Florida governor Ron DeSantis made waves within the Republican Party last week when he declared that US support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s war of aggression is not a matter of “vital national interest”. He even went so far as to downgrade the war to a mere “territorial dispute”.
The remarks – which DeSantis made in response to a questionnaire sent to all potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates by Fox News host Tucker Carlson – put him in line with ex-president Donald Trump. But a number of prominent Republicans, including senators Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, immediately pushed back against his comments.
As many have pointed out, DeSantis’s current position on Ukraine stands in sharp contrast to the one he struck as a congressman nine years ago, when Moscow annexed Crimea. He called for the US to provide lethal aid to Ukraine while decrying what he described as then-president Barack Obama’s “policy of weakness”.
