraine.
• Voted in favor of Amendment 25 to H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act, which would have removed the extension of lend-lease authority to Ukraine.
• Voted against H.R. 5692: Ukraine Security Assistance and Oversight Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023.

Johnson, 51, contested the results of the 2020 election — urging President Donald Trump to “stay strong and keep fighting” as he tried to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the presidential race. Johnson received Trump’s endorsement. "Mike Johnson's doing very well. He was a tremendous congressman, respected by everybody. I hear it looks like it's really good. I haven't had one negative comment about him. Everybody likes him, and he's respected by all,” Trump told reporters.

House Republicans remain split on approving more aid to Ukraine, according to a new report card released September 18, 2023 by a conservative group that grades members on their support for Kyiv. Republicans for Ukraine is a coalition of Republicans who believe that the Republican Party must continue to support Ukraine. We come from all over the country and are united in our support for helping Ukraine achieve victory for democracy.

The GOP has always stood for a strong national defense, supporting America’s friends, and standing up to its enemies. Ukrainian troops fought alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now they are fighting to defend their democracy. Most importantly, American military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine has helped them weaken Russia, which under Vladimir Putin is an avowed enemy of the United States—and they’re doing it without any American troops in harm’s way.

American views on supporting Ukraine have shifted, with a growing percentage of the public saying the US is "doing too much," according to a Gallup poll released 02 November 2023. Forty-one percent of Americans say the US is "doing too much" – an increase from 29% in June. A third say the US is doing the "right amount," down from 43% in June. The shift has occurred along partisan lines, with an increasing number of Republicans (62%) and independents (44%) seeing the US as "doing too much" since Gallup began tracking sentiment in August 2022. In contrast, only 14% Democrats hold this view.

Fewer Americans also believe the US should stay in the course, with 43% saying the US should try to end the conflict as quickly as possible even if that means Ukraine cedes territory to Russia. This marks an increase of seven percentage points since June. Of this group, 55% are Republicans, 49% are independents, and 19% are Democrats. An overwhelming 84% of Republicans also believe there should be limits on financial aid provided to Ukraine, compared to 63% of independents, and 34% of Democrats.

A frank interview with the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, published by the British magazine The Economist, caused a strong reaction from the world community. Zaluzhny directly admitted that there would be no “deep and beautiful breakthrough” for Ukraine. Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance, who openly called for an end to military aid to Kiev, saw in Zaluzhny’s statements deep divisions within the Ukrainian leadership: “Zelensky’s military goals do not correspond to reality, and some of his inner circle are resisting. This was always going to end with Russia controlling part of Ukrainian territory and a negotiated settlement. I've been saying this for a year now. This was obvious to anyone paying attention to the realities on the ground.”

Donald Trump said many times that if he was elected president again, he would end the war Russia launched against Ukraine. On 19 July 2024, he made that pledge in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out," the Republican presidential nominee said in a post on his Truth Social platform, regarding "the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families."

Trump has not offered any concrete policy for a path to peace between Ukraine and Russia. Zelenskyy has proposed a peace plan, which he presented at a summit last month that Russia was not invited to. His plan calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine's 1991 post-Soviet borders. Zelenskyy has been firm in his position that there will be no negotiations about ending the war as long as Russian troops remain in Ukraine.

Zelensky expects Trump to lean on Kiev to end the conflict “in 24 hours,” as he has promised on the campaign trail. Zelensky described a worst-case scenario in which US sanctions are lifted from Russia under Trump and Putin celebrates victory: “We will never go on this, never. And there is no guy in the world who can push us to do it,” he said. Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, Trump's choice for vice presidential running mate in the November election, has said he "does not care" about what happens in the Ukraine-Russia conflict "one way or the other." Putin has also stated that he would order a ceasefire and start negotiations with Ukraine as soon as it pledges not to seek membership in NATO and withdraws its troops from all Russian territories, including the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye.

European NATO members need to do a better job of deterring a hypothetical Russian attack and dealing with the loss of Russian oil and gas, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance said. He said a potential Trump administration would demand “self-sufficiency” from the EU while maintaining friendly relations. Speaking to the Semafor news website on 07 August 2024, he rejected the notion that sustained aid to Ukraine is necessary to prevent a future attack on NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin has “shown in Ukraine that he can’t go that far,” he argued, contrary to what Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, tells American voters. ”When the Harris administration says if we don’t stop Putin in Ukraine, he’s gonna march all the way to Germany, one, it’s not true, and two, what does that say about Germany’s defense capabilities?” Vance said. ”If [the Germans] can’t repel a Russian invasion that does not suggest America should effectively serve as a security protector for Germany, that suggests the Germans ought to get off their ass and invest in their own defense,” he added.