South Carolina Sen Lindsey Graham cautioned that if former President Donald Trump were to stop sending aid to the embattled country of Ukraine if elected president, the end result would be “10 times worse than Afghanistan.”
When asked about how he would advise Mr Trump and other Republicans in Congress who have threatened to stop sending aid to the country, Mr Graham said on Face the Nation on Sunday: “To President Trump and anybody else: if we pull the plug on Ukraine, that’s 10 times worse than Afghanistan.”
“To stop funding Ukraine is a death sentence for Taiwan,” the South Carolina Republican predicted. “Putin will keep going. You missed all of World War II if you missed how this movie ends.”
He then fired shots at members of his own party: “To the Republicans who say Ukraine doesn’t matter to us: you’re wrong. Respectfully, you’re wrong. The war gets bigger, not smaller.”
“If Ukraine can beat Russia,” Mr Graham added, “China is less likely to invade Taiwan and Putin gets stopped.”
When host Margaret Brennan asked whether Mr Graham would push his “friend” to publicly support funding Ukraine, he said, “I’ll leave it up to him what to do.”
Brennan then said that “Vladimir Putin has been praising [Mr Trump] for his comments about Russia and Ukraine,” to which Mr Graham replied that although the former president previously said he wanted to “get out of Afghanistan” but he didn’t.
The 2024 Republican frontrunner has been adamant that he could quickly end the war — in as fast as just a few hours, even.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said “that Mr Trump says he will resolve all burning issues within several days, including the Ukrainian crisis. We cannot help but feel happy about it.”
Mr Trump reacted to Mr Putin’s comments, telling NBC’s Meet the Press: “I like that he said that. Because that means what I’m saying is right. I would get him into a room. I’d get Zelensky into a room. Then I’d bring them together. And I’d have a deal worked out.”
A host of Republicans have joined Mr Trump in voicing opposition to sending more aid to Ukraine recently.
Georgia Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example, said earlier in September: “I will not vote to fund a war in Ukraine. We have to have peace.”
Texas Rep Chip Roy also previously said that “we cannot continue having a blank check going to Ukraine without dealing with what need to do at home first.”
President Joe Biden has warned Congress to “stop playing games” and keep American aid flowing to Ukraine after funding to the country was cut from the stopgap bill, which was passed to dodge a shutdown.
“We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” the president said on Sunday. “We have time, not much time, and there’s an overwhelming sense of urgency,” Mr Biden added.
