Risch has long supported Ukraine. Silence on Trump's betrayal is abetting its fall

Yahoo

23-02-2025

Just days ago during the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch was overflowing with support for embattled Ukraine, now approaching its third year of valiant resistance against a brutal invasion by Russia.
As the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Risch holds one of the most important positions in American foreign affairs outside of the executive branch.
Risch urged President Donald Trump to implement the REPO Act, which would seize Russian assets frozen under sanctions, using them to help fund the Ukrainian war effort.
'After speaking with President Zelensky, it's clear that America and our transatlantic allies must unlock more support for Ukraine, through the actual seizure of the underlying frozen assets or through, for instance, using those assets as collateral for another, larger loan for Ukraine,' he said in a joint, bipartisan news release from committee leadership. 'Vladimir Putin must pay for his brutal invasion, and Russia's own assets are an appropriate way to give brave Ukraine the support it needs to fend off his murderous aggression.'
This is not a new position. Risch has long been a full-throated supporter of Ukraine. A year ago, as the ranking Republican on the committee, he emphasized the obligations of the U.S. to support our ally.
'We have kept the commitment to Ukraine that we made in 1994 when we convinced it to give up its nuclear weapons,' he wrote. 'But right now, most urgently, we need a plan of action that will bring the war in Ukraine to a decisive end and deny Russia a victory. If we do not, we will only invite more aggressors to challenge the United States and our allies in the years to come.'
All of that is true as well.
Not that it matters to Trump.
Trump opted to meet with Russia and talk to Vladimir Putin for 'peace talks' without Ukraine at the table. And then, Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia, when it was Putin who ordered an invasion. And then, Trump accused Zelensky of being a 'dictator without elections' — at about the same time he was portraying himself as the king of America.
(Zelensky won over 70% of votes in the 2019 presidential election, and his term was supposed to end last May. However, no new election could take place because Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia invaded, and that prohibits elections. Polls continue to show majority support for Zelensky. Trump, of course, probably has no clue about any of that.)
Risch and most other Ukraine supporters in the GOP have issued no statements since Trump's betrayal of our ally and embrace of a repressive, aggressive, authoritarian enemy. We asked Risch for comment and he did not respond.
This is a pattern when it comes to Republicans rolling over for Trump.
Remember the deep concerns of Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, with the outlandish views longtime conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed about the vaccine schedule? But it didn't prevent him from voting for him as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Last time, the bargain for many Republicans in Congress was simple: In exchange for looking the other way on Trump's lies, incompetence, mismanagement and complete lack of morality, they could have policies they long fought for: big tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, loading the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, taking aim at the Affordable Care Act, and so on.
That was then. Now, it's not only Risch who's gone silent over Ukraine, but basically every Republican who cares about the issue, as ABC News reported. And so, as Putin grows in confidence that America has now handed him a victory, Risch has been silent on Ukraine for fear of offending Trump.
This time, it's a new bargain with the White House, which tells you to get in line or get run over. Members of Congress are no longer permitted to have independent policy priorities.
The Constitution envisions Congress as an independent branch that checks the executive. But that would require members of Congress, like Risch, to find their misplaced backbones.
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