These Republican senators have broken away from Trump after controversial Ukraine post [View all]
Source: The Independent
Thursday 20 February 2025 12:41 GMT
Donald Trump has divided Republican senators after branding Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and blaming the Ukrainian president for starting the war with Russia. The U.S. president sent shockwaves across both sides of the aisle on Tuesday after an unhinged Truth Social tirade branding Zelensky a “modestly successful comedian” who manipulated the Biden administration for its funding and is doing a “terrible job.” “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote in his rant.
Several GOP senators balked at Trump’s anti-Ukraine rhetoric and have spoken out in defense of Zelenksy, treading a careful line not to alienate the U.S. president. The Senate’s recent-elected Majority Leader and the chamber’s top Republican, John Thune, disagreed with Trump’s analysis and said that there’s “no question who started the war,” adding that “Russia’s the aggressor here.”
Trump has long threatened to nominate primary challengers against members of his party in both chambers who he feels are going against his wishes. “President Putin is evil, and he has to be stopped,” said Thom Tillis, senator for North Carolina and the moderate Republican who kicked off his 2026 re-election campaign in December and has angered GOP hardliners with his progressive politics. Tillis also visited Ukraine over the weekend and is lobbying for continued military funding, told reporters.
Asked whether she believed Zelensky to be a dictator, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, said: “I do not.” “To the extent that the White House said that Ukraine started the war, I disagree,” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy told the Associated Press. Texas Senator John Cornyn also told reporters that he “wouldn’t use the same word.”
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ukraine-zelensky-john-cornyn-thune-b2701516.html
= new reply since forum marked as read