A few days ago, GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, and Dan Crenshaw from Texas, were involved in a heated online exchange over providing U.S. aid to Ukraine
Since Russia's incursion began, the U.S has supplied Ukraine
with billions of dollars in the form of aid. Back in March, the House and the
Senate approved $13.6bn for
‘assistance’ to Ukraine. On Tuesday, the House approved
$40 billion more in aid. At the beginning of the month, Biden had
requested $33
billion but the House generously offered $7 billion more.
The aid to Ukraine comes as the US, under Biden, is struggling
on several fronts.
The inflation and supply chain crisis is the worst of its kind
in recent US history. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that
there is a shortage
of Baby formula.
The border is open and unguarded. This has allowed an influx
of unvetted illegal aliens, experts say this is the leading cause of the crime
wave plaguing the
nation. The open borders have facilitated the smuggling of illicit fentanyl
into the US. The Wall
Street Journal reported that drug-overdose deaths in 2021
topped 100,000 for the first time in a calendar year.
Rep Crenshaw tweeted this WSJ article and blamed Biden for not
caring.
https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1524401521697431552
A Twitter user confronted Crenshaw for the disparity
between his utterances and his actions
https://twitter.com/BungusChigg/status/1524404868722667520
Crenshaw responded that his rationale for voting yes to the
$40 billion Ukraine aid
https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1524454243297546249
Next, Rep. Greene challenged Crenshaw for supporting a proxy
war against Russia
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1524484621278363649
Instead of expounding his rationale for aid to Ukraine,
Crenshaw hurled an insult at Greene
https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1524497730827173892
Green responded by reminding Crenshaw that she was focused
more on national issues.
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1524515830645633025
Since the exchange was over aid to Ukraine, let's look at the
situation on the ground.
There is no transparency on how past aid sent to Ukraine was
spent and there will be no transparency on how the $40 billion will be spent.
There will also be no details on how much of $40 billion actually
reached Ukrainians in unfathomable peril.
Ukrainian
officials recently said that in addition to Ukrainian
forces nearly 20,000 foreign fighters are defending Ukraine against Russia. If
the aid is used to buy weaponry, it is quite likely that this weaponry will end
up in the hands of unvetted mercenaries. What if they sell these arms in the
black market to nefarious forces for a quick profit. What if those forces use
it to conduct terror attacks?
Some experts have pointed out that, the defense contracts are
being given to those arms dealers who
donate to House members and Senators in Washington.
Beyond the weaponry, the question is will the food, medicine,
and clothing sent to Ukraine actually reach those in need, or will they be
pilfered and sold to third parties?
Perhaps the money will travel around the world in the form of
paybacks to all those who voted for the aid to Ukraine.
The record of both the Biden administration and Ukrainian
officials on transparency and integrity isn’t exactly stellar.
If Biden is interested in peace, the only solution is
diplomatic. Throwing money at Ukraine and uttering strong words against Russia
is not going to resolve the situation and neither is it going to make the world
safer. The only way to resolve this crisis is to compel both parties to engage
in a dialogue such that a deal is struck.
Back to the spate on Twitter between Crenshaw
and Greene.
The public utterances of politicians usually emanate from
pre-authored talking points. But on Twitter, the reaction is often visceral.
It exposes the mindset of an individual.
Russia Today is a Russian state-controlled international
television network funded by the Russian government. By claiming that Green was
“going after that slot on Russia Today” Crenshaw was calling Green an agent of
the Russian government i.e. a traitor.
Previously in the House, when Taylor had questioned the
rationale behind the $40 billion aid to Ukraine, Democrat lawmaker Jamie
Raskin, dismissively ordered Green to not parrot the Putin propaganda.
https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1524374540620644352
But Raskin is a Democrat, this is how Democrats respond when
challenged, they accuse the questioner of being a Russian agent.
The least one expects from a Republican such as Crenshaw is to
engage in a healthy debate. He could have put out a tweet thread where he
explained his rationale. But instead aped a disgraceful Democrat attack by
accusing a fellow party member of treason. This was the very attack the
Democrats used to delegitimate President Trump.
This isn’t the first time the two have feuded.
Back in January, Crenshaw blasted
Greene as "a Democrat" or "just an idiot" after
she told him to "stop calling himself conservative" for wanting the
Federal Emergency Management Agency to help improve the COVID-19
testing process throughout the country.
To be fair, there will always be a difference of opinion in
even the best of teams. The way to deal with these differences is to engage in
debate and respect the diversity of opinion.
This isn't the first time Crenshaw has let his true feelings
show.
Previously, Crenshaw branded members of the House Freedom
Caucus as “performance
artists” and “grifters”. Crenshaw was also among the
Republicans who defended the results of the 2020 Presidential elections. He
even went on MSNBC to
call Biden a legitimate President. Crenshaw also derided
claims that electoral fraud had occurred.
This is, was, and will always continue with the GOP. The GOP
will win back the House and the Senate. The winners will have the letter ‘R’
before their names. However, inducements from the Washington Democrat
establishment cause them to abandon their conservativism and even their
patriotism.
Quite often this group of Republicans is desperately seeking validation
from the Democrats. They hope to be regarded as ‘one of the good ones’ such that they
receive honorable mentions in the New York Times. Will they never learn
that for the modern Democrats, a Republican will always be the enemy? No
matter how hard they try, they will always be uncouth, racist, sexist, xenophobic, and white
nationalists in the eye of the Democrats. They may be invited to the party but will
only get a seat in a lonely corner of the room.
The Democrats probably see the unprincipled and globalist
Republicans as their best chance to retain power despite losing electorally in
the mid-terms.
There is another possibility that the likes of Crenshaw are
real performance artists who merely said the right things to get elected but
once they are in power they expose their fangs of duplicity. Like the
Democrats, Crenshaw was probably accusing others of what he is
guilty of.
In the end, an unreliable and ineffective ally is worse than a
sworn enemy. The enemy is doing what is expected i.e. working against your
interests and attacking you. But the real betrayal occurs when your ally
either becomes a bystander or worst, joins the enemy to mount a blistering attack
against you.
There are probably many more such as Dan Crenshaw in the GOP.
They may be better than far-left Democrats, but only very
slightly.
Also appears on American Thinker
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