Liz Truss calls for Reaganite leadership
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Liz Truss has called for Reaganite “American leadership” on the war in Ukraine, as she attempts to persuade wavering Republicans to continue support for Volodymyr Zelensky.
The former prime minister said she hopes a Republican candidate will win next year’s presidential election, but called for the party to look to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as a model to deal with authoritarianism around the world.
Ms Truss is among a delegation of Conservative politicians visiting Washington this week, where they will meet with Republicans in Congress to shore up support for Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Enthusiasm for sending expensive munitions to Ukraine is falling among both the public and politicians on Capitol Hill, with the focus of American foreign policy moving towards the conflict in Gaza.
Polls show less than half of Americans now think that funding for the Ukraine war should continue, while Joe Biden’s recent request for a $61 billion war chest failed to make it onto the floor of the House of Representatives, amid opposition from the GOP.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal, Ms Truss called on Republicans to “embrace conservative leadership in the US that is once again bold enough to call out hostile regimes as evil and a threat”.
“To tilt the balance in favour of Ukraine, we must ensure that Ukraine has a quantitative military advantage when it is facing off against a Russian military backed by Iranian weapons and diplomatic support from the Chinese,” she argued.
“Today, Ukraine most urgently needs to establish air superiority either through stealth jets or advanced drones that can support front-line troops. We should also be fast-tracking its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”
Her calls clash with the policy positions of several of the Republican primary frontrunners, including Donald Trump, who currently has a 47-point poll lead over his rivals.
Mr Trump has said he would end the war in Ukraine “in one day” if he was elected president again, by bringing Mr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin together to negotiate.
Ron DeSantis, who is polling in second place, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who is fourth, have both called for cuts in support for Ukraine to allow the US to spend more on domestic priorities, like immigration.
Of the major contenders left in the Republican race, only Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, has been vocal in support for Ukraine.
In her article, titled “The World Again Needs American Leadership”, Ms Truss said: “For as long as most of us can recall, the U.S. has led the free world.
“During the Cold War, for example, it was American power that successfully held off the communist threat from the Soviet Union.
“Working in tandem with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, President Ronald Reagan was unflinching, calling the Soviet Union an ‘evil empire’. The world would benefit from more of that kind of American leadership today.”
In the aftermath of Mr Trump’s first presidential term, many on the Republican Right have shifted away from the party’s 1980s neoconservatism and towards a “Make America Great Again” isolationist policy.
On China, Mr Trump and other contenders say they would impose trade barriers to prevent economic competition between them, but are less concerned about tension between China and Taiwan.
While Ukraine has support among both parties in the Democrat-held US Senate, House Republicans have consistently opposed more spending on foreign wars.
Mr Biden’s most recent supplemental request for military aid for Israel and Ukraine will likely require significant White House compromises on border control to make it to a vote in the lower house.
