The Red Wave and Ukraine Aid

Among the many twists of the midterms, a Republican House with a narrow House majority means that Kevin McCarthy should have a much more difficult time corralling the votes he needs to keep Ukraine afloat. This was something that I was very worried about heading into the midterms. A bigger win in the House would have given McCarthy more votes to maneuver around the opposition.

Note: It also looks like there was a Red Wave. The country is so culturally balkanized though that it translated into big wins in states like Alabama where I live where literally nothing changed. Various nuances at the state level like redistricting in New York have produced this result.

15 Comments

  1. Wouldn’t it be the other way around, with Kevin having a small majority meaning aid to Ukraine more likely to get the votes it needs – considering there are more Democrats in the house?

    At any rate, the war in Ukraine might even be over by the time the new congress gets sworn in.

    • Winter is almost there. Also economic disaster. When those two hit, then events in Europe start moving really fast.

      Ukraine holding the line only because extremely warm weather in Europe and US midterms, so banks and companies hold disaster back for uncle Biden.

      So yes, Ukraine can enter some sort of endgame pretty soon. Collapsing Russia and removing Putin failed so nobody need Ukraine anymore.

  2. 50 states have 50 different election laws.

    In Florida, the vote was counted swiftly and the result was known within hours, but that is because of the Bush v. Gore disaster in Florida in the 2000 election. If memory serves, they were already counting ballots well before election night. As for Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, I believe the situation there will mail in ballots is due to the state legislatures never getting their act together. I don’t know what is going on in Nevada or Arizona.

    • We shall see.

      As things stand today, the House will likely shift from Democratic control to a narrow Republican majority. Every Republican member of the House will correspondingly have more leverage over the Speaker of the House. Every single Democrat in the House voted for every single Ukraine war funding bills. Bernie Sanders voted for it in the Senate. Neocons run Joe Biden’s foreign policy.

      I’ve consistently voted against neocons for over 20 years now. The fact that those people are now running the Democratic Party while the GOP is trending in the opposite direction has made me more supportive of Republicans. That was always one of my biggest concerns.

      • ” Every Republican member of the House will correspondingly have more leverage over the Speaker of the House. ”

        Good point.
        There may be a blessing in disguise that there wasn’t a red wave in the house.

      • linkIncoming New York GOP Congressman: “My wife is from Moldova… I am fully committed to supporting Ukraine. Putin is a vile thug, and he needs to be contained… For me this is personal, on a number of levels. We have a responsibility to ensure Putin does not advance any further”

        Moldova and Albania are generally seen as the shitholes of Europe — Moldova has enjoyed uninterrupted independence since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but this guy wants you to know that one reason we must continue to fuel the war in Ukraine is because his wife is from Moldova — or something — such is the quality of your average GOP politician.

        I would lower my expectations if I were you.

        • 0% of Democrats support cutting Ukraine funding. Not a single one.

          Lots of people on the Republican side have already voted against it. Kevin McCarthy needs their support as House speaker. Especially with a narrow majority. So the difference is having some leverage over funding this stupid war or having zero leverage and going full blast for “as long as it takes” for two years

          Here in Alabama, Tuberville has already voted twice against funding the war in Ukraine.

          • They might SAY that they’re for cutting aid. Their trademark is cutting spending. But that’s just talk, not action when it comes to imperialist war. They love war and the military just as much as the Dems do. Republicans are trained to hate Puitin and Russia just as much as the Dems. Conservative evangelicals believe (it’s preached in some of their churches) that Russia “invaded” Ukraine and that Putin is evil and a “madman.”

            Don’t look Right. The Right won’t come to your rescue bringing peace. the Right is no better, no different than the U.S.’s so-called “left” – Bernie Sanders, AOC and the rest of the Squad and the DSA all support the war against Russia – all the exact opposite of peaceful.

          • Is this true?

            Here is the vote on the last Ukraine funding bill in September:

            In the House, the vote was 230 to 201.

            In the Senate, the vote was 75 to 25.

            Joe Biden, obviously, quickly put his signature on the $12.3 billion.

            100% of House and Senate Democrats voted for funding the war in Ukraine. Half of Senate Republicans voted against it. Nearly the entire House Republican caucus voted against it.

            When the House Progressive Caucus put out a letter mildly pleading for Joe Biden to engage in diplomacy with Russia, they retracted it and issued a formal apology within 24 hours. This idea that there is no difference between the parties on Ukraine simply isn’t true. Republicans are divided on the issue. Yes, the Republican establishment is for funding the war in Ukraine, but the Republican base is split on the issue and that is reflected in Congress. It is also reflected in all the polling on the war.

            https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/us/politics/congress-passes-stopgap-spending-bill.html

            https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/29/us-senate-approves-12bn-for-ukraine-in-government-funding-bill

  3. McCarthy is not a shoe in for speaker and any vote for speaker McCarthy must be contingient on withdrawl of Ukraine aid.

  4. NYpost top headline:
    Trump may have had a toxic touch with his endorsements, due to his failure to build the wall.

    Amen !

  5. Now that the selections are over, it will be business as usual when it comes to sending money to Ukraine and other foreign countries.

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