Five pieces about the top contenders for the presidency in 2024 (with links to each full article embedded in each headline).
No, Gov. DeSantis, Ukraine is not a ‘territorial dispute’ (March 14): Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) embarrassed himself this week by describing Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute.”
It’s one thing to debate exactly how much assistance the United States should provide to Ukraine or to argue about what specific sorts of assistance are appropriate. What DeSantis said, though, in writing, wasn’t a valid debating point. It was just a cynical appeal to a loud segment of Republican voters.
Ukraine is a sovereign nation, recognized as such by the rest of the world. Ukraine’s borders are Ukraine’s borders. At the instigation of Russia’s murderous dictator Vladimir Putin, Russian forces invaded those borders. Russia has forced more than 8 million Ukrainians not just from their homes but from their country, has destroyed life-sustaining infrastructure, has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians and tens of thousands of Ukrainian military personnel, and has sacrificed perhaps twice as many of its own conscripted soldiers, all on behalf of Putin’s power play…..
Biden spends like a maniac (March 16): Senate Republicans are right to say that President Joe Biden’s budget proposal proves that his priorities are dangerously out of whack. Out of touch with reality, too. Worst, he proposes to leave the nation’s defenses woefully short-changed….
Shut up already about a Trump indictment that hasn’t even happened yet (March 18): With rumors rampant of an impending arrest of former President Donald Trump, everybody, including Trump, needs to calm down. This includes pundits pre-judging the case before it even has been filed….
Mike Pence needs to smile more (March 19): Pence’s chances of winning the presidency are hampered less by anything he says or doesn’t say about former President Trump or about any particular issue than by his dour demeanor. …
GOP has many options better than Trump (March 21): … The public could benefit from, and Republicans could win, victories with a substantive “bench” of accomplished, attractive public servants….
