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Downplaying Russia\u2019s war of aggression against its neighbor as a \u201cterritorial dispute,\u201d Florida Governor\u00a0Ron DeSantis<\/strong> suggested he would leave Ukraine to fend for itself if he was elected president next year. \u201cThe Biden administration\u2019s virtual \u2018blank check\u2019 funding of this conflict for \u2018as long as it takes,\u2019 without any defined objectives or accountability, distracts from our country\u2019s most pressing challenges,\u201d DeSantis said in response to a \u201cUkraine questionnaire\u201d from Fox News\u2019s\u00a0Tucker Carlson<\/strong>. \u201cWe cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The comments were perhaps the clearest look at the prospective GOP presidential candidate\u2019s foreign policy agenda, particularly on the year-old war in Ukraine. While they represent a break from many top Republicans, they put him in line with his closest 2024 rival:\u00a0Donald Trump<\/strong>. \u201cThe United States has spent much more than Europe, and that is not fair, just, or equitable,\u201d the former president\u00a0told<\/a> Carlson, after previously\u00a0suggesting<\/a> to Fox\u2019s\u00a0Sean Hannity<\/strong> that he would consider letting Russia \u201ctake over\u201d parts of Ukraine. \u201cIf I were President, that horrible war would end in 24 hours, or less,\u201d Trump told Carlson, adding that while he does not support regime change in Russia, \u201cwe should support regime change in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n To be sure, much of the GOP continues to support military aid to Ukraine, a democracy under siege by Russian strongman\u00a0Vladimir Putin<\/strong>. In fact, some Republican leaders have criticized President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/strong> for not doing more to help its ally. \u201cIt is not enough to do the right things; we need to do the right things at the right speed,\u201d Senate Minority Leader\u00a0Mitch McConnell<\/strong> said last month in a\u00a0statement<\/a> on the one year anniversary of Putin\u2019s invasion. \u201cThe Biden administration and our allies must act more decisively to ensure that both our collective assistance to Ukraine and the investments we each make in our own militaries take place at the speed of relevance.\u201d<\/p>\n But polls have shown more and more Republican voters tiring of U.S. support for Ukraine, suggesting that there is a growing base for the isolationism Trump and DeSantis promoted Monday to Carlson, himself one of the most\u00a0strident critics<\/a> of American intervention in Ukraine. That deepening fracture within the party has been especially apparent in the Republican-controlled House, currently being steered by the MAGA right. Speaker\u00a0Kevin McCarthy<\/strong>, seeking to rally that right-wing caucus around his bid for the gavel last year, warned that he would not allow Biden to write a \u201cblank check\u201d to Ukraine \u2014\u00a0language other Republicans, like DeSantis<\/a>, have used in their criticism of the administration\u2019s foreign policy. Amid growing doubts over the GOP\u2019s commitment to Ukraine, President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> invited McCarthy to visit the embattled nation, as Biden did in a\u00a0surprise trip<\/a> last month. \u201cHe has to come here to see how we work, what\u2019s happening here, what war caused us, which people are fighting now, who are fighting now,\u201d Zelenskyy\u00a0told<\/a> CNN\u2019s\u00a0Wolf Blitzer<\/strong> last week. \u201cAnd then, after that, make your assumptions.\u201d But the House Speaker declined the offer, telling CNN that he does not \u201chave to go to Ukraine to understand where there\u2019s a blank check or not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have to go to Ukraine or Kyiv to see it,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cAnd my point has always been, I won\u2019t provide a blank check for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n That more isolationist view isn\u2019t quite yet the party line, and it\u2019s possible DeSantis\u2019 own \u201cAmerica First\u201d foreign policy approach will turn off some\u00a0more hawkish Republicans<\/a>, figures who have already been alienated by Trump. But with the two top GOP contenders casting doubt on support for Ukraine \u2014\u00a0and other, lower level likely hopefuls for the nomination either\u00a0doing the same<\/a> or\u00a0using similar language<\/a> about Biden\u2019s supposed \u201cblank check\u201d \u2014\u00a0things certainly seem to be trending in that direction. Next year\u2019s election, then, won\u2019t only carry enormous stakes for the direction of the United States; it could determine the future of Ukraine, whose existential fight against Putin\u2019s invaders has relied on the assistance the U.S. has helped marshal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n