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bolido_sentimental  1yr ago (text post)   3348 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 25, 2022

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How large and serious is the opposition to US support of Ukraine in the republican party and it's grassroots supporters?

In the party? The House vote for the $40B aid package last May was 149-57 in favor, and support is probably going to be lower going forward. Among the grassroots? It's about 50-50, and dropping quickly, with the most unwavering support ("for as long as it takes, even if American households have to pay higher gas and food prices as a consequence") down to 33% among Republicans.

Trawling through conservative forums I still see a lot of moral support for Ukraine, but I also see a lot of the "these big bills are how the government-military-industrial complex launders money" thinking that I used to think was a solidly left-wing position. The median right-wing belief today seems to be approaching "Okay, the tankies are wrong to support Russia, but is it really our job to get involved?", and it really does seem like a funhouse mirror of what you'd have expected from the two sides of the culture war 60 years ago.

But how about the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 90s? Bill Clinton was gung ho for intervention, while Senate Republicans mostly tended to the position "this conflict is literally in Europe's backyard, why can't they solve the local problem, since logistics couldn't be easier?"

Republican foreign policy at a grassroots level tends to be borderline isolationist, unless there is a clear threat to American interests.

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