You all want more grift for Ukraine.
You despise everyone says well, secure the border and deal with the mess and we will und Ukraine.
Your side just stands for as much grift as we can get to Ukraine regardless of anything else goiong on."
Border crossings as of May 2022,
2023 levels were higher and 2024 levels higher yet:
To repeat the obvious, yet again: nobody posting on Free Republic has ever suggested we should ignore illegal immigration, especially the multi-millions which are Biden Administration policy to encourage and help settle.
Everyone here believes that closing down our borders and beginning to return illegal immigrants will be a first priority of the new Trump administration.
And, so far as I can tell, most here would support the idea of cutting a deal with Democrats that will provide aid to Ukraine in exchange for closing down our borders.
The problem with a possible deal is that Democrats themselves are 100% clear on their own priorities -- for Democrats, keeping our borders open for mass illegal immigration is existential, while helping Ukraine fight off Vlad the Invader is optional and therefore, Democrats have refused to cut the deal.
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Johnson has also stood firm, refusing to budge on Ukraine aid until Democrats give in on border security.
The result is stalemate, forcing Ukrainians to turn to other Europeans for more aid than ever before.
And, surprisingly, some European countries have stepped up to fill in the gaps in US aid to Ukraine.
I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing.
And there is another issue, the 800 lb gorilla, or 8,000 lb. monster in the room, the question Speaker Johnson asked many months ago -- what is our plan for victory in Ukraine?
If there is no real plan to win, then what the h*ll are we really doing there?
I think there should be a plan for Ukrainian victory and I'm OK if Speaker Johnson holds out until he's satisfied there is one.
In the meantime, Europeans and other friendlies should be forced to step up and meet their 2% minimum of GDP for defense and a significant percent of that as aid to Ukraine.
So, whether anything more can be accomplished before November 5 is anybody's guess, but regardless, the time will not be wasted if it's used to improve Ukraine's training and increase its reserve forces in anticipation of a time when materiel will be available to support their winning counter offensive.
