- Some of the 2024 GOP presidential contenders oppose Ukraine becoming a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Agreement (NATO) amid the war with Russia, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
- President Joe Biden believes Ukraine’s admittance to the alliance would be premature, and several Republican hopefuls echoed that sentiment, while some left the door open for future membership.
- “The United States and its NATO allies should continue providing Ukraine with the necessary support to defeat Russia. The Ukraine-NATO decision should not be advanced in the middle of the war since joining NATO triggers a commitment of US troops,” former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told the DCNF.
Several 2024 Republican presidential candidates oppose Ukraine’s joining of NATO amid the war with Russia, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Ahead of Biden’s attendance of the NATO summit Tuesday in Lithuania, he told CNN Sunday that Ukraine joining the alliance would be premature. GOP presidential contenders were also weary of Ukraine’s immediate entrance, with some leaving the door open for future admittance, according to statements provided to the DCNF.
“Joe Biden needs to man up to his bully-friend Zelensky & clearly state that we are dead-set opposed to Ukrainian admission to NATO. This should be a hard red line,” conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy told the DCNF. “NATO was created to deter conflict with the USSR, yet NATO has expanded most rapidly after* the fall of the USSR & is now *worsening* the risk of nuclear war with Russia itself. This is sheer lunacy. As President I’ll refuse to be bullied by an anti-democratic comedian-turned-leader & it’s truly mystifying to me that the rest of the West is eating out of this Pied Piper’s hand every day.”
Ramaswamy also slammed Republicans like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham for pushing for Ukraine to join NATO, and argued such an entrance would be “marching us to the brink of nuclear war.” Graham is leading a bipartisan effort in the Senate advocating for the alliance, prompting GOP backlash from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and others.
I will be working with Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to pass a resolution urging the admission of Ukraine into NATO.
The best way to prevent future wars and promote peace is to create security guarantees that make aggressor nations think twice before starting wars.…
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 7, 2023
“For all the hand-wringing about the 1994 Budapest Memorandum (on which the U.S. has more than fulfilled its commitments), the neocon-Democrat establishment is shockingly silent on James Baker’s famous 1990 ‘Not-One-Inch’ commitment to Gorbachev that NATO would never extend east of Germany,” Ramaswamy added.
Conservative radio personality Larry Elder opposed any “immediate” action on Ukraine joining NATO, emphasizing his stance against further U.S. involvement in the war.
“We would not be having this conversation if it weren’t for Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. If not for that, Putin would not have been emboldened to invade Ukraine in the first place,” Elder told the DCNF. “We must take a measured approach on Ukraine joining NATO. They should have the same opportunity that any other potential member nation has, but they should not be fast-tracked as a special case. I oppose American boots on the ground in Ukraine, and immediate NATO membership would put us down that path.”
Members of NATO view an attack on one state an attack on all, according to Article Five of the treaty. (RELATED: NATO To Add New Member Sweden After Turkey Previously Blocked Expansion)
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson stressed continued support of Ukraine to fight Russian aggression, but also voiced concerns over such an admittance into NATO during wartime.
“The United States and its NATO allies should continue providing Ukraine with the necessary support to defeat Russia. The Ukraine-NATO decision should not be advanced in the middle of the war since joining NATO triggers a commitment of US troops,” Hutchinson told the DCNF.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also hesitant on Ukraine joining NATO ahead of the war’s conclusion.
“Doug believes that the first thing that needs to happen is for Ukraine to win the war. Nothing can happen until the war ends,” Lance Trover, campaign spokesman, told the DCNF.
Finland joined NATO in April, and Sweden is set to become the newest member of the alliance, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreeing to back the country’s membership Monday evening. Biden was reportedly not directly involved in the agreement, and White House officials intend to emphasize that.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” Biden said Sunday. “For example, if you did that, then, you know — and I mean what I say — we’re determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory. It’s a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”
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