LORD OF WAR
America Wants to be an “Arsenal of Democracy”
Support for Ukraine is hardly a liability in an election year.
In a December 2023 interview with Radio Free Europe, Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius said, “Europeans worry whether America [is] reverting to a neo-isolationist, anti-globalist, America-first country.”
Rightfully so. Allies across the globe see a chaotic presidential campaign combined with dissension, angry exchanges, and stalled votes in Congress, especially the ones related to military assistance to Ukraine. Some of that angst was heard at the recent NATO Summit held in Washington.
Despite the noise, American values haven’t shifted. The United States is still the “arsenal of democracy,” and there’s still overwhelming bipartisan public support for policies that help democratic allies fight oppression. How do we know this is true? We called the American people and asked them.
This wasn’t a poll; it was a call to action. In April, prior to the vote on Ukraine funding, Winning Connections, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, called thousands of Americans from all walks of life on behalf of the U.S. aid and advocacy organization Razom for Ukraine. They asked one question related to funding for Ukraine:
“Do you think Congress should do more to help Ukraine?”
When they received a call, tens of thousands of Americans not only said “yes” to more U.S. support for Ukraine, but they also were willing to be connected to their member of Congress to tell their elected leaders to back the people who were fighting Putin’s aggression.
Connecting Ukraine supporters to their members of Congress was only one tactic Razom employed to remind elected leaders that the American people support both freedom at home and abroad. Among other approaches, Razom placed a large billboard calling for help to support Ukraine near Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) home church in Benton, Louisiana.
These reminders to Johnson and others in Congress about American values helped bring votes for aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan to a floor vote.
For merely bringing the Ukraine aid bill to the floor, Johnson faced attacks from fringe elements within his own party, including a discharge petition vote that could have cost him his job.
Nevertheless, the bill to provide $60.8 billion for Ukraine passed by an overwhelming margin: 311-112. Bills for aid to Israel and Taiwan also passed by large margins. In stark contrast, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who proposed providing $0 to Ukraine, called the Ukraine aid package “a steaming pile of bullshit” and brought the motion to vacate to the floor in an effort to remove Johnson was booed. Her vote failed 359-43.
Moreover, not long after the Ukraine vote, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), and Sen. Peter Ricketts (R-NE), who had backed the Ukraine aid package, faced opponents in a primary held on May 14. There was no backlash to their vote for the aid package. In fact, they won by an overwhelming margin. The same can be said of Rep. Erin Houchin (R-ID), who also backed aiding Ukraine. In Utah’s GOP Senate primary to fill Mitt Romney’s seat held on June 25, Rep. John Curtis (R-UT), who supported aid to Ukraine, defeated Trent Staggs, who ran on a Ukraine-skeptic platform. Others in competitive races, like Texas Republican Tony Gonzales, who backed the aid package, also won against an anti-Ukraine challenger.
Being pro-Ukraine is not a liability; quite the opposite. Polling by the Reagan Institute released this summer backs this up.
But just because the votes for foreign assistance have public backing doesn’t cancel the noise, especially in a major election year. Plus, Russia, China, and Iran are spending billions on disinformation campaigns in the United States and around the globe to undermine the will of the electorate and sow discord. Further evidence of this was just revealed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence during a July media briefing summarizing intelligence on foreign threats to the election.
In 1940, when the United Kingdom was fighting the evils of Hitler’s Germany alone, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the phrase “arsenal of democracy” in a national radio address to explain why Americans should provide military supplies to the UK in the fight against fascism. Eighty-four years later, U.S. support for foreign assistance to freedom fighters overseas in Ukraine and elsewhere holds firm. The American people told us so.
Scott Cullinane is the Director of Government Affairs at Razom for Ukraine.
Melinda Haring is a Senior Advisor at Razom for Ukraine and tweets @melindaharing.
John Jameson is the President and Founder of Winning Connections, a national direct voter contact firm.
Image: Phil Pasquini / Shutterstock.com
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