“There is no room in this party for Putin’s apologists,” said the former vice president of the United States. Mike Pence, during his speech to the main donors of the Republican party. A phrase that symbolizes the strong break with the former president Donald Trumpbut also a clear message to his party members who did not strongly condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“To those who argue that NATO expansion is somehow responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine: ask yourself, where would our friends in Eastern Europe be today if they weren’t in NATO?” Pence said. During his speech he never openly mentioned Trump, who in recent days has been criticized for calling the Russian president “smart” and “our leaders stupid”.
“It would have been easy for me to put an end to what is happening, this farce,” Trump said in his speech at the US Conservative Conference last week. The former US president then spoke of his “affinity” with Putin and called the invasion “merciless”, decided by Moscow after seeing the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“All of this would never have happened if I had been in office,” Trump said, blaming the current president for Putin’s actions. A point of view also shared by Pence, and by other members of the Republican party, according to which the Biden administration has squandered the deterrent they had put in place to prevent Russia from redrawing international borders by force. “Weakness stirs up evil, and the extent of evil that is spreading in Ukraine speaks volumes about this president”, reads excerpts from the speech reported by Politico.
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“Republicans know that the free world must do everything possible – apart from sending our troops – to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine and give the brave Ukrainian people a chance to defend their freedom. Putin only understands. the force, “wrote Pence on Twitter. On the US social network, you are asking the Biden administration to increase military spending, arm Ukraine and sanction all financial institutions in Russia.
But Pence’s speech was not only a reprimand for those who, like Trump, did not shy away from Putin’s actions in Ukraine, but also an opportunity to define the party’s priorities. “We cannot win by fighting yesterday’s battles, or by looking back on the past,” the former vice president said, referring to Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. Last month he responded to the former president’s false claims that Pence, in as vice president, he could have overturned the results of the last elections. “I had no right to reverse the outcome. The presidency belongs to the American people, and only to the American people. And frankly, there is no less American idea than thinking that only one person can choose the president, ”he said speaking to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.
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