In a widely discussed interview with Punchbowl News on Oct. 18, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that if the Republicans win the midterm elections in November, they are not going to continue writing a “blank check” to Ukraine. “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it,” he said. “And then there’s the things [the Biden administration] is not doing domestically. Not doing [sic] the border and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing they do and it can’t be a blank check,” McCarthy added.
With only this modest statement, shock waves were sent throughout Washington, causing many leading members of the Republican Party to come out in defense of Ukraine. Among them, Adam Kinzinger, the unhinged anti-Trump congressman from Illinois, who responded by saying of McCarthy, “You’re giving aid and comfort to the enemy, intentionally or unintentionally.” He went on that “there are a lot of people, frankly, in the world that are worried about what a Republican majority could do.” Top war-hawk Liz Cheney called McCarthy’s comments “disgraceful,” and even Mike Pence weighed in to urge that Congress continue to give funds to Ukraine.
This follows a growing trend of Republican Congress members who have voted against further aid to Ukraine and are speaking out about the tens of billions given to fight a war, while Americans are suffering with high gas prices and other difficulties at home. While these are clearly insufficient and not coming from a genuine desire to resolve the conflict, it does indicate just how fragile the Western alliance is, even in the United States.
Not surprisingly, Ukraine has reacted even more strongly—they know that if the U.S. stops its support, Ukraine has no chance of continuing NATO’s war against Russia. David Arakhamia, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party in parliament, told the City of London daily, Financial Times, “We were shocked to hear these comments of Mr. McCarthy, honestly.” He added that he had met with McCarthy recently and that the Congressman had “assured that bipartisan support of Ukraine in its war with Russia will remain a top priority even if they win in the elections.”
