Ron DeSantis says he’d rather US back Israel over Ukraine

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday night he would rather see US tax dollars spent to help Israel in its war against Hamas than to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, if he had to choose.

In response to an audience question during a CNN town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, DeSantis noted that the Jewish state is “our strongest ally in the Middle East.”

“We have a relationship with them that’s like no other. And they have the whole world against us,” the 45-year-old said. “They require the United States to be there, to stand with them as the friend.

“Ukraine has all of Europe,” DeSantis went on. “These European countries need to start pulling their weight. They don’t meet their NATO dues. I mean, some of them have done [like] Poland [and] Finland. But a lot of them are not doing that … Russia is a threat to Europe. They need to rise to the occasion, rev up their industrial bases, and start arming themselves, so that they can help Ukraine and keep Russia in a box.”

The Florida governor noted that the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas “impacted my state, because I had so many people that go back and forth.”

Host Jake Tapper also asked the White House hopeful if he would continue to encourage sending money to Ukraine as president.

“I think what the Republicans in the Congress are doing, I think, is the right thing,” the governor responded. “What they are saying is, you’ve got to defend our own country’s borders before you start sending money all across this world.”

Apart from just military aid, DeSantis said, lawmakers “have spent tens of billions of your tax dollars to subsidize farming in Ukraine, to subsidize small business in Ukraine, to pay salaries for bureaucrats and pensions for Ukrainian bureaucrats.

“How is that something that’s more important to this country than our veterans, than some of the other problems we have?”

DeSantis spoke after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrapped up a two-day trip to Washington to plead for more US financial support.

Republicans are holding up a supplemental aid request by President Biden until they secure increased oversight of the assistance, a clear definition of Ukraine’s war goals and changes to US immigration policy.

“[An] open border threatens our country,” DeSantis said. “We have people from all over the world that have gone in there. And so, I think what these Republicans are saying is, ‘Let’s get this done.’ And Biden’s going to have to compromise on that and he’s not going to do it.”

“Most people that I talk to who are frustrated with some of the money going overseas, they want Ukraine to beat Russia. We don’t like Russia,” the governor went on. “But here’s the thing. You got to take care of your own house first. And the DC elites, they ignore the problems affecting the American people. You know why? Because it doesn’t affect them. And that is wrong.”