Lately, DeSantis has indicated he’s not in the neocon camp re Ukraine:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/ron-desantis-goes-full-trump-on-ukraine.html
But he’s he’s doing some fence sitting there, imho, and checking the wind.
What did Trump do re Ukraine when president?
Hmm, looks neocon to me:
I remember Trump repeatedly saying he had given provided Ukraine weaponry that Obama denied them. Hmm.
On the other hand, he urged the newly-elected Zelensky to negotiate with Putin (sounds like, at least in front of press, wanted him to implement Minsk). But he did not follow up on that.
If Trump had insisted on Minsk being implemented, and put an end to our treating Ukraine like a de facto junior member of NATO, we would not have this war. I realize his hands were tied in many ways because Russia-Russia-Russia, but the fact remains he did not do these two key things that would have prevented the war.
DeSantis and Haley blame Biden pulling out of Afghanistan for emboldening Putin. Maybe so, but I’ve come to wonder if that hasty pullout was in preparation for the war in Ukraine, as the neocons were planning to goad the bear into invading Ukraine. It wouldn’t do to have our troops sitting in Afghanistan with NATO in a hot proxy war with Russia. Besides, there was the added bonus of leaving all those cool toys that go boom in terrorist hands in Russia’s vicinity for Putin to have to keep an eye out for.
Right now, the only politician talking sense on foreign policy is Tulsi Gabbard, and she isn’t running.
” “DeSantis is, as usual, taking a position that is politically savvy and as close to the center of the party’s current mood as possible in beating up on Biden, being hawkish on China, deriding Putin, and questioning where the limits are while not actually calling for abandoning the Ukrainian cause,”
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DeSantis is a smart and clever politician, considering his earlier record in regards to foreign policy I’m going to need a lot more than “well we can’t just give Ukraine a blank check” from him. When Bush jr first ran he promised a less interventionist foreign policy too, and you can see what came of that. Wall street/deep state ain’t showering money on DeSantis because they want him to fight CRT and tranny groomers, they know DeSantis will wind up doing their bidding regardless of what he says during the campaign.