The root narrative around the next government funding bill is slowly taking shape and it is uglier than many people suspected - Neo-cons within the GOP are determined to oppose the majority of Americans and will continue funding the war in Ukraine, and they are planning on using the border security issue as leverage.
In a recent interview with CBS Face The Nation, Lindsay Graham suggested that any new government funding bill would require many billions more in Ukraine military aid well beyond the $24 billion already slated, and that if conservatives want funding for border security, they will have to submit to an ongoing proxy war in Ukraine. In other words, the plan is to hold conservatives and America hostage using the immigration crisis.
Let's not forget that Graham has had a longstanding interest in using Ukraine as a powerkeg to start a war with Russia. Listen to his rhetoric in a speech given to Ukrainian soldiers in 2016, and it's easy to understand why Russia would attack to secure the Donbas:
Peddling propaganda that would have worked during the Iraq War but not so much today, Graham asserts a number of falsehoods. First, border security does not have to be tied to Ukraine funding, that is a construct created by House speaker Kevin McCarthy and his backroom negotiations with Democrats. He is the primary agent involved in keeping Ukraine military funding alive because he continues to give Democrats the impression that he will back down. His removal as speaker would all but end that dynamic, which is why Graham is aggressively defending him.
Second, Graham uses the old claim that "50% of Russia's military" has been defeated without America losing a single soldier. This is, for one, an open admission that the US and NATO are in fact engaging in a proxy war with Russia, which is something warhawks denied for a year. It is also a claim with no concrete evidence to back it. Finally, his position rings of sociopathy: Graham is saying that throwing Ukrainians into an endless meat grinder is a good and cost effective investment.
Third, Graham claims while discussing military aid that NATO allies have sent "a lot more funding than we have and when you hear otherwise it's just not true." This is either a misleading out-of-context claim, or an outright lie. If we are talking about military aid rather than pure financial aid, then the US has spent more money than all other allies combined. The US has also spent almost as much capital as allies when combining military, humanitarian and financial funds. If Graham is asserting that Americans have not given enough in comparison to Europe, then he's out of his mind.
Fourth, Graham uses the old "domino effect" argument to assert that Putin and Russia will continue on to threaten NATO member countries if Ukraine is allowed to fall. By all accounts so far, Ukraine has already lost the war with its counter-offensive in complete failure. But beyond that, Graham and Democrats can't have it both ways - Either Russia's military is thwarted and 50% of their forces are destroyed, or, they are strong enough to roll into Poland after overtaking Kiev. Which one is it?
Fifth, the next narrative is bizarre, in that warhawks are trying to connect failure in Ukraine to giving a green light to China to attack Taiwan. Ukraine has nothing to do with China or Taiwan, and if anything the CCP has already been emboldened by NATO's disastrous efforts in the region. China is well aware that if they were to blockade or invade Taiwan there is nothing NATO could do about it. In fact, the proxy war and sanctions against Russia have only increased trade and military relations between Russia, China and the BRICS.
Lindsay Graham is an archaic Neo-con artifact from the Bush era, but he does showcase the need for reform within the Republican Party. He is a symbol of the dwindling false left/right paradigm; a dichotomy that is now failing to lure in conservatives the way it used to. The bottom line is, the vast majority of conservatives have no interest in Ukraine or a catastrophic war with Russia. The majority of Americans according to polls no longer support funding for Ukraine. And, the majority of Americans are concerned about the tide of illegal immigrants at the US border.
Graham does not represent the interests of the American people, let alone the interests of conservatives. He only represents the special interests of the establishment and a handful of far leftists.
