Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'disingenuous' attacks on Ukraine funding torn apart
In an analysis for the Washington Post, Philip Bump suggested that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's continuing attacks on U.S. funding to Ukraine to stave off the Russian invasion is less about international affairs and more about providing her with a platform to rile up her supporters with her fear-mongering over the U.S./Mexico border.
As the Post political analyst explained, Taylor Greene (R-GA) has her Ukraine numbers overstated but that is inconsequential since she is only using the war as a gateway to segueing into border complaints.
According to Bump, "Her arguments about funding for the war in Ukraine were political rhetoric, not considered analysis," before quoting her arguing in Iowa on Thursday a saying: "Democrats have ripped our border wide open but the only border they care about is Ukraine, not America’s southern border. Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine. Our country comes first.”
Bump then explained, "See the logical jump there? From 'Democrats care too much about Ukraine’s border' to 'we shouldn’t spend on Ukraine at all.' It’s not clear how one follows from the other, but consistency on such things is not how Greene has built her political reputation."
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Noting that it garnered some applause at the rally, he continued, "But the United States is doing relatively little — particularly when considering the historical context of its effort to contain Russian aggression."
Pointing out that the U.S. has spent approximately $18 billion of the appropriated $28 billion to help Ukraine out, Bump added that is is historically a small sliver of overall military spending, which was approaching $800 billion as of 2020.
"Look, $28 billion is a lot of money to you or me, certainly. (Well, I assume.) It is not really very much to the U.S. government. It is common, though, that these numbers will be cited outside of the context of all federal spending to make it seem that the United States is being dangerously profligate. But that’s a rhetorical point that is generally aimed less at the spending than at the focus of the spending — as Greene is doing here," Bump explained before pointing out that the GOP lawmaker, "like others on the fringe right, has expressed sympathy for the Russian position since the outset of the conflict."
"The reality is that the United States is providing relatively few pennies (relative to total spending, that is) on containing and degrading Russian aggression. To suggest that it is doing so at the expense of other priorities, such as the border, is disingenuous," he wrote before concluding, "But, again, Greene’s frustration is not really over how much is being spent."
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