DeSantis Makes a U-Turn on Ukraine as He Prepares to Announce His Bid

Photo by265471396 © Beth Baisch | Dreamstime.com

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis walked back on his former position of supporting arming Ukraine to fight Russia.

As a congressman, he urged then-President Barack Obama to arm Ukraine and deterred Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

The opposite of Democrats

If Democrats go right, DeSantis will go left. If Biden says the sky is blue, DeSantis will claim it's red.

DeSantis is trying to position himself as everything Democrats are not, despite the actual policies of each government.

In 2014 and 2015, DeSantis advocated sending "defensive and offensive" weapons to Ukraine as a Republican congressman. He even voted to block funding for a new missile defense treaty with Russia until they withdrew from Ukraine.

DeSantis has now changed direction in preparation for a prospective presidential bid under a revised, more isolationist Republican party. The Florida governor questioned if it was in the interests of the U.S. to be involved in helping other countries.

DeSantis said that despite being unfriendly, Russia was not "the same menace to our country" and dismissed the possibility that it may invade NATO nations.

Just like Russia wouldn't invade Ukraine

As the Republican Party's voting base has become more isolationist, DeSantis' foreign policy has changed from being a self-described adherent of the "Reagan school" of international policy to a more Trumpian perspective. A recent Pew Research Center study shows that 40% of Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters now think the U.S. supports Ukraine excessively, up from 9% last year.

From December 2017, DeSantis continued to embrace the "Hard on Russia Reagan school," chastising Democrats for opposing help to Ukraine.

After Russia's initial invasion in February 2022, DeSantis stayed mum on the issue until he denounced the Biden administration's response and blamed the attack on President Joe Biden, stating the Afghanistan withdrawal.

"I think that Putin would probably not have done this if he thought the United States was strong, but I think he thinks that the United States is weak because of the impotence of Biden's administration," said DeSantis.

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