Math and logic were in short supply on the Friday edition of PBS NewsHour as Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart accused 31 Republican senators of “playing games” with aid for Ukraine because they voted against a spending bill in which less than one percent of the money was for Ukrainian aid.
After host Judy Woodruff asked him if the U.S. and NATO are prepared if Vladimir Putin escalates his war, Capehart claimed that he wants to believe we are, “But, you know, I just want to push back a little bit on this. You said underlying unity. Sure, there's some underlying unity. But I — it's a little aggravating that certain Republicans, particularly in the Senate, especially if they're thinking of running for president, are — they're playing games at a time when the president of the United States and the Western alliance are going are — trying to contain — trying to contain Putin.”
Capehart condemned Republicans of not voting for the omnibus bill:
And you can't argue that the president has taken too long, he's not doing enough, when you just voted against the $1.5 trillion omnibus—omnibus-- bill that had millions [sic] of dollars of aid for Ukraine in that bill. So, this—this-- sort of domestic play that Republicans are bringing to foreign policy, I think, is—is-- regrettable.
Clearly, Capehart did not see Sen. Ben Sasse schooling Sen. Chris Murphy on the Senate floor on the issue to such an extent that Murphy had to back off his identical “fan service.”
Despite over 99 percent of the spending having nothing to do with Ukraine, Capehart expressed “hope, going forward, especially if we get to that situation where the United States and in the world is—is-- grappling with a chemical or biological attack on Ukraine, that, you folks think better about what they're saying about the president and—and-- the United States, of what they're both trying to get accomplished.”
Capehart’s allegations were so wild that they went too far for even co-panelist and New York Times columnist David Brooks, who noted: “So, you know, I—I-- rarely praise Ted Cruz, but Ted Cruz, for the last few years, has been pretty much right on Ukraine and Russia. And he's—he’s-- been very aggressive. A lot of Republican senators have been very aggressive: We need to do this to prevent a war.”
Maybe Cruz isn't so "dark and Satanic" after all.
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Here is a transcript for the March 18 show:
PBS NewsHour
3/18/2022
7:36 PMJUDY WOODRUFF: Is it your sense, Jonathan, that—that-- the U.S. is prepared, that NATO is prepared if Putin does go off in a direction that we don't — we're — don't want him to go?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: I want to believe that NATO and the United States are—are-- prepared for that situation. One of the things that I — one of the criticisms against the president that I think was valid was that he kept communicating what the United States would not do, communicating what he would not do, and instead has gone mute on those things, won't talk about those things, would only talk about the things — he's only now talking about the things that he's doing.
And that is exactly what he should be doing. But, you know, I just want to push back a little bit on this. You said underlying unity. Sure, there's some underlying unity. But I — it's a little aggravating that certain Republicans, particularly in the Senate, especially if they're thinking of running for president, are — they're playing games at a time when the president of the United States and the Western alliance are going are — trying to contain — trying to contain Putin.
And you can't argue that the president has taken too long, he's not doing enough, when you just voted against the $1.5 trillion omnibus—omnibus-- bill that had millions of dollars of aid for Ukraine in that bill. So, this—this-- sort of domestic play that Republicans are bringing to foreign policy, I think, is—is-- regrettable. And I hope, going forward, especially if we get to that situation where the United States and in the world is—is-- grappling with a chemical or biological attack on Ukraine, that, you folks think better about what they're saying about the president and—and-- the United States, of what they're both trying to get accomplished.
DAVID BROOKS: I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy. So, you know, I—I-- rarely praise Ted Cruz, but Ted Cruz, for the last few years, has been pretty much right on Ukraine and Russia. And he's—he’s-- been very aggressive. A lot of Republican senators have been very aggressive: we need to do this to prevent a war. So I—I -- find, in general, Republicans have not followed Trump in any soft-on-Putin direction. Quite the reverse.
