Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says protecting Ukraine against Russia's invasion is not one of America's "vital national interests" in the face of more pressing issues closer to home.
In a statement broadcast on Monday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight," DeSantis, a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate, countered President Joe Biden's oft-repeated vow that the United States' support of Kyiv is "unwavering" and will continue for as long as needed.
"While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them," DeSantis said in the statement.
DeSantis said Biden administration's policies "have driven Russia into a de facto alliance with China."
"Because China has not and will not abide by the embargo, Russia has increased its foreign revenues while China benefits from cheaper fuel," DeSantis said.
"Coupled with his intentional depletion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and support for the Left's Green New Deal, Biden has further empowered Russia's energy-dominated economy and Putin's war machine at Americans' expense."
The U.S. support is a "virtual 'blank check' funding of this conflict for 'as long as it takes,' without any defined objectives or accountability," he wrote — and it "distracts from our country's most pressing challenges."
DeSantis said Americans "are also entitled to know how the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are being utilized in Ukraine."
"We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland, especially as tens of thousands of Americans are dying every year from narcotics smuggled across our open border and our weapons arsenals critical for our own security are rapidly being depleted," the statement said.
Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine more than a year ago, and the U.S. has provided billions in aid to help Ukraine fend off Russian forces. But trying to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin from power "would greatly increase the stakes of the conflict, making the use of nuclear weapons more likely," DeSantis argued.
A regime change "would neither stop the death and destruction of the war, nor produce a pro-American, Madisonian constitutionalist in the Kremlin," DeSantis said. "History indicates that Putin's successor, in this hypothetical, would likely be even more ruthless. The costs to achieve such a dubious outcome could become astronomical."
The Hill noted DeSantis' foreign policy stance could be another signal that he's weighing a potential White House run.
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