Two years after the Russian invasion, the fate of Ukraine depends on American politicians. The Republican leadership preferred to take two weeks of vacation rather than resolve this issue, which leads us to believe that we are preparing to turn off the tap.
For what? This is firstly explained by the paralysis of Congress, amplified in this election year when the Republicans do not want to concede anything to Joe Biden. There is also the isolationism of many voters and the opportunism of the politicians who court them.
That’s not all. Even if they pretend to endorse the discourse of firmness in the face of Russian expansionism of the old Republican guard, a good part of the Trumpist elected officials – and their supporters – recognize themselves more in the paleoconservative religious nationalism peddled by Vladimir Putin than in democratic and liberal cosmopolitanism embodied by Volodymyr Zelensky.
Donald Trump
Indeed, the Kremlin autocrat wraps his kleptocratic regime in a nationalist, Christian fundamentalist and anti-modern ideology which resonates with a large part of the American right.
As for Donald Trump, whether his flat-out attitude towards Putin is explained by financial considerations or by some psychopathology, his admiration for the character is obvious. He perhaps also envies him not having to burden himself with the small inconveniences of democracy such as the rule of law or respect for the opposition.
Trump doesn’t care about ideologies, but if his most fervent cultists share Putin’s, why confront him?
Resistance
Of course, there is still resistance to aid to Ukraine based on the old opposition to “imperialism” of the far left (here, this takes the form of primary anti-Americanism).
In this resistance, opposite extremes come together. The American far left will express its opposition by voting for third parties that will help Trump. The far right will remain loyal to Trump, who has promised to extinguish the conflict in 24 hours, presumably by handing Ukraine over to Putin on a silver platter.