Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate for the presidential nomination from the Republican Party of the USA, who is in the top three in terms of popularity among Republican supporters, promises to recognize the Russian occupation of Ukraine and block its path to NATO if elected president.
Sorry for the headline. I don't know why they don't just say it's Vivek Ramaswamy.
To that end, I will accept Russian control of the occupied territories and pledge to block Ukraine’s candidacy for NATO in exchange for Russia exiting its military alliance with China. I will end sanctions and bring Russia back into the world market. In this way, I will elevate Russia as a strategic check on China’s designs in East Asia.
Never thought I'd see somebody worse than trump so quickly.
he also wants to remove federal regulatory and law enforcement agencies. Including, the IRS. Whose job it is... to you know... pay the government's bills...
They are doing it on purpose. He’s 38 years old, no one is letting him near the presidency. But these over the top statements are intended to make some other candidate look like not the craziest guy in the room.
Considering one of his opponents tried to destroy the happiest place on earth, signed into law a law that allows people to kidnap kids, and worked as a torturer at gitmo, that is saying something
Are we going to have to do this every 4 years? Just roll the dice and risk some wholly unqualified asshole, somehow even worse that the former guy, becoming president so he or she can just shit on the people and the planet for the next 4 fucking years?
Not forever. Now and probably 2028. The people they are appealing to are dying and are rapidly being replaced by the youth. By 2032 they won't be enough to dominate an entire party. They will return to the fringe.
Personally. I plan to go start a lunar colony, then mars, then jupiter. Build up a space civilization of enlightened scientists who.... will tolerate my leadership because "well at least it's not as bad as on earth."
There's a lot worse than Trump. Trump is dumb AF and is easily persuaded. I'm doubting that Trump ever actually came up with an idea of his own. He's a puppet through and through.
The alternative is that his words are bald faced lies and he believes he's all but winking at the "adults in the room" that "of course he'll never actually do this".
They're both equally horrible, and sadly equally possible.
Russia can't even control it's own military with success, how the fuck are they gonna challenge China and put them on check. Lol this fuckin puppet has the whole arm in him.
How the actual fuck are the Republicans not getting hammered in the polls?
Americans have been brainwashed for decades with 'communism bad' propaganda, so it seems mind-boggling that Republicans are so willing to give the former Soviet Union any control over Ukrainian soil. Part of the reason we've been fighting back against Russia's invasion with sanctions and equipment donations has been because they've been NATO's ideological enemy for decades.
I'm not even from the same continent and it hurts my head to think of how a party whose supporters are synonymous with highly patriotic rednecks are willing to continue supporting their team after they've shown a categorical willingness to sell out to the enemy.
Like... I truly think some big corporation has put something in our food or drink that is making us terminally stupid.
The Republicans are more or less split on this issue. With the Trumpians being isolationist and not wanting to meddle and the Mitt Romneys wanting to keep the war machine humming along.
Nikki Haley, a Republican Romney-ist candidate at the RNC debates last week criticized Ramaswamy
“You are choosing a murderer over an ally of the U.S"
His response was
“I wish you success on your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon,”
If you look at certain polls, there are early signs that Americans may be slowly losing fervor for the war and less and less are supporting increasing aid to Ukraine - feeling that the US has done enough.
Trump and his cronies / wannabes are likely betting on that sentiment becoming more widespread. And historically, they are probably right to bet on it. People eventually get war fatigue. However, it could take a very long time before that leads to an actual policy change. Look how long Vietnam or Afghanistan lasted. These things can go on for decades before the government pulls the plug - even through years of public dissatisfaction.
So who knows? The Republicans seem to be having a little war of their own
These debates seem more and more like massive focus groups. They get the non-contenders to say preposterous things with two goals: see what sticks and propagate lies.
Modernizing engagement by going on talk shows and using social media is smart. The message is what makes the difference. Republicans stopped caring about a message that progressed the country around Bush jr. Ever since then been a decline into tribalism and gaslighting. At least Obama ran on something positive.
Elections are no longer about who’s the best for the job.
They were never about that. It was about which person will get my group what I want. The country could do fine for a long time without any political leadership. The mechanisms of government would just continue to operate. Look at the last admin, how many empty posts were there. I bet your trash still got picked up, I bet you still had to pay taxes, etc.
Right or not, there's a good chance Ukraine would not be standing today without US support. Of course other countries are also giving aid but US tops the chart by a large margin. see here $76 billion in aid as of June this year for a country whose GDP in 2020 was about $150 billion. They're running at a massive deficit and barely holding on as it is.
Should the US decide to go to Ukraine and say "hey, we're cutting you off. should probably surrender with these xyz conditions" they would be forced to seriously consider their position.
I'm not into US politics other than the basics, but let me tell every American that the consequences of something like this happening will be catastrophic, and then you'll "fight" China alone, if not with more opponents.
Trump was already a huge liability to European foreign policy, if it happens again, the EU will dissociate from the US, weaponize and go nuclear. The eastern countries will enter direct conflict with Russia eventually (sooner than later), and the whole continent will get dragged into the war. At the end who ever is left will not support the US, actively be against it, and have nuclear weapons.
