Labeling skeptics of Ukraine aid as Putin stooges is a lazy smear

Of the many cheap and intellectually lazy smears of modern politics, labeling opponents of Ukraine aid as foot soldiers of Russian President Vladimir Putin may be among the worst.

Over the weekend, the House of Representatives passed a new $60 billion aid package for Ukraine. The proposal was brought to the floor by the chamber’s Republican leadership despite a majority of the party opposing the bill.

The legislation now heads to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it is all but assured to pass despite vocal opposition from a group of Republican senators, primarily led by Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Mike Lee (R-UT).

But amid this debate over whether or not more military aid to Ukraine is a worthwhile use of taxpayer dollars has emerged the intellectually lazy and offensive smear that anyone who opposes Ukraine aid is somehow carrying water for Putin and doing his bidding while undermining the free democracies of Europe and the United States.

Furthermore, the champions of Ukraine aid are laughably made out to be some sort of Churchillian hero who stands tall in the face of totalitarian fascism and is willing to go to any lengths to defeat a great evil.

But Ukraine is not and has never been a military ally of the U.S. And as unjust and tragic as the Russian invasion of the country continues to be, there are legitimate reasons to question whether or not spending $60 billion on a foreign conflict is a prudent use of taxpayer funds.

As Vance argued convincingly in a recent New York Times op-ed, this latest allocation of funds and promise of lethal weaponry will do very little to turn the tide in a conflict that has seen Ukraine cede more and more territory to the invading Russian army amid a shortage of soldiers and ammunition.

Ukraine’s struggles on the battlefield go even deeper. Amid an expansion of conscription requirements for fighting-age males, draft dodging has become more widespread, and criminal gangs are raising thousands of dollars in profits by smuggling would-be conscripts out of the country.

For a nation that is fighting for its very existence, these developments are discouraging and severely undermine the notion that a few more billion dollars will be all that is needed to repel the invading Russians.

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But for a policymaker in the U.S., pointing this out is almost guaranteed to elicit accusations of treason and loyalty to Russia. This intellectually lazy response is nothing more than a cheap smear that fails to address the substance of the critique, namely that this massive allocation of funds is a poor use of taxpayer dollars that will increase the spending deficit while offering no discernible change on the front lines.

Instead of smearing their rival policymakers with baseless and offensive accusations, supporters of Ukraine funding should make a more convincing case that this massive spending package will save lives and end the war.