Our forthcoming book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration is off to an ominous start.
The US and Ukraine appeared to be heading towards an irreconcilable rift after Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling the Ukrainian president “a dictator” and warning that he “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left”.
The US leader’s comments on Wednesday, which were rife with falsehoods, came after Zelenskyy said Trump was “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble,” following Trump’s claims that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s 2022 invasion, remarks that echoed the Kremlin’s narrative.
In a fiery rant on the Truth Social app marking his most direct threat to end the war on terms aligning with Moscow’s goals, Trump wrote: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
Republican members of Congress have been some of the strongest critics of Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, keeping in line with their party’s traditional hawkish views about the United States’ role in upholding freedom and democracy around the globe. For years, that also translated into strong support within the G.O.P. for aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
But recently, as President Trump has cozied up to Mr. Putin and moved to normalize relations with Russia, Republicans who once vowed to uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty have stayed silent or moderated their tone. Mr. Trump has proposed that Ukraine trade away a 50 percent stake in its mineral resources, an idea its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, rejected last week.
On Wednesday, as representatives of the United States and Russia met for their most extensive conversation in years, to agree to work on a peace settlement without Ukraine’s presence and to discuss the possibility of American oil companies doing hundreds of billions of dollars in business in Russia, several Republican senators dismissed the talks as preliminary.
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Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas
What he has said: “It’s not just Vladimir Putin and Europe that’s watching; the rest of the world is watching and most particularly Xi Jinping is watching what happens in Ukraine,” Mr. Cotton said in March 2022 on Fox News Radio, referring to China’s leader.
He suggested the United States would look weak to Mr. Xi if it did not stand up to Russia. “If he sees the United States and the West faltering and pressing Ukraine to sue for peace while Russian troops are still on Ukraine soil, he is much more likely to go for the jugular in Taiwan.”
In an interview on CNN during the 2024 presidential campaign, Mr. Cotton shrugged off concerns that Mr. Trump would not stand by Ukraine in the conflict with Russia.
“President Trump has always been strong in defense of Ukraine,” Mr. Cotton said, and he praised Mr. Trump for sending weapons during his first term.
What he is saying now: On Tuesday, while promoting a new book on China during an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Mr. Cotton called for “getting creative” to try to reach a truce and echoed Mr. Graham’s support for making a deal with Ukraine on its mineral resources.
On CNN later that day, he defended Mr. Trump’s establishing “diplomatic channels” with Russia and accused Mr. Biden of “tempting” Russia to invade.
