Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz know the truth – that Putin must be defeated in Ukraine. They have both said so, repeatedly:
- Rubio:
- 3/19/14: “If Putin is allowed to take land from a neighboring nation through deceit and raw military force without serious consequences, the precedent could have global repercussions…”
- 3/22/22: “Putin (doesn’t get) a veto on what the U.S. can and can’t do to help Ukraine. On the contrary, it means policymakers must communicate clearly to Putin that escalating the conflict and harming Americans will only incur more severe consequences for Russia’s military and economy. The Biden administration must send more military supplies to Ukraine, as Republicans urged earlier this week.”
- 3/14/23: “I think if we stop helping Ukraine, the result is going to be a slaughter followed by we’d now live in a world where the message would be pretty clear, and that is that if you want to invade a smaller neighbor and take their land, you can do it, and there won’t be very many consequences for it.”
- Cruz:
- 3/19/14: “Today (Putin’s) sights are set on Ukraine, but if he continues undeterred tomorrow it could be Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, the Czech Republic, or Poland. Meeting his challenge now with strength, not appeasement, would be the best way to ensure that this does not happen, and that we do not squander our hard-won Cold War victory over the Soviets.”
- 5/23/22: “The reason we should support our Ukrainian allies is because it protects American national security, it keeps America safer, and it prevents our enemies from getting stronger, from threatening the safety and security of Americans, and from driving up the cost, the economic damage, to Americans.”
- 12/1/22: “It is in America’s interest for Ukraine to win. We don’t want Russia to win, we don’t want Putin to get stronger…The reason we want Putin to lose is because Putin is our enemy…Vladimir Putin is a KGB thug and it’s important for him to suffer a crushing defeat.”
Despite this, tonight Rubio and Cruz voted against $61B in aid to Ukraine – and against key aid for Israel – with both claiming that they cannot support the bill since it does not include U.S. border security measures. This is despite the fact that they both also opposed a conservative border security bill negotiated by Sen. Lankford earlier this year.
Marco Rubio used to be a principled conservative. He has abandoned those principles to appease Donald Trump. Ted Cruz never had any principles to begin with. Now, Cruz and Rubio have both joined the Putin wing of the GOP.