To most people, both at home and abroad, the purpose of President Joe Biden's recent trip to Ukraine is not mysterious: The United States would like the nation to prevail in its war against Russia's invading army, and this show of support is valuable for moralizing Ukraine's supporters while demoralizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Far-right Republicans, on the other hand, tied themselves into knots in trying to diss Biden without coming right out and saying they want Ukraine to lose.
Some, like the American Nazi supporters of WWII, tried to package their stance as mere isolationism. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, for instance, exploited the Ohio train wreck catastrophe to argue "Biden is ditching America for Ukraine." Others, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, went full incoherence, raving, "[I]t's becoming more like a U.S.- China war through the Ukraine — Russia war." And some went for puerile race-baiting, such as Rep. Greg Murphy yelling about "the war zone [Biden] created at our southern border." (In reality, the refugee crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border was created by Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies that Biden has been prevented from fixing by the GOP-controlled Supreme Court.)
