Ukraine vote shows Republicans still don’t get it

“I am ‘Ultra MAGA’,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik defiantly told a reporter Wednesday, “and I’m proud of it.”

Republicans should be embracing the badass nickname Biden bestowed upon them, just like Trump should accept being crowned the “great MAGA king.” The only problem is that Stefanik is not “Ultra MAGA.” Far from it.

Just one day before Stefanik declared herself part of the cool kids’ lunch table, she voted with 149 other tone-deaf Republicans to send an additional $40 billion in aid to Ukraine. Congress had already approved $13.6 billion in emergency spending after the Russian invasion back in March.

I warned last spring that elevating Stefanik to replace Representative Liz Cheney would change little in regard to Republican priorities: Stefanik voted against emergency border wall funding, supported the Equality Act in 2019, voted “yes” on various amnesty bills, and called Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate agreement a “mistake.”

Sadly, politicians like Stefanik claiming the MAGA mantle while voting in the exact opposite manner is what we’ve come to expect from the Republican Party. Most of its members — including, in the case of Ukraine aid, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise — pay lip service to Trumpian ideas without ever following through. They want the benefits of Trump’s approval without having to do anything that breaks with popular opinion among the DC beltway crowd.

Cutting a taxpayer-funded check to Ukraine for $40 billion is especially infuriating as America faces a nationwide shortage of baby formula, historic levels of inflation, a broken supply chain, outrageously high gas prices, and a crisis on the southern border. That money could be used to help US citizens. Instead, House Republicans want it shipped abroad to appease the wealthy white liberals who would rather hang the Ukraine flag outside their home than the American flag.

“America FIRST,” tweets Elise Stefanik. Ha.

Trump was not perfect, but compare his foreign policy to that of the feckless establishment GOP. He implemented a plan to pull American troops from the unending war in Afghanistan in defiance of many of his cabinet officials, served up billions of dollars in planned cuts to foreign aid, and slashed aid to China by 52 percent in just one year.

The “Ultra MAGA” label belongs to the 57 Republicans who understood the assignment and voted against sending more taxpayer money to a foreign country as Americans struggle financially here at home. Stefanik and her ilk can go kick rocks.