Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) defended former President Donald Trump’s position on Ukraine during an interview over the weekend, emphasizing that Ukraine only faces invasion when Democrats are in the White House.
During his appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, Cotton highlighted a pattern he has observed over the last decade. “I have noticed that Vladimir Putin only invades Ukraine when Democrats are president,” Cotton remarked. “It happened under Barack Obama. It happened under Joe Biden. It didn’t happen with Donald Trump.”
Cotton pointed out that the critical weapons Ukraine used in the early stages of the war to fend off the Russian invasion were provided by Trump, unlike Obama and Biden who had refused to send such aid. “One reason why Vladimir Putin thought he could get away with going for the jugular in Ukraine is because of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which projected weakness and indecision. It was just a few weeks later that he began to mass troops on Ukraine’s border,” Cotton explained.
He continued to argue that while Trump supports Ukraine and wants them to succeed, he also believes that Europe should shoulder more responsibility. “Europe should do more and, in fact, should care more, because it is in their backyard. It is on their borders,” Cotton asserted, reflecting Trump’s stance that European nations need to take greater initiative in their defense.
Cotton acknowledged that some European leaders and Democrats in the U.S. were uncomfortable with Trump’s rhetoric, but he defended it as necessary. “I understand that European leaders and Democrats here in America didn’t care for some of the language or rhetoric he used,” Cotton noted. “I would say that was necessary to get tough on foreign leaders who are our putative allies who had been free-riding off of American military strength for 35 years. And what you saw is European leaders actually finally investing in their common defense. That’s something they will do again when President Trump is back in the White House.”
In summary, Cotton’s defense of Trump underscores a belief in strong, decisive leadership that demands more accountability from allies and projects strength to adversaries, contrasting sharply with what he views as the weak and ineffective policies of the current administration.
