I have never understood the "needless war" argument. I assume it is somehow tied to the presumption that the war would never have started had Trump been president? Perhaps, but he wasn't and he isn't.
Ukraine carried out a popular bloodless revolution ten-years ago in order to build its future as a member of Western Europe. In February 2022 Putin sought to crush those aspirations with military force as his predecessors had done in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Hungary in 1956. Unlike those two countries, Ukrainians responded like our forefathers in 1775 vowing to sell their lives dearly for their right of self-determination as a people. You would be hard pressed to find a Ukrainian who calls this war needless.
To carry the parallel a bit farther, that revolution of 1775 would almost certainly have ended in defeat without the intervention of France in the conflict. By 1778, American units were armed almost exclusively with French weapons, and Cornwallis only surrendered at Yorktown in 1781 because he was trapped ashore by a French fleet and because the roughly 6500 American troops, of which only 2500 were Continentals, were ably supported by 4000 French regulars.
Finally, I like to think of myself as a strong "America first" patriot. To my mind, that means defending our national interests wherever they are threatened - not just, for instance, the border with Mexico. I again ask, as I have several times here, in what world is supporting, even enabling, Russian strategic objectives in Europe in the interests of the United States? How would our national interests be secured or our security enhanced by allowing, much less abetting, Russian resurgence as a dominant Eurasian power closely allied to China?
Tucker has a narrative to sell. Exaggeration has been one of his techniques for as long as I have watched him. On many issues it is humorous and good television. But, his animus for the current liberal establishment has led him to oppose the West's efforts to assist Ukraine. Whether he is consciously pro-Kremlin or not, I have no idea. I will simply say that he is portrayed as something of a hero by the state-sponsored Russian "news" broadcasts. You can find plenty of those with a bit of effort over on Reddit, YouTube, and X.
My grievance with the current administration is that we have not done enough, and what we have done has been too little and far too slow. If it was wise to provide Ukraine with leopard tanks six-months ago, why didn't we do it 18-months ago? If it was wise to give Ukraine 30 M1-A1 tanks, why don't we provide them with 300? We have made this a long war by being overly cautious in our support. If anything was needless it was that policy and the lives lost because of it.
