Even behind closed doors, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to allow fellow Republicans to remove their gaze from the plight of a people who have been fighting off Russian aggression for more than two years now.
As Republican senators will privately attest, the outgoing leader spends much of his speaking time during private Senate GOP caucus meetings making the moral and strategic case for aiding Ukraine — even as nationalist-populist senators within his own ranks continue to dig in their heels in opposition.
As one GOP senator put it to National Review yesterday: "He's very consistent. This is all he cares about. At least, that's what it appears in our caucus."
While it's certainly a stretch to say Ukraine is "all" McConnell "cares about," he has pledged publicly and privately to spend his remaining time as leader "fighting back" against what he calls "the isolationist movement" in his own party. The master tactician's relentless focus on the conflict in recent months reflects his willingness to play the long game and stick to his guns as the political winds swirl around him.
That long-game strategy certainly paid off last night, when the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass a $95 billion, four-part national-security package that will send foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Only 15 Republican senators and three Democrats voted against the package Tuesday evening, with several GOP senators who previously opposed the measure switching their votes, including Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and . . .
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