As the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential field takes shape, it’d be a mistake to think each of the candidates are in lock step on every issue. One leading contender, for example, recently expressed relative indifference toward Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling it “a territorial dispute” that’s unrelated to the United States’ “vital” interests.
Voters heard soon after from a GOP contender who sees Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal” who must be “held accountable.”
The confusing thing is, both of these Republicans happen to be the same person. NBC News reported:
After having downplayed Russia’s war against Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” in remarks to Fox News, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis changed course in a new interview by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” who needs to face consequences for his actions. “I think he is a war criminal,” DeSantis told Piers Morgan in an interview published Wednesday in the New York Post, adding: “I do think that he should be held accountable.”
Trying to nail down what the governor’s position on the issue has been like playing a whack-a-mole game at an amusement park: The Floridian keeps popping up in entirely different places.
DeSantis’ original position came into focus when he was still in Congress, at which point he supported sending U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and even criticized the Obama administration for not doing more to support our Ukrainian allies.
Last month, his position started to evolve a bit, and DeSantis publicly denounced the idea of a “blank-check policy” toward Ukraine, which the governor insisted was “not acceptable.”
Last week, as part of an apparent effort to impress Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, the Florida Republican went much further, calling the war “a territorial dispute.” DeSantis said the United States “has many vital national interests,” but as far as he was concerned, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wasn’t one of them.
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