Thread by @mtracey

Newsflash: Republicans Are Largely Faking Their Opposition to Ukraine War “Aid”

mtracey.substack.com/p/newsflash-re…

It was always politically contrived BS that a GOP-controlled Congress would cut off "aid" to Ukraine because Kevin McCarthy made a stray comment suggesting he opposed a "blank check." This means nothing -- even ardently pro-Ukraine Dems now say they agree with McCarthy's comment

GOP candidate for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district told me he had not yet "looked into" the whole issue of US policy in Ukraine. Just hadn't found the time -- so couldn't articulate any real position one way or another. That's the high caliber of GOP thinking on display

Just days before an election where he's running to wield war appropriations authority on behalf of Pennsylvania citizens, this GOP candidate (Jeremy Shaffer) claims almost total ignorance about one of the central issues he'll soon have to vote on in Congress. Inspiring stuff

Even in the case of high-profile GOP candidates who've been relentlessly painted by the media as somehow "opposed to aid for Ukraine" -- it's another load of BS. Here's a previously unreported October 13 quote from JD Vance affirming his *support* for sending US arms to Ukraine

We've seen this all before. Specifically, we saw it in the 2006 midterm elections, almost verbatim. Don't delude yourself

Fiona Hill, the superstar witness from Trump's first impeachment hearing on the eternal necessity of arming Ukraine, was asked last week whether GOP would actually cut off "aid." She assured everyone that their campaign rhetoric does not match what's happening "behind the scenes"

While the media fixates on outlier GOP personalities like Marjorie Taylor Greene, the vast bulk of the GOP caucus will be comprised of under-the-radar individuals like 42-year incumbent Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) -- who is lobbying for the US to somehow prosecute and imprison Putin

If the GOP wins majorities tonight, it should be underscored that GOP candidates spent the entire campaign declining to take any substantive position on Ukraine war policy, thanks to a deliberately obfuscatory talking point strategy coordinated by the national party committees