GOP Civil War Turns Scorching Hot

Several Republican senators, who are growing more and more irate with party leadership, told the Daily Caller that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other pro-Ukraine hawks gave away their leverage by voting to hand over billions more in aid to Ukraine despite not reaching a border security agreement.

In interviews with the Daily Caller, Republican senators from Wisconsin, Utah, and Florida, as well as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, expressed their disapproval of McConnell and expressed gratitude for Johnson’s statement that any aid for Ukraine that does not include border provisions will be “dead on arrival” in the House. Only two days had passed since the Caller first revealed secret border accord suggestions.

Johnson told the Caller, “It’s unbelievable how horribly McConnell bungled this.” “McConnell frittered away the Senate’s leverage against us.”

Lee stated, “When too many lawmakers share the Democrats’ opinion that defending Ukraine is more essential than defending America, it is tough to bargain for border security from a position of strength.”

Republicans in both chambers of Congress had been discussing for months a drive to pressure Democrats—who, under President Joe Biden, have elevated aid to Ukraine to a top priority—into reaching a compromise by linking additional backing for Kyiv to changes in immigration laws intended to resolve the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

Republicans failed to live up to their half of the bargain when it came down to it. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and the Republican leadership developed a bipartisan Senate plan on border and international aid, but it was so opposed by the public and former President Donald Trump that it never made it to a full vote.

Despite failing to achieve a border agreement, Democrats did manage to get their half of the bargain enacted, thanks to the support of 22 Republican senators who voted last week to approve over $100 billion in military funding for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine.

Vice President of Programs at the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), Rachel Bovard, asserted that Republicans cannot achieve a successful border agreement if they are unable to stand up from the table.

Bovard told the Caller, “They will never be able to negotiate a deal for measures that truly solve the border situation as long as enough Republicans are prepared to vote for the end product no matter what.”

“It appears that Senate Republican leaders were not that serious about the trade-off between the border and Ukraine. Sen. Rick Scott has stated in the open that McConnell removed the possibility of linking border enforcement with financing for Ukraine. Sen. Thom Tillis followed through on his promise to oppose a bill if it lacked the backing of the majority of the GOP party. Furthermore, she said, “Sen. Mitt Romney threw away the game when he declared the Ukraine assistance vote—which did not include a border agreement—to be “the most significant vote senators would ever take” on the Senate floor.

Speaker Johnson’s opposition means that passing the measure in the House will be a difficult task. However, depending on what happens with Ukraine aid in the House, Senate Republicans appear to have lost their influence on a potential border solution for the time being.

“McConnell bungled this, which is why so many of us are speaking out against him in this fashion. It’s significant. It was a huge mistake, a catastrophe. We are not grateful for it. Sen. Johnson continued, “The good news is that we still have that power if the house doesn’t pass this.” Among the several aspects of this error, maybe the most crucial one was failing to see that your counterpart was not engaging in negotiations in a sincere manner. McConnell provided the political protection the Democrats desired. Once more, this is a historic event. Which Senate leader, if any, has gone to such lengths to provide their political rival with the type of political protection that McConnell essentially gave the Democrats? Simply put, it’s astounding.