Trump was wrong. Why Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance didn't deserve his endorsement.

Former President Donald Trump on April 15 endorsed J.D. Vance in Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary in Ohio, a decision that raised concerns from many America-firsters since he previously called Trump “a total fraud” and described some of his supporters as “racist.”

Vance has since reversed his position and called Trump the best president of his lifetime.

As a former Trump administration official, I am less concerned with these statements and more concerned with Vance’s actual political positions because they are inconsistent with the foreign policies of the former president, the Republican Party’s Senate leadership and the United States.

In February, while the world watched Russia amass 190,000 troops along its border with Ukraine, Vance casually admitted, “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”

Vance blamed US for isolating Russia

After Russia attacked, Vance revealed his own confusion about good and evil by implying that Washington, not Moscow, was at fault. He blamed America for pursuing a policy of isolating Russia and agreed that its leaders were using the war as a "smokescreen to cover the disasters in the U.S."

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While Trump has described Vladimir Putin’s war crimes as a “holocaust” and “genocide,” Vance has callously called the invasion a “massive distraction.” He has insisted that his view “is the right position,” and “that whatever is going on in Ukraine, we have to separate our personal reaction to it from … how we should respond as a country.”

The problem with this justification is that Vance’s February comments were not about how the United States should “respond as a country.” They were in fact, his “personal reaction.” In that moment, Vance showed how little he cared about human life outside our nation’s borders and revealed naivety about the systemic impact of the world order.

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This is not at all how Trump approached foreign policy, war crimes or terrorism when I served in his administration. In 2017, when the Syrian government launched a chemical weapons attack on Khan Shaykhun, Trump launched missiles at their purported point of origin, Shayrat air base, compelling the Assad regime to stand down.

That night, Trump condemned the Syrian regime for killing “helpless men, women and children” and called on “all civilized nations to join us” to “end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”

In 2020, Trump authorized the U.S. airstrike on Baghdad airport, killing Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and other terrorist-backed militia figures – a move that drew fire from Vance, who complained: "This conflict risks escalating in a way that makes America focus on the Middle East for yet another few years, maybe another 10 years.”

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This raises questions about what foreign policy crisis Vance thinks is important enough to justify using military force – or whether Vance even has a foreign policy.

Shortly after Trump decided to support Vance, 33 Ohio delegates who represented him at the 2016 Republican National Convention asked the former president in an open letter to rescind his endorsement. Trump instead justified his decision during last week's rally in Delaware County, Ohio, saying, “I have to do what I have to do. We have to pick somebody that can win.”

I disagree. Political endorsements should not be based on which candidate will most likely win, but rather which candidate is best for America.

With Trump’s star power, he could have easily helped any of the other leading Republican candidates achieve victory. But endorsing someone who devalues the importance of protecting the free world is in conflict with core Republican values.

Republican leaders support Ukraine

To be sure, most leading Republican senators including Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, Ron Johnson, John Thune, John Barrasso, Roy Blunt, Joni Ernst, Mike Lee, Mike Crapo, Chuck Grassley, Todd Young, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney – and Ohio’s exiting senator, Rob Portman, have all pushed for strong U.S. support of Ukraine.

Even Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine acknowledged the importance of the situation by sending National Guard armored personnel carriers. “As we continue to learn about Russian war crimes in Ukraine, those of us in Ohio stand ready to help the Ukrainian people in any way possible. Ohio has a strong Ukrainian community, and we stand behind them and their families overseas,” DeWine said in an April 20 statement.

On Tuesday, Ohio Republicans will decide more than who will be nominated to represent their state in Washington. They will decide what America stands for and what it should mean to the world. We cannot expect to lead the free world by electing leaders who believe genocide is a “massive distraction.”

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An isolationist policy such as Vance’s would not empower the United States or put America first. It would isolate her in a world in which America stands alone. Our nation represents hope to the world. Instead of rejecting our hegemony, we should honor Republican values by embracing it.

Jeffrey Scott Shapiro is an investigative journalist who has reported on Russian affairs. He served as a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media administration from 2017 to 2021.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Trump-endorsed Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance is dangerous