Former Vice President Mike Pence slammed President Joe Biden over the weekend, saying he’s done a “terrible job” explaining to the American people what the United States interests are in Ukraine.
Appearing on the “Fox News Sunday” program over the weekend, Pence said he agreed with an opinion piece that Republican Representative Mark Alford of Missouri wrote for media outlet The Hill. In that piece, Alford wrote that Biden needs to be more transparent on the reasons behind why America is so interested in continually sending resources over to Ukraine as they fight their war with Russia.
Many congressional Republicans have questioned in recent months whether the U.S. should increase the amount of aid it is sending to Ukraine, or whether that should be dialed back now.
In explaining his thoughts on the matter, Pence said:
“I want to agree with Congressman Alford that I think President Joe Biden has done a terrible job explaining what our natural interest is in Ukraine. There’s a lot of these gauzy speeches he’s given about defending democracy.
“Look, I believe we need to continue to provide the Ukrainian military the resources they need to repel the Russian invasion, because I have no doubt … that if Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine, he’s going to cross a border of a NATO country where we will be required under Article 5 to send our troops.”
Despite some Republicans questioning whether the U.S. should send increasing aid to Ukraine, there aren’t many people in Washington who believe that the U.S. should be uninvolved at all.
As Pence pointed out, sending aid to Ukraine now can, in a way, be seen as an effort to try to prevent an all-out world war. The U.S. and its major allies around the world aren’t required to send troops to Ukraine because that country isn’t a member of NATO.
But, if Russia were to attack a NATO member state – such as Poland, which borders Ukraine – then all other NATO countries would be bound to help defend them. That would significantly escalate the war, and could draw in other countries to Russia’s side – such as China, Belarus and maybe even Iran and North Korea.
So, while Ukrainian aid in general isn’t really up for debate, Pence makes a great point when he talks about the Biden administration’s lack of communication and transparency regarding what America’s plan is.
In addition, Pence said the administration is giving Ukraine aid in “dribs and drabs,” which isn’t working. As he explained over the weekend:
“They promised tanks back in January. They’re still not there. … I really do believe that what we need is to provide the resources, the equipment, the missiles, the aircraft that Ukraine needs to repel that Russian invasion in a much more rapid pace than the Biden administration has done, and I’m going to continue to champion that.
“We’re the leader of the free world. And if America is not leading the free world, it’s not being led. … Today, Joe Biden has left a vacuum on the world stage that China and Russia are working every day to fill.”
