Where Do 2024 US Presidential Candidates Stand on Ukraine?
© AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
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Over a dozen US presidential candidates have tossed their hats into the 2024 ring. Sputnik has analyzed what the contenders' attitude to Washington's ongoing proxy war in Ukraine is.
The Russo-Ukraine conflict remains one of the focal points of the 2024 election campaign. Republican and Democratic hopefuls are striving to rally support from the American public which appears to have grown impatient with the overseas standoff.
Despite roughly a half of Americans still backing the provision of military aid to Ukraine, a marked drop in the public's willingness to pay a cost in terms of higher energy price, inflation, and plummetting living standards has been registered by pollsters over the last several months. Per Brookings, the realization that there is no end in sight for the conflict has seemingly become sobering to US voters.
Do US presidential candidates – who are polling at 1% or above in recent Ipsos polls and thus having a chance of coming out on top – meet the American people's expectations when it comes to the Ukraine conflict?
Democratic Party
Joe Biden
Incumbent US President Joe Biden has repeatedly stated that he would support the Kiev regime for the long haul. The Biden administration is the most vocal advocate of fuelling the unfolding standoff and imposing a "strategic defeat" on Russia. To that end, Joe Biden has announced over $100 billion worth of Ukraine aid packages since the onset of the conflict.
"Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia. Never," Biden told a crowd in Warsaw, Poland, on February 21, 2023.
During his June 8 meeting with UK Prime Minister Sunak, the US president signaled his readiness to continue providing the Kiev regime with weapons together with London. Simultaneously, Team Biden is stirring up the waters of the Pacific by beefing up US military presence in close proximity to China. Biden is continuing to go all in on the dual standoff with Moscow and Beijing, even though this policy is backfiring both on the US and its European allies.
Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson, the author of "A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles" (1992), former "Spiritual Leader" for the Church of Today and political candidate, has called for closing over 800 US military installations in over 80 countries in her May 27 Substack op-ed denouncing them as "nothing more than a continuation of the excessive militarization of American foreign policy." She also condemned Washington's "imperialistic ventures", "actions regarding NATO, and putting Aegis missiles in Poland", as exacerbating the situation vis-à-vis Russia.
Still, that does not mean that the US is "responsible" for the Russo-Ukraine conflict, "nor does it mean that our larger interests, the interests of the people of Ukraine or the interests of the rest of the world, are best served by our withholding support from Ukraine now," insists Williamson. In short, the author is advocating further arming the Kiev regime.
8 June 2023, 12:58 GMT
Robert Kennedy Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the late US attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy, formally launched his presidential campaign on April 19, 2023. In contrast to his Democratic rivals, Kennedy does not support the US proxy war in Ukraine.
In his lengthy May 3 tweet, RFK pointed out that it was US neocons, who crossed all "red lines" and dragged Russia and Ukraine into the conflict:
"[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky almost certainly could have avoided the 2022 war with Russia simply by uttering five words — 'I will not join NATO'; But pressured by neocons in the Biden White House, and by violent fascist elements within the Ukrainian government, Zelensky integrated his army with NATO’s and allowed the US to place nuclear-capable Aegis missile launchers along Ukraine’s 1,200-mile border with Russia."
"[US neocons] wanted war as part of their strategic grand plan to destroy any country such as Russia that resists American imperial expansion," RFK Jr. reiterated on May 25 on Twitter.
Republican Party
Donald Trump
Former US President Donald Trump has made it clear that as president he would stop the Russo-Ukraine conflict in 24 hours after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
"When I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours," Trump said in a CNN town hall on May 11, adding that both Moscow and Kiev have their "weaknesses" and "strengths."
Trump avoided answering the question, which country he would prefer to win: "I don’t think in terms of winning and losing. I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people. I want everybody to stop dying," the former president told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Ron DeSantis
In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote: “While the US has many vital national interests, becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them."
In April, DeSantis reiterated his stance: "It’s in everybody's interest to try to get to a place where we can have a ceasefire," told Nikkei Asia. "You don’t want to end up in a [Battle of] Verdun situation, where you just have mass casualties, mass expense and end up with a stalemate."
The Ukraine issue was not even mentioned in DeSantis' campaign launched on Twitter in May.
14 March 2023, 15:14 GMT
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy, an American entrepreneur and politician, also stands for ending the Ukraine conflict. On June 6, Ramaswamy outlined his foreign policy vision in a Twitter post, condemning President Joe Biden's Ukraine support for "pushing Russia into a closer military alliance with China."
The politician proposes "a Korean war style armistice agreement" between Russia and Ukraine, "which would cede most of the Donbass region to Russia"; suspend any US military assistance to the Kiev regime; establish "a permanent moratorium on Ukraine joining NATO"; lift sanctions against Russia; withdraw NATO troops from Ukraine and close all their bases in Eastern Europe; and accept Russia into the security infrastructure of Europe.
