The passing of $61 billion in aid to Ukraine over the weekend by the U.S. House of Representatives was not met with cheers on the right, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) went back on his word to put border security here at home first.
So imagine the awkwardness when Sen. Lindsey Graham, the neo-con Republican from South Carolina who has never met a military conflict he didn’t embrace, appeared on Fox News Sunday (alongside Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.) to credit former President Donald Trump for the foreign aid bill passing.
“There’s a loan component to it. This would not have passed without President Trump. I want to thank the House Speaker [Mike Johnson] and [Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries working together in a bipartisan fashion to give weapons to Ukraine to fight a fight that matters to us,” Graham said. “And President Trump has created a loan component to this package that gives us leverage down the road.”
WATCH: Senators @LindseyGrahamSC and @SenBlumenthal react to the House passing long-awaited aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. pic.twitter.com/s6QW1cRabA
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) April 21, 2024
The bill designates approximately $10 billion of the Ukraine funding as repayable loans, according to Fox News.
Speaker Johnson visited Trump earlier this month at Mar-a-Lago and the topic of structuring some Ukraine aid as a loan was discussed.
“We’re looking at it right now, and they’re talking about it, and we’re thinking about making it in the form of a loan instead of just a gift,” Trump said at the time. “We keep handing out gifts of billions and billions of dollars, and we’ll take a look at it.”
This is one loan that stands little chance of ever being repaid.
“This is the year of more,” Graham declared, vowing that the Ukrainian military will receive new weapons this year, including F-16 fighter jets, adding, “We have an industrial base that needs to be retooled.”
Left and right, the political class was singing in unison about Russian President Vladimir Putin running roughshod over Europe, but for U.S. taxpayer dollars. Graham went the extra mile to argue that it was the only way to keep U.S. troops from being thrown into the fight — never mind that the Russian army failed to defeat the much smaller Ukrainian army.
“Well, if you want American military members to stay out of the fight with Russia, help Ukraine. If they go into a NATO nation, Russia, we’re in a fight,” Graham said.
The only thing not on the table when it comes to the Ukraine-Russia conflict is pushing for peace negotiations — but then, there’s no money for the industrial military complex and politicians in peace.
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Author: Tom Tillison
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