With both the Biden administration and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivering glum assessments of Ukraine’s chances of victory in its war with Russia, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley wonders what the plan is – and whether U.S. taxpayers are still going to invest billions in it.
“Here’s what I heard, is that the war in Ukraine is at a complete stalemate,” Hawley told The Heartlander about Zelenskyy’s summation of the war during his visit to Washington, D.C., Thursday. “I think the words that Zelensky used is that it’s ‘totally frozen.’
“Yesterday, the Biden administration, their own people, told us in the Senate that there was no path to military victory for Ukraine. So, I just am wondering, what is it exactly that the president’s plan is again, here? It’s to spend another $100 billion over the next year in order to achieve stalemate?
“And all the while, our southern border is in complete collapse. The cartels are running the country in the southern part of the United States. Kids are dying of drug overdoses in Missouri. And what – we’re just going to keep shoveling money to Ukraine? I don’t get it.
“So, what is the administration doing, then? I mean, is it just going to be continuing to pour money and arms, ammunition and advisors into Ukraine Indefinitely? Or is there some plan here? I have no idea. Joe Biden has no idea. And I tell you, this is hurting our country as we continue to go down this path.”
The Heartlander asked Hawley what he would advise the president to do at this point. His answer: step back.
“I would say that he needs to say to the Europeans, ‘You guys need to take the lead when it comes to Russia. We are not going to spend any more money on Ukraine. We have given more than all the European nations combined. So, we have been extremely generous, extremely generous, to Ukraine. Germany and other countries, they need to step up now. They need to take the lead. We are going to secure our southern border, and then we’re going to get tough on China.’
“Let’s not forget, China is stealing our jobs. They’re stealing our technology. They’re building a military that can rival ours. They already have a bigger navy than we do. They are our No. 1 threat overseas. They are the biggest problem. That’s where we’ve got to get focused. But this administration is not doing it. They’re just spending and spending and spending on Ukraine.”
The Heartlander asked Hawley for his assessment of Zelenskyy, and whether he’s the kind of leader this country should keep backing. Hawley didn’t exactly say, but questioned many of his colleagues’ breathless hero worship of the Ukrainian leader.
“Well, I just was watching my fellow senators today, like taking pictures of him (as if) he’s a movie star. It was really something. I mean, all these selfies. To me it’s like, listen, you’ve got to do what’s in the best interest of the United States of America. That’s whom we represent. And the best interest of the United States of America is not to just spend money hand-over-fist with no end in sight on a war that has no end in sight.
“That is not a wise thing to do. We did that once before. It’s called Vietnam. And now this president, having catastrophically failed in Afghanistan, is now turning around and walking us into another Vietnam – for no apparent reason or purpose that he can articulate. I don’t understand it.”
Nuclear contamination and government censorship
In other news, Hawley led a Capitol rally Wednesday for past, current and future victims of government-caused WWII-era nuclear contamination in Missouri and elsewhere around the country, and lauded the Missouri attorney general for his fight against online censorship of conservatives by the federal government.
Hawley’s bill to compensate victims of nuclear contamination left over from the Manhattan Project to create atomic weapons – waste that was left to leach into soil and groundwater in the St. Louis region in particular – was passed by the Senate as part of a defense bill in July and is awaiting consideration in the House.
So, why the rally?
“The nation needs to hear from the people of Missouri who have been poisoned by their own government with nuclear contamination and radioactive waste – for decades, 70 years almost, this has been going on,” Hawley said. “The government has done nothing – nothing – to make the situation right.
“The government needs to pay the medical bills of every person who got sick. That’s what needs to happen. Every person who lived in the St. Louis area and got sick because of that waste needs to have their medical expenses paid for. That’s what I’m fighting for. That’s what my bill does. And I hope that we will see it signed into law.”
Also Wednesday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, along with the Louisiana AG, formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold an injunction preventing the Biden administration from further collusion or coercion of social media companies to censor conservatives online.
“I’m so glad,” Hawley said of Bailey’s brief. “This case that he is pursuing is a landmark case. This exposes the fact that Joe Biden violated the First Amendment, violated the U.S. Constitution, to use the biggest social media corporations in the world to censor Missourians and people from all across the country.
“It’s unbelievable. No president in American history has used the media corporations to go out and censor his political opponents, and just everyday people who disagree with them. We’re talking about parents in Missouri who wanted to put up a petition that their school not have masks anymore. Facebook took that down at the direction of the Biden White House.
“I mean, is this the United States or is this Russia? It’s unbelievable to me. This is what Joe Biden is doing. He needs to be held to account for this. And that case is so important, because it exposes all of it.
“Listen, don’t take my word for it; you can read the case for yourself. It is all there. Multiple courts, now, have found that Joe Biden violated the First Amendment.”
