When it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the official position of the United States is unambiguous. “The bottom line is this. We want Ukraine to win!!,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during his latest visit to Kyiv. The nation’s top American diplomat added, “Our support will not wane. Our unity will not break.”
Whether Donald Trump agrees is very much in doubt. The Associated Press reported:
Former President Donald Trump spoke heatedly in the presidential debate about wanting Russia’s war in Ukraine to be over — but twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted U.S. ally Ukraine to win.
During Tuesday night’s debate, the Republican nominee began his comments about the war by claiming that the conflict was responsible for “millions” of deaths, which isn’t even close to being correct. He also pointed to a failed diplomatic mission from Vice President Kamala Harris that never actually happened in reality.
But it was the questions the GOP candidate refused to answer that stood out most.
ABC News’ David Muir asked, “I want to ask you a very simple question tonight. Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” Instead of offering a straight answer, Trump replied, “I want the war to stop.”
So the moderator followed up, asking Trump, “Just to clarify the question, do you believe it’s in the U.S.’ best interests for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no?”
He dodged again. “I think it’s in the U.S.’ best interest to get this war finished and just get it done,” the former president said.
It wasn’t a trick question. It would’ve been incredibly easy for Trump to simply say that he stands with his own country’s allies — but he wouldn’t. An exceedingly generous observer might suggest that the Republican was trying to maintain some degree of neutrality in the hopes that it might help advance future diplomatic negotiations, but that’s a difficult argument to take seriously: Not only has Trump shown humiliating weakness toward Russia’s Vladimir Putin, but he has also recently mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. For her part, Harris took the debate opportunity to praise NATO, and she called for international support for Ukraine in response to Russian aggression. “Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe. Starting with Poland,” the Democratic nominee said. “And why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch?”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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