In return, per Ramaswamy, Russia should cease all sorts of technical military cooperation and security partnerships with China; withdraw its nuclear weapons and delivery capabilities from Kaliningrad and Belarus; pull out Russian security specialists from Latin America; and re-enter into the New START Treaty.
"I’ve offered a clear & specific path to end the war in Ukraine now while dismantling the Russia-China alliance. No other GOP candidate has touched this with a 10-foot pole," Ramaswamy summed up.
Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, has taken a stance which is the polar opposite: "This is bigger than Ukraine," she stated during the CNN town hall on June 4. "This is a war about freedom and it’s one we have to win."
Haley said if Russia is allowed to achieve its stated goals of demilitarization and de-Nazifying of Ukraine, a world war would be round the corner:
"China says Taiwan's next, we better believe them. Russia said Poland and the Baltics are next, if that happens, we are looking at a world war. This is about preventing war."
The former UN ambassador fell short of specifying the sources behind her claims of Moscow and Beijing's plans of "invading" Poland, the three Baltic nations and the island which the People's Republic of China has always considered its inalienable part.
Mike Pence
Former US Vice President Mike Pence's stance on Ukraine aligns him with his fellow party member, Nikki Haley. Still, instead of predicting a world war in case Russia wins, Pence has suggested that Washington is fighting for "freedom" in Ukraine. The ex-veep has also subjected Trump and DeSantis to criticism over their attitude to the Ukraine conflict.
Having filed the paperwork to run on June 5, he expressed willingness to support the Kiev regime during Wednesday's CNN town hall in Iowa:
"I know the difference between a genius and a war criminal, and I know who needs to win the war in Ukraine," Pence said. "And it’s the people fighting for their freedom and fighting to restore their national sovereignty in Ukraine. And America – it's not our war, but freedom is our fight. And we need to give the people of Ukraine the ability to fight and defend their freedom."
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. speaks to supporters after winning his Senate race over challengers Jill Bossi and Joyce Dickerson, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014
© AP Photo / Mic Smith
Tim Scott
US Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has signaled strong support for arming Kiev since the beginning of the Russo-Ukraine conflict. According to Scott, Biden has done "a terrible job" articulating to the Americans "what is America’s vital, national interest in Ukraine", which, according to the presidential candidate, is "degrading the Russian military." Judging from Scott's words, he expects Russia to attack the US one day.
"The more we degrade the Russian military, the less likely there is to be an attack on our sovereign territory," Scott told NBC News on May 22. "And it protects our NATO partners. I think that we should be in Ukraine. I believe that the truth is simple, that degrading the Russian military is in America’s best interest. And the more we do that, the faster we get it done, the better off the entire world is."
Governor Chris Christie addresses the audience on the second day of the Republican National Convention on July 19, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio
© AFP 2023 / Robyn BECK
Chris Christie
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie launched his presidential nomination campaign with a June 6 town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. Prior to that, Christie called Trump a "coward" and "a puppet of Putin," over the former president's stance on the Ukraine conflict.
Speaking to GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on May 11, Christie claimed that Washington should have done more to support the Kiev regime from day one of the conflict and insisted that the US should remain a global leader in providing weapons to Ukraine.
"In the end, we are in a proxy war right now with China, whether we like it or not, and their support of Russia in Ukraine is proof of that," claimed the former New Jersey governor. "We have to make sure we send a very clear message, not only to the Chinese, but to our own allies that America’s not going to be a cut and run country."
Doug Burgum
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is another Republican presidential contender advocating support for Kiev. When the Russo-Ukrainian conflict erupted, he expressed solidarity with the Kiev regime, stating that "the United States and its allies must stand together in support of Ukraine and hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked attacks."
Still, Burgum views the conflict as a chance for the US to step up energy production in the first place (which is quite understandable given that North Dakota is one of the top oil-producing states in the US):
"This international crisis underscores the importance of US energy security and increasing American production so we can sell energy to our friends and allies versus buying it from our enemies," he stated on February 24, 2022.
He reiterated his stance on Wednesday while announcing his 2024 bid: "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin only dared to invade Ukraine because our allies in Western Europe are all dependent on Russian energy," Burgum claimed.
Who's Commanding Most Support?
Biden has gotten the most backing among Democratic and Democratic leaning voters with a staggering 60%; while 20% support Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and 8% would vote for author Marianne Williamson, according to SSRS Political and Election Polling, released on May 25. However, pollsters warn about a decline in Biden's nationwide approval over the past six months from 42% in December 2022 to 35% on May 25, 2023.
To date, former President Donald Trump has commanded the largest support in the Republican 2024 primary polls, as per Project FiveThiryEight survey aggregator. The national average support as of June 8 indicates that Trump got 53.8%; DeSantis (21.3%); Mike Pence (5.4%); Nikki Haley (4.5%); Ramaswamy (3.5%); Сhris Christie (less than 3%); Tim Scott (2.2%); and Doug Burgum (1%).
