Trumps cabinet selections provided clues about the brand-new administrations Russia policy, and possibly the future of U.S.
support for Ukraine.Here is a summary of where Trumps cabinet candidates stood on Russia and Ukraine simply after Russias invasion in February 2022 and where they stand today: Senator Marco Rubio, Secretary of State NomineeMarch 29, 2022Vladimir Putins invasion is a stunning reminder of the ruthlessness and the atrocities that man can in pursuit of that impulse towards conquest and aspiration, and its the opening chapter in the return of history.
But it will neither be the last chapter, nor will it be the most unsafe one.
For even as Putin is eliminating innocents, and damaging cities in Eastern Europe, there is a higher challenge that awaits America and the world in the Far East.
Today, were doing whatever we can to assist Ukraine ward off and defeat criminal invaders.
And still, as we discuss what can be performed in Ukraine our choices appear constrained.
And theyre constrained for two reasons.
First, because of Moscows nuclear toolbox.
Second, since Europe is heavily dependent on the choices they make on Russias oil and gas.November 2024Shortly after Trumps election triumph, Rubio hailed a new age in U.S.
diplomacy that left from optimistic fantasies and was instead based on core U.S.
interests.Today we remain in a world where China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are progressively working together with one another to weaken our interests on the planet, he said in a Nov.
7 interview.He praised Ukraine for standing up to Russia, however stated the U.S.
is funding a lethal stalemate war that needs a sound judgment method that requires to be given a conclusionIts going to take 100 years to rebuild that poor nation [Ukraine] with whatever they are dealing with, he said on Nov.
6.
Were lying to individuals when we inform them youre going to be able to go to Congress and get$60 billion every 10 months.
Thats simply not practical, he told The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence NomineeFeb.
27, 2022Shortly after Russias intrusion of Ukraine, Gabbard contacted the presidents of the United States, Russia and Ukraine to put geopolitics aside and accept the spirit of aloha, respect and love by agreeing that Ukraine would become a neutral nation, not sign up with NATO or form an alliance with Russia, a plan that she said would enable the Ukrainian people to live in peace.She has actually consistently stated that the Biden administration and NATO stopped working to acknowledge Putins genuine concerns about security at the border of Russia in the lead-up to the invasion.October 2022This regime-change war that the United States and NATO are waging by means of their proxy in Ukraine didnt start when Putin attacked Ukraine.
They had their eyes set on this unbiased long before that.
We saw that through Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, and how eager they were to begin a brand-new Cold War in 2016, she said on Oct.
18.
Gabbard has actually said that under the Biden administration, the U.S.
has continued to escalate a new Cold War with Russia and has actually brought the world to the precipice of nuclear conflict.
Her views were partly formed by the significant 2018 incorrect alarm of cautioning systems that a ballistic rocket was headed to Hawaii, which instructed people to nestle immediately.Nov.
9, 2024Among the reasons Americans chose Trump was to turn down Harris program of continuing to wage stupid, expensive, and unnecessary wars that are counterproductive to the interests of the American people, Gabbard said in an interview on Fox News.Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense NomineeMarch 7, 2022 [In reaction to a question about Russia attacking Ukraine] Whats at stake is fending off an authoritarian who essentially is saying I desire the Soviet Union back, I desire Ukraine back, I desire Kyiv back.
Whats at stake is making sure we do not allow it to become an Article 5 bigger, wider war.
Equipping and providing Ukraine with what it requires, faster than we have and the Biden administration hasnt been doing it fast enough so that they can even more bog Putin down and press him back.
Its going to be long, its going to be bloody, but I think those are the stakes for the United States of America.Feb.
20, 2023 [Bidens] now invested more time 3 times more time in Ukraine than he has at East Palestine [Ohio] and the border integrated.
Whats the frame of mind of that view? Were going to spend billions in Ukraine, but overlook our problems at home, Hegseth said on Hannity Special Fox News.As somebody whos spent a long time in multi-decade wars in the Middle East, an end state requires to be clear.
I do not desire my kids combating in Donbas.Nov.
7, 2024 [On military structure and ability, training and basic shortages] When you talk to the guys on the bases and in the units they say We are absolutely not ok.
Ive got people that Im in touch with in the DMZ in North Korea and theyre like we have essentially adequate weapons for three days.
The rest of its in Ukraine, Hegseth stated in an interview on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast.This feels like a Putin getting-my-s *** -back war.
It seems like youve been pushing pretty hard, and we utilized to have the previous Soviet Union, and were pretty pleased with that, and Ukraine belonged of it, and all these other nations, and I desire my shit back.
and Im at the right time where Im effective adequate to do it, and youre not rather on my border yet, and Bidens AWOL, so Im going for it.
Similar to I did under my small incursion under Obama.
I got what I could.
I got Crimea.
I waited under Trump.I think he most likely knows enough to know that hes most likely not going much even more than Ukraine If Ukraine can defend themselves ...
fantastic, however I do not desire American intervention driving deep into Europe and making him feel like hes so much on his heels because early on, he was speaking about nukes.