Russia-Ukraine war ‘endless’ without strong US posture: Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg
Former Pence National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg says President Biden needs a specific policy and plan to end the war in Ukraine.
Wall Street Journal editorial board member Kimberley Strassel condemned former President Trump’s foreign policy stances and warned GOP leaders like Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., against following his lead.
Strassel slammed political leaders’ lack of willingness to fund Ukraine’s war effort, suggesting it has put future presidential nominees at a geopolitical crossroad.
"Donald Trump’s early entry into the Republican primaries is already presenting his potential rivals with some tough choices," she wrote. "Among the most consequential: Do they join the former president in forging a GOP surrender caucus?"
She harkened back to Trump’s proclamations that he would "clean house of all the warmongers and America-Last globalists" and his warning against starting "WORLD WAR III," saying this risks the decades-long Republican brand of being the "party of strong defense."
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 07: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces that he wants to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers during a press conference held at Bayview Elementary School on October 07, 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
She went on to warn, "Mr. Trump and a small group (at least for now) of congressional Republicans risk throwing all that hard-earned credibility away, neutralizing one of the party’s greatest strengths and leaving the country without a meaningful alternative to Mr. Biden’s weak multilateralism."
Strassel then recounted how DeSantis had slammed having a "blank check" aid policy to Ukraine, but speculated this is not a firm policy commitment to isolationism.
"The temptation might be to follow Mr. Trump down this rabbit hole. Some will warn Mr. DeSantis that this is where Mr. Trump will hit him, framing him as a GOP pol who’ll drag the country into endless wars," she wrote. "Some will note numbers showing Republican support for Ukraine aid (slightly) waning. Mr. DeSantis’s advisers will tell him he can’t be seen to be on the same side as Democrats."
U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visit Saint Michael’s cathedral, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 20, 2023. (REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)
Strassel warned that "it would be a mistake for Mr. DeSantis to cast his lot with Mr. Trump," saying he would concede an important issue to Trump and lose an "opportunity to contrast a bold, well-thought-out foreign policy" with the former president’s "opaque retreatism."
"It would muddy Mr. DeSantis’s ability to otherwise take a tough line on the world’s rogues, including China. It would give Mr. Biden—who is already gunning for Mr. DeSantis—an easy attack line. And it would put the governor crosswise with most congressional Republicans, many of whom are rooting for him," she continued.
She offered her prediction of the world if such policy is emulated.
"Policy-wise, any presidential candidate needs to campaign as if he plans to win, and Mr. DeSantis might consider the world he’d inherit should Vladimir Putin prevail," she wrote. "A victorious Russia wouldn’t stop with Ukraine. China would delight in America’s retreat from the world stage and rush to fill the gap. Iran would double down on a bomb and on exerting greater hegemony over the Middle East. Peace through weakness never works."
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She then advised aspiring GOP candidates, "Criticize Mr. Trump for his retreatism and remind the country that a strong America (with a rebuilt military) is the best guard against global disorder and the basis of U.S. safety."