Asa Hutchinson upbraids Ron DeSantis for ‘ambiguous’ Ukraine stance

Florida’s Governor is taking intraparty fire from one of the lower tier opponents he faces in the GOP presidential race.

Asa Hutchinson ripped Ron DeSantis for his failure to clarify his level of support for Ukraine during the first GOP Primary debate.

“I was surprised that Ron DeSantis couldn’t be clear on whether he supported Ukraine or not. He was still ambiguous and that’s been his problem from Day 1,” Hutchinson said on Fox News.

“He hasn’t been clear on where he is. First he calls it a ‘territorial dispute.’ And then says ‘No, that was wrong. I’m for it.’ And now it’s not clear whether he wants to support them again.”

On the question of Ukraine, DeSantis raised his hand saying he did not support more funding for the Ukraine war, saying, “Our support should be contingent on Europe doing it.”

Nikki Haley took issue with that position as she has before, saying that a President needs to have “moral clarity” and that “less than 3.5% of our military budget has been given to Ukraine.” DeSantis eventually worked the discussion back to his stump speech formulation.

“I’m not going to send troops to Ukraine, but I am going to send them to our southern border when these drug pushers are bringing fentanyl across the border; that’s going to be the last thing they do. We’re going to use force and we’re going to leave them stone-cold dead,” the Governor said.

DeSantis, who courted bipartisan criticism for dismissing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” in a seeming attempt to court favor with Tucker Carlson, has struggled to find rhetorical consistency when discussing the ongoing hot war.

During an interview in July on the Hugh Hewitt Show, DeSantis took issue with Senators who “beat their chests” about “sending more money to Ukraine,” saying it comes at the expense of greater national security priorities both at home and abroad.

He also said he was ready to bring the Ukraine War “in for a landing” during a Newsmax interview last month, saying the fight was just about “territory” and that he wanted a “sustainable peace.” He did not explain how that would happen.

In a previous interview on CNN, DeSantis called Ukraine a “secondary or tertiary” American interest after host Jake Tapper reminded him he wanted to send the country weapons while in Congress.

During an interview at Iowa’s Family Leadership Summit, DeSantis framed his position as one of knowing foreign policy isn’t all “peaches and cream,” adding that he knew Vladimir Putin was a “bad guy.”

For nearly a year and a half, the Governor has given live quotes that could come back to haunt him with America’s putative allies in NATO. Among them: a claim that France would capitulate to a Russian invasion.

DeSantis said Ukrainians were “willing to fight” and “go out there and ward off a Russian army,” before presenting a seemingly avoidable contrast.

“A lot of other places around the world, they just fold the minute there’s any type of adversity. I mean, can you imagine, if he went into France, do you think they’d do anything to put up a fight? Probably not,” DeSantis mused in March 2022.