With America’s international leadership more critical than ever, the 2024 presidential race is likely to spoil the sauce.
In his recent declarations, the Republican governor of Florida and prospective candidate for the presidency, Ron DeSantis, did not hesitate to question the bipartisan policy of support for Ukraine in order to seduce the isolationist base of his party.
At a time marked by increasingly toxic partisanship in the United States, the consensus necessary for a strong and reliable foreign policy will be difficult to maintain.
Republicans Divided
For now, most Congressional Republicans are toeing their party’s traditional line of viewing the United States as an unshakeable pillar of the Atlantic Alliance and the liberal international economic system.
Today, however, Republican candidates must contend with the party’s new isolationist base, made unavoidable by the rise of Donald Trump. It is this Trumpist base, hostile to any commitment by the United States to Europe and to the liberal international order, that must now be seduced to become a Republican candidate.
In addition, Vladimir Putin has interfered in the American “culture war” by proclaiming himself a defender of traditional Christian values against liberal decay. There is definitely a receptive audience in the Republican Party for a I don’t care policy towards Ukraine or even sympathetic to Putin.
The enemy is Biden
Ron DeSantis’ statements on Ukraine clash with the previous positions of the former representative to Congress, who once advocated firmness against the Russian threat in Europe.
DeSantis calls Biden’s policy a “blank check” to Ukraine, indicating he would be inclined to turn off the spigot on military aid. He denies that Russia poses a threat to European NATO allies and he squarely blames Biden for the Russian invasion. He’s also not shy about mixing commitment to Ukraine with flashpoints in US politics, including border security and the Biden administration’s so-called inaction after the Ohio derailment.
Ominous
Since the enemy is Biden and it’s all Biden’s fault, Republican support for a policy of strong engagement for Ukraine is bound to suffer, since it’s Biden’s policy.
Candidates for the Republican nomination will naturally tend to distance themselves from the president. It will therefore become difficult for the United States to continue to exercise the remarkable leadership that Joe Biden has demonstrated since the invasion of Ukraine. It will not help its European counterparts to overcome the resistance of their respective audiences to the continuation of their commitment.
This decline in American leadership will also be felt on the economic front, because the Republicans will not hesitate to play politics with the raising of the debt ceiling. In immigration, partisanship will continue to poison an issue that has profound repercussions for us.
In the battle for Ukraine’s survival and the sustainability of democracy in Europe – and in many other areas as well – the weakening of American leadership due to toxic partisanship is a real risk for all state partners. -United.