Russia would make all the promises in the world until the US pulls all its support and resources from Ukraine. Once Ukraine falls, Russia would just tell the US to go fuck themselves and ally with China anyway.
Not that this whack job has a chance of becoming President and actually trying this shit, there's a less than 0% chance of it actually working.
His chances of becoming President? Yes, those chances are nonzero. Low, but not nonexistent.
But that wasn't what I was saying. The chances of Russia abiding by such an agreement not to align with China are less than 0%. His plan has a less than zero chance of becoming reality even on the off-chance he actually gets a chance to try.
Putin would make all the promises in the world until the US pulls all its support and resources from Ukraine. Once Ukraine falls, Putin would just tell the US to go fuck themselves and China will annex Russia anyway.
It is couter to their perogative. Lie, lie, lie, lie and lie some more its not an argument its just full on say anything at whatever opportunity. just say shit that doesn't even make sense and defend it. Its not stupidity, its a strategy. He knows the base just go with anything violent, racist, bigot related, you know all the most vile parts that humanity has to offer.
We are doing it right now by upvoting this content. It's the same shit that happened with Trump. People kept him in the news cycle cause he kept doing off the walls shit. We just need to downvote and ignore him. If conservatives see that this guy is effective at triggering liberals they will support him purely on that merit
This idiot watched Trump sucking off the Russians and thought that was why he was popular, so he's gonna go ahead and double down.
How the Republicans of all people have managed to turn into the PRO RUSSIA party I can hardly fathom. For all their rampant flag waving and mindlessly spouted "Support our troops" drivel, they'd have been the last ones to kowtow to Moscow. In the end of course, I Do understand. It's their fanatical worship of Trump, the idea that anyone who doesn't adore Inmate Number P01135809 is just a traitor, and He of course was willing to give the Russians anything and everything they wanted to keep that kompromat from being released. So, Republicans have just internalized the idea that Russians Good, just because Inmate P01135809 said so.
And of course because Democrats have been supporting anti-Russian policies. Republicans would rather be traitors than collaborate with the Democrats.
I think it's because the current incarnation of Russia is their dream form of governance: a veneer of democracy, over an Oligarchy, where the ones with the most money end up making all the rules. (It's critical to note that most of these Republicans think of themselves as Oligarchs-in-training.) And a populace which is used to all that, and won't question things, at least openly. A place where you can make your opposition just go away by saying they are corrupt, and locking them up in Siberia.
And a place where it you want to whip up some nationalist unity, you just start a war for no good reason. (Well, at least on this point, Dubya gave the Republicans a head start).
“ in exchange for Russia exiting its military alliance with China”
OMG, so funny. That is even more unlikely than this tool becoming POTUS and I am not sure that would happen even if the rest of them were tragically killed.
It$ hard to really $ay why anyone doe$ anything, maybe he really think$ that $tability in europe can only be reached by conceding territory to the mo$t agr$$sive and dangerou$ belligrrant. Who know$.
I see Vivek Ramaswamy is gunning to be the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century. Giving Putin what he wants is like trying to appease Hitler. Putin's expressed ideology is for Russia to conquerer Europe. He is not going to stop with the Donbas region or Ukraine. The best thing for everyone, including the Russian people, is for Russia as we know it to collapse into smaller countries.
Not to mention by supporting Ukraine, the US is sending a clear message to China that they will be met with force if they try invade Taiwan. It doesn't benefit anyone other than Russia and China to work with them and give them what they want. Dictatorships are always going to be incentivized to backstab democracies. Democracies are going to champion human rights, where as other dictatorships will look the other way. So no matter how hard you try to separate Russia and China they are always going to be incentivized to work with each other.
Putin is not Hitler, for many reasons, but chief among them is his incompetency. Hitler didn't get bogged down in czechoslovakia for a year. Putin has almost no chance of conquering the whole of Ukraine, much less the entirety of Europe.
Yeah no Putin rushed that one and has been interfering in his generals' decisions from day one. There's tons of incompetence in the Russian army but Bakhmut levels of strategic self-owns, no, we can safely assume that that kind of stuff was a political decision.
Hahahaha, he'll get Russia to sever military alliances with China eh? I'm sure they'll kindly pack up their things and leave Ukraine alone, just like they did in 1991. Putin has showed his hand. He's not to be trusted with any diplomatic issue. He will not abide by American rhetoric. Negotiating terms where Ukraine is blocked from joining NATO simply signals to the West's enemies that if you're able to make inroads, we'll make concessions. It's ultimately as weak piss of a foreign policy as it gets.
Given how many jokes I've made about Trump ordering Ukraine to "just surrender" in a second term, I'm not mad, I'm just sad that my low opinion of the world is justified and accurate.
Is there no remotely sane candidate in the Republican party? It's not even a matter of supporting bad policies anymore, they have literally lost their minds and betray the very values this country is supposed to stand for
I don't get why he thinks Russia would end a military alliance after being given everything they want without having to end that alliance. And what makes him think other nations won't still back Ukraine? We would just be putting ourselves on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of the war.
