Republicans Prepare To Do Something About Putin’s Ukraine War Or Something

So, what can possibly be done that hasn’t been done during the Biden years. And that’s a word not mentioned in the Politico piece: Biden. But, the piece is meant to be a hit job on Trump

‘Gee, I Don’t Know How We Can Stop This’: Republicans Prepare to Push Trump on Putin

While Ukraine just pulled off an audacious and effective attack on Russia’s bomber fleet, Vladimir Putin is slow-walking Donald Trump’s effort to nudge the warring countries toward peace talks and continuing to kill Ukrainian civilians, irritating the American president.

Soon, Trump could have on his desk a sanctions bill that would do grave damage to Russia’s capacity to fund the war by targeting the countries still buying Moscow’s oil and gas, the lifeline of their economy. The measure, co-sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), has amassed a remarkable 82 sponsors and both Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson this week vocalized their support for confronting Russia.

There may not be again such an opportune moment to squeeze Putin and finally force him to the negotiating table.

Trump has gotten this further than Biden ever did. Not that things are really happening, because Ukraine refuses to give up land, and also wants Crimea back. This bill would hit France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic in the EU. And India and Japan. And China. Some have significantly cut down their reliance, but, do still get natural gas from Russia. Getting beyond the notion of whether or not it is a wise idea to sanction friendly countries, will it actually move the needle towards stopping the war? Sanctions haven’t done a damned thing so far.

There’s only one hold-up: Trump doesn’t seem to want to.

There’s little indication he will publicly green-light Congress to send him the bill, let alone sign it were it to ever reach him, prerequisites for it to clear both chambers. In fact, on Wednesday the president, after speaking to Putin, released a statement previewing Russia’s reprisals for the airfield attack without any denunciation and intimated he’d rather have Putin’s help with Iran than push the Russian strongman toward a ceasefire in Ukraine. By Thursday, Trump wasn’t just offering punditry about Moscow’s coming counter-attacks, he was portraying more fighting as inevitable and perhaps even useful, likening the two nations to children on a playground better left to fight it out till they each tire.

See? Trump Trump Trump.

The gap between GOP lawmakers eager to starve the Russian war machine and a president more interested in, as he says, getting along with Putin in hopes they can do great deals together has never been starker. And it is about to present a test of Republican leaders in Congress: Is there anything on which they will force Trump’s hand?

Blah blah blah. No one is asking the question: will it do anything?

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