GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump described Russia as an unstoppable force that “fights wars…they beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon” at a campaign rally in the hotly contested swing state of Georgia this week, implying that Ukrainian resistance to Vladimir Putin‘s forces is a futile enterprise.
Promising, as he has done in the past, that were he re-elected he would end the war between Ukraine and Russia, Trump portrayed Ukraine’s fight as unwinnable and in need of a swift resolution.
Mispronouncing Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris‘s first name, Trump said “Biden and Kamala got us into this war in Ukraine” and asserted that the U.S. is “stuck in that war.” Stuck, Trump said, “unless I’m president…I’ll get it done, I’ll get it negotiated, I’ll get out.”
The active anti-Trump group Republicans Against Trump — comprising old school non-MAGA Republicans who support NATO and believe American isolationism is a dangerous and slippery slope — shared a segment of Trump’s speech (below) and slammed the former President as a “despicable traitor.”
Trump, once again, is trashing President Zelensky, blames the US for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and suggests Ukraine must surrender because Russia always wins wars: “That’s what they do. They fight wars”
Despicable Traitor pic.twitter.com/2frwkG6GVC
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 24, 2024
[Republicans Against Trump wrote: “Trump, once again, is trashing President Zelensky, blames the US for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and suggests Ukraine must surrender because Russia always wins wars: ‘That’s what they do. They fight wars.’ Despicable traitor.”]
From the dais, Trump mocked President Biden’s stalwart support for Ukraine, a position Biden reiterated this week while addressing the United Nations General Assembly. Trump mimicked Biden’s declarations of perseverance, saying “I watch him ‘we will win, we will’ — he’s been saying that for three years?”
Trump also characterized the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as the “greatest salesman on earth,” referring to Zelensky’s ability to garner the financial and military support of Western allies in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, despite Ukraine’s not being a NATO member nation.
Trump said “every time Zelensky comes to the United States he walks away with $100 billion” and claimed that European nations together contributed only a “small fraction” of what the U.S. has allotted to Ukraine.
That claim was well-received by the ‘America First’ crowd in Georgia, but it is disputed in the comments (below) and elsewhere — see Kiel Institute for the World Economy article.
Very easy to hate the guy. Straight up lying.
Total aid from the EU is actually higher than from the US.
Also, here is an interesting comparison with other countries…https://t.co/ZsVoIUcxQP
— CommonSenseMonkey (@CommSenseMonkey) September 24, 2024
Even the Trump-supporting conservative Heritage Foundation, while classifying loans and donations as distinct support mechanisms, recognize the EU’s Ukraine contributions aren’t what Trump says — “a small fraction” — and are instead very large, showing Trump’s statement to be false.