As President Joe Biden embarked on a tour of Ukraine and Poland, one of his potential 2024 rivals sounded a cautionary note as the Russian invasion hits the one-year mark.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) slammed Biden during an appearance on Fox & Friends Monday morning, chiding the commander in chief over what he described as a “blank check” policy toward funding the war.
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“They have effectively a blank-check policy with no clear, strategic objective identified, and these things can escalate, and I don’t think it’s in our interests to be getting into a proxy war with China, getting involved over things like the borderlands or over Crimea,” DeSantis, rumored to be in the running for the Republican 2024 presidential bid, said.
The war has gone well for Ukraine, to the point that Gen. Mark Milley recently said Russia “has lost,” but the Florida governor’s comments could signal that Biden will need to outline clearer initiatives as he seeks more funding from Congress in the future.
They also seem to contradict Biden’s message when he visited with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
“You remind us that freedom is priceless; it’s worth fighting for for as long as it takes,” Biden said. “And that’s how long we’re going to be with you, Mr. President: for as long as it takes.”
The phrase “as long as it takes” also appeared multiple times in official messaging from the White House in recent days and was uttered by national security adviser Jake Sullivan in comments to the press.
The president announced $500 million in new military aid to Ukraine during his visit, with the total U.S. commitment for the war now surpassing $112 billion.
However, while the tone of DeSantis’s comments differs sharply from Biden’s, the extent of their policy differences may not be so vast, argues Heritage Foundation research fellow Victoria Coates.
“What DeSantis is tapping into is a desire from the American people to know, is this a five-year war? Is it an 18-month war?” Coates said. “Nobody can say for sure, but what is the administration envisioning, and what is the goal? I think the questions he’s asking are, at this point, basically common sense.”
She emphasized that many Democrats are likely asking the same types of questions as the war enters its second year.
Polling bears out a similar trend among the public. An Associated Press-NORC poll found that most respondents still think the United States should play a role in the war, but support for supplying weapons, accepting refugees, and imposing sanctions has declined.
There are partisan divides as well. In January, 63% of Democrats but only 39% of Republicans supported providing weapons to Ukraine, though both numbers were down from last May.
The question of how much to prioritize Ukraine has emerged in other areas as well. The mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a toxic train derailment, called Biden’s Presidents Day visit to Ukraine a “slap in the face.”
Biden himself continues pledging strong support for the war effort, speaking Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland, before a crowd the White House announced at 30,000.
“I’ve just come from a visit to Kyiv,” the president declared in his opening remarks. “Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall, and, most importantly, it stands free.”
This week’s comments from DeSantis echo those made by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last October, when he predicted, “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession, and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine.” Republican calls or oversight of the money being sent to Ukraine have grown louder in the interim.
While some Democrats took issue with McCarthy’s comments, even saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin was hoping for a GOP landslide in the midterm elections, most Republicans have so far backed Ukraine spending. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said just last week the GOP is committed to Ukraine aid.
Separately, there are also electoral implications to the message from DeSantis, widely considered the top GOP challenger to former President Donald Trump in 2024.
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Staking out a position as skeptical of Ukraine funding gives him a chance to criticize Biden without explicitly calling for the end of additional aid. That puts him in a good spot with voters, argues Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson.
“DeSantis’s comments echo the American people’s frustration over their hard-earned taxpayer dollars going towards multibillion-dollar aid packages that both lack effective oversight measures and also fail to support a defined objective,” Anderson said. “Especially heading into the 2024 presidential campaign season, voters will expect their leaders to call for answers and organization before blindly supporting future assistance packages.”
