Military aid to Ukraine: Fears that US support will fade during election year
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Transcript
00:00 I'm joined by our international affairs commentator Douglas Herbert.
00:03 Doug, President Zelensky is keenly aware of how much he needs the support of the U.S.
00:08 Does he still have the backing of the U.S. government?
00:10 Generally there is still widespread support across the American public opinion, the public,
00:15 for supporting Ukraine in its drive to dislodge, to drive back the Russian occupiers.
00:22 The U.S. is by far given more military aid, military, humanitarian, economic, financial
00:27 aid of all kinds to Ukraine than any other nation by a long shot.
00:30 $113 billion to date and $48 billion of that was given last December while the Congress
00:36 was still Democratic.
00:37 Biden hasn't had to go back to Congress yet to ask for another big tranche of aid because
00:42 that money hasn't run out yet, but he might have to do so soon.
00:46 I want to show you where the opinion is because first Gallup recently, the Gallup pollster,
00:51 found that 65%, so two thirds of Americans, basically are in favor of continuing to give
00:57 Ukraine support even if that means prolonging the conflict and 31% want to end the war quickly
01:04 even if that means letting Russia keep territory.
01:07 That gives you a sense how much the support is still there.
01:09 Look at this though, a separate poll by the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public
01:13 Policy, the NORC.
01:15 This was done in April and it also shows generally what I'm saying.
01:18 Yes, support has softened a little bit among the American public since the early days of
01:22 the war.
01:23 There's a little bit more dissension and more skepticism, but generally half in the U.S.
01:27 still support giving those arms, giving the aid to Ukraine.
01:31 And we keep hearing regularly about tranches of aid being approved and sent on munitions,
01:36 artillery, heavy armor.
01:37 A quarter though are opposed to sustaining military lifeline.
01:41 So you can still see one in four Americans, not four square behind, keeping the arms coming.
01:47 Countries of Democrats and Republicans, and I will also add Monty, independents as well,
01:52 believe that Russia's attack was unjustified.
01:55 Jardis also think that Russia in many cases is guilty of war crimes for its actions in
02:01 its war against Ukraine.
02:03 Three out of four, look at that last statistic, 75% of the U.S. public in this survey at least
02:10 believe that the U.S. should be playing at least some role.
02:13 When I say at least some role, it means either a major role or a minor role, but at least
02:16 some role in the Ukraine conflict.
02:19 Of course, there's a presidential election coming up in the U.S. next year.
02:22 If Republicans take the White House, how might that change the equation?
02:27 There's a split right now in the Republican Party over the Ukraine war and over American
02:33 support for Ukraine, a split that is accentuated by the fact that a lot of the far right Republicans,
02:39 especially the America firsters, and they're the dissenting voices which we're hearing
02:43 making themselves heard more and more, believe they don't want to see any of the American
02:48 taxpayers' dollars being diverted as they see it to a distraction.
02:53 Ron DeSantis, who is seen as Donald Trump's potentially most formidable challenger for
02:59 the Republican nomination for president, he drew a backlash from within his own party
03:04 when he recently called the Ukraine's efforts to drive out the Russian occupiers as merely
03:09 a territorial dispute.
03:11 He said it was not among America's real vital national interests, interests such as, say,
03:17 stemming China's economic, military, and cultural rise.
03:20 So he saw it as a distraction.
03:23 And Donald Trump himself is on record as being extremely skeptical over U.S. involvement
03:30 in Ukraine.
03:31 He has bragged with his signature braggadocio, you might say, that if he had been president,
03:37 there never would have been a war, and that he could broker – he would be able to broker
03:41 an end to this war in 24 hours, leading, as you can imagine, to a lot of fears in the
03:45 Ukrainian leadership that Donald Trump would basically be willing to throw out the baby
03:49 with the bathwater, and that is sell Ukraine up the brook and sell out to Russia, basically
03:55 give Russia lock in its territorial gains in this war and sell Ukraine.
04:01 So right now you have a fringe of the Republican Party but driven by, you know, the base of
04:07 MAGA who still are very, very much behind Donald Trump in his bid for the nomination
04:12 and potential regaining the White House versus other Republicans who are still with the Democrats
04:17 in support of Ukraine, the more traditional base of Republicans saying you cannot – this
04:23 is not the time to let up support for Ukraine, that yes, it is in America's interest to
04:28 continue supporting Ukraine against a Russia that they do see as an aggressor.
04:32 The question is whether that traditional base of the Republican Party is going to be able
04:37 to continue to make its stance heard, its voice heard in Congress as the America First
04:44 faction becomes perhaps louder, more vocal, some would say more shrill amid a very, very
04:50 intense, expectedly intense presidential campaign coming up.
04:54 Yeah, I can see why the Ukrainians are following so closely what happens in this election coming
04:57 up next year.
04:59 International Affairs commentator Doug Herbert.
05:00 Doug, thanks so much.