Potential presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made it clear that Ukraine is not a vital interest to the United States and called it a territorial dispute.
While his constituents may receive this message out of ignorance about the intersectionality of geopolitics and national security, DeSantis’ comment was not made out of ignorance. While Trump cannot be considered a man of intelligence by any thinking person, DeSantis is a well educated man who is well aware of the implications of his comment. His comment was aimed at a specific audience namely the extreme right wing of the party that has looked to people such as Hungary’s President Viktor Orban for motivation as well as Putin himself. DeSantis needs these voters to win the Republican presidential primary. It also sent a message to the Kremlin that if they want to interfere in the next election he is open to it as long as it benefits him. Ultimately DeSantis is telling Putin to hold on because if he wins he will give tacit approval to roll over Ukraine.
His comments pose a danger to the ultimate security of the United States. When Joe Biden became President he told the nation’s allies that America was back. Their response was “yes but for how long.”
DeSantis along with Trump represents the allies great and rightful fear that America would retreat back to the previous administration’s apparent disdain for its western allies and fealty for authoritarian governments.
As a result of the last administration’s policies Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon, North Korea has become more emboldened towards the United States, Russia has become more belligerent. China most likely takes these comments as a sign that with a DeSantis win, America will not intervene in an invasion of Taiwan.
The intrinsic self interest of defending Ukraine is steeped in the fact that the United States is only as safe as its allies. America is not immune to attack as it was attacked during the war of 1812, the Mexican American War and three times during World War II. September 11th, 2001 was the latest example. Without allies most notably during the Revolutionary War it is possible the American experiment would have died in its infancy.
If Ukraine falls there is no doubt that Putin’s goal is to recreate the Soviet Union. A victory over Ukraine will lead to a further invasion of Georgia and ultimately the Baltic states which would give rise to the second initiation of Article 5 (the first occurred on behalf of the US after 911).
DeSantis’ tacit support for abandoning Ukraine and supporting Russia’s invasion should not be seen as novel. There are many on the extreme right who see an ally in Vladimir Putin. They are wrong as those on the left were wrong about Russia in the 1940’s.
There have always been a constituency in the United States that supported authoritarian governments or at the very least believed appeasement served the purpose of national security. While history has tended to ignore this aspect of American history support for people like Hitler and Mussolini was more wide spread than is commonly acknowledged.
DeSantis who at times comes across as a Mussolini wannabe apparently is aware of this aspect of history and is looking to leverage those vote to win primary votes.
There should be no doubt that Russia’s ultimate goal is the downfall of the United States. While a military incursion would be totally out of the question Putin has opted to using destabilizing tactics to achieve this goal. One of these tactics became known as the Illegals program. This program was a network of Russian sleeper agents installed in the United States by the Russian foreign intelligence service. In 2010 the FBI arrested ten of these agents whose responsibility was to build relationships with academics and policymakers in order to gain access to US intelligence.
While there is no evidence that DeSantis is a sleeper, Americans need to be concerned about pro-Russian sentiment that emanates from people such as Tucker Carlson or Rupert Murdoch. Even comments by Elon Musk who many say spoke to Putin before he put out his so-called plan for peace which included ceding Crimea to Russia should be subject to scrutiny.
There is another potentially troubling aspect to this because of historical precedence. During the 1968 presidential campaign then candidate Richard Nixon engaged in secret conversations with the South Vietnamese and convinced them not to accept any peace offer from the Johnson administration. President Johnson confronted Nixon about this illegal interference, which became known as the Chennault Affair, but never made it public which could have changed the course of American history.
Whether DeSantis or Trump are engaging in secret conversations with America’s opponents to coordinate a strategy to win the American presidency is unknown. It took over 50 years for the Nixon conversations to come to light. Nonetheless, their tendency to parrot Putin’s talking points should raise concerns about where their loyalty lies.
The comments by DeSantis should be of concern to America’s allies and one of comfort to Russia and China. While some republicans from former Vice President Mike Pence or Nikki Haley disagree with DeSantis, his voice at present has much more salience with the Republican base.
At present America stands strong with Ukraine, nonetheless people like DeSantis whose interest seems to be more about gaining personal power than the good of the nation can begin to create cracks in that support.
While America is still the predominate superpower whether militarily or economically, the gap between it and its competitors is shrinking. Unfortunately, recent comments by DeSantis won’t make America safer but rather more susceptible, subject to becoming a declining force in the world and a less reliable ally.