And what makes him think other nations won’t still back Ukraine?
That's the weirdest thing about this. His whole plan assumes Ukraine will just say "Ok Vivek, we'll just stop fighting because you want to be friends with Putin!"
Only thing he'd accomplish is making the war drag on for years longer. This guy is so gullible he believes the Russian propaganda that tells him that Ukraine is a US puppet.
Yes he does. He just does not care. This guy is evil, not stupid. He has said many, many smart things before. He can sound pretty compelling saying super crazy shit now. Not an idiot.
He listened to all the people that said “can you imagine what a smarter Donald Trump would be like” and though “ya, let’s go for it”.
The only saving grace is that he is also at about zero percent chance of becoming President.
"in exchange for Russia exiting its military alliance with China."
"...You're questioning if is Russia is good on its commitments? Who had every heard of Russia not following through with its promises? What? Budapest memo-what?" -Ramaswamy probably
It will never not blow my mind that people alive during the cold War and all that drama are like yeah... liberal Americans are the enemy! We have more on common with Russia so we feel comfortable backing them in anything.
This fairy tale world where this dude thinks he can get “Russia to exit its military alliance with China”, this seems temping. But if this chucklefuck thinks that’s going to happen, then I’ve got 5 bridges to sell him.
The guy is brown and his name isn't something they can pronounce. There is not a snowballs chance in hell that this guy would even be a possible front runner for a spot to even say he is competing with Trump for the nomination.
Hillary Clinton has better odds of winning the Republican nomination.
Oh yes we'll also colonize Saturn and end world poverty. College degrees for all!
Easy to blather a bunch of nonsense goals with no regard for the attainability or necessity.
Well, easy to say the debate was great for him. Prior to it, most people didn't know he existed. Now some people are saying "He's like a younger trump" and that his biggest problem is that the people who would vote for him will just vote for Trump.
Trump would've let the special military operation happen and likely vetoed any retaliatory action. Kyiv would have fallen overnight, if not within weeks. You're forgetting that Trump got into power largely due to Putin's electoral interference, and that he's the closest that America had come to allying with Russia since the Second World War.
Don't forget that he was literally impeached for trying to blackmail Zelenskyy by denying him military support if he didn't give Trump dirt on Hunter Biden. Trump is no friend of Ukraine.
My issue with that theory is if it's true, why didn't Putin invade while Trump was in power? I think Putin rightly considers Trump a loose cannon who may well have escalated in response. While Biden is predictably afraid of escalation and has been eager to pump the brakes on military aid whenever possible, against congress's wishes.
He's doing his job then. We all know he's too brown to be the GOP nomination. So my wager is on him making Trump seem slightly less extreme without ever changing tact himself, since he doesn't know how to.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a fucking ghoul, and so is Putin, but if — like some commenters in this thread — you are concerned about WW3, then Vivek's position here is less bellicose than the official American "Push NATO right up to Russia's border, plant missiles five minutes from Moscow, deny Russian access to the warm water port at Crimea" position. It is also the position most likely to end a war that has already killed half a million people. What Vivek offers is what Putin started the war to obtain.
There is some evidence — various polls, and also the fact that a civil war raged for eight years — indicating that a sizable portion of the population in the contested regions of eastern Ukraine is either ambivalent about or would prefer Russian rather than Kyiv rule. Granting them this would probably not be worse than killing another half million people in Ukraine.
There were multiple polls before the invasion, and some probably contradict each other, but before we go off on an internet argument digging through polls, my main point is that the war is killing hundreds of thousands of people, half a million already, and nudging us toward world war 3, and since Putin probably won't back down for security and economic reasons, it's either compromise or drag this out to the last Ukrainian. At minimum, if you want to end this shit, a binding guarantee to not join NATO should be on the table, and Russian access to Sevastopol. I would wager that the main reason Russia wants to retain some of eastern Ukraine is to maintain a border buffer against NATO.
*For an example, this 2015 survey polled Ukrainians on a range of topics and broke down the results by region. On page 18, residents of Donbas are asked the question, "How do you evaluate your attitude toward each of the following countries?" For Russia, the breakdown is as follows: 5% very warm, 39% warm, 42% neutral, 5% cold, 1% very cold, 9% difficult to answer or no answer.
**To clarify, the survey does not show the Donbas wanting to join Russia (see page 22: 75% want to remain part of Ukraine in some form) or welcoming an invasion (page 27, surprise most people do not want war), but it does show that a plurality preferred economic ties to Russia (33%) over economic ties to the EU (21%) (page 41), and that only 16% in the Donbas wanted to join NATO (page 43).
100% Ukraine is going to give up lands, they can not fight off Russia, and they have lost a ton of equipment and many of their soldiers are dead. Even the west who is now sick of giving Ukraine aid, are not pleased with how Ukraine is unable to make any dent in the war, furthermore, Ukraine has been told by the West to stop attacks inside Russia or risk losing aid, in preparation to forcing Ukraine to accept defeat, it's coming, bank on it.