There are some issues that should be above politics.
And one thing more than any other: security. The security of America and of America’s allies.
Yet President Biden´s bill for another $61 billion in aid to Ukraine is stalling. Why? Because he refuses to give in to Republicans who want to reduce the influx of illegal immigrants coming into America across the southern border.
But why should these two things be in opposition? Why not have both? Why not support America´s allies and also have security at the southern border? It is not as though we have to choose. Or at least it shouldn’t be.
After all, is this a superpower or is it not?
As the war in Ukraine has dragged on, there has certainly been a falling away in public and political support. It is almost as though legislators and others have become bored of the war. I understand that.
The spring offensive to push back Russia´s invading forces has not been as successful as the Ukrainians had hoped. Some progress has been made, but we have not seen substantial gains like those I saw in Kherson last year when I was reporting from there for The Post.
But that doesn´t mean that people should give up on the war.
This week I saw the new film “Glory to the Heroes” by my friend Bernard-Henri Levy, whom I was with in Ukraine last year. The film documents this year´s fight to push back the Russian forces. It is an incredibly powerful film, full of further proof from the front line that Ukraine´s soldiers — men and women — are almost unbelievably brave.
Men with unimaginable injuries get bandaged up in the hospital and head straight back out to the front. A woman who was appallingly tortured by Russian forces recounts her experiences but is already back in battle. The bravery of these men and women is astounding. And humbling.
While their contemporaries in America are getting stupider and more cowardly on university campuses, these young men and women are fighting for their country. All they need to continue their fight is the continued support of their allies.
And it isn´t as though that fight is remotely over.
Much of the world´s attention was on Gaza this week. Much of it was up in arms that Israel should be winning its war with Hamas. These people — again, usually educated into imbecility by the universities — always want Israel to fight to a draw with its enemies. Never to win. Many of them simply want Israel to lose — one mask that has slipped spectacularly since October 7.
But while the world was fixed on Gaza, Vladimir Putin was once again shelling Kyiv. Just as he shelled Odessa, where I was last year, and which many people thought he would never dare hit.
Perhaps those people on the American right who think Putin is some kind of savior of Christendom should look at the wreckage of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration in that beautiful city and wonder whether they have backed the right guy.
The problem is that I’m not sure how many people can keep more than one thought in their heads at a time at the moment. Do we even have an attention span?
I worry not.
And there are few clearer examples of that than the standoff in DC. Because the Ukrainians are seeing American support fall away. Or become conditional. Something that became clear when President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington this week.
Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Zelensky this week that further funding of the war against Russia was conditional on the Democrats agreeing to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming into America.
“I told Zelensky that my number one obligation is to secure my country as well as help yours, and I feel like my country´s border policies are an immediate threat to the safety of the American people.” In one way, the senator is right. But imagine how dispiriting it is for an American ally to hear that. Because the US government can´t get a grip on its borders, other countries won’t be supported in defending theirs?
The British government is also dealing with an illegal invasion at its southern border. Like the American government, it is also failing to get a grip on the crisis. But Britain is not making its support for Ukraine conditional on solving the problem.
Of course, Graham is pointing to a growing feeling on the American right. A feeling that it has to be an “either/or.”
Graham claims he said to Zelensky, “There will be no [foreign aid] supplemental without border security reforms that address the problem.” Which is a nice thing to say to the leader of a country with one of the worst border infringements of the century.
But it is the fault of the White House — and the “uniter-in-chief” — that this standoff has occurred. Why won’t Biden engage with Senate Republican negotiator Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.)? Why not deal with him and work out a bipartisan way to address the southern border crisis? Why not do everything possible to stem the flow and stop cities like New York from falling into even greater debt and disarray?
After all, what exactly is the benefit to America or this country’s allies in failing to address the southern border crisis? It isn’t as though America gains anything from having one of the most porous borders in the developed world. Our cities are buckling and the whole system of legal as well as illegal immigration is suffering. What is so wrong with getting on top of the issue?
Just as importantly, imagine what this looks like from abroad.
The Ukrainians face an existential threat. They are losing a generation. And meanwhile, the fact that aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have managed to be in the same room as staffers of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is acclaimed as a sign of progress.
It isn’t. The Biden administration´s reluctance to give concessions is hurting Americans at home. And it is hurting America´s allies abroad.
I asked earlier, “Is this a superpower or is it not?”
Perhaps it is time to choose.