MILWAUKEE — This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune. Click here to read it.
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul isn’t giving up hope that a second Donald Trump presidency will support Ukraine in its war against Russia, even after Sen. J.D. Vance, a vocal Ukraine aid critic and outspoken isolationist, was nominated to the vice presidency.
Vance’s selection as running mate sets up some potential tension between a future Trump administration and the congressional defense hawks like McCaul, who played a role in securing Ukraine aid last April. Vance has been skeptical of sustained aid for U.S. allies abroad and voted against continued assistance for Ukraine, including the aid package McCaul advocated.
Both are cornerstone priorities for McCaul, an Austin Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. McCaul said he’s “a little” concerned Vance could portend greater withdrawal by the United States on the world stage, but he isn’t throwing in the towel just yet.
McCaul said he is still in touch with Trump's foreign policy team, which expands beyond Vance and includes aides who are dedicated to defending American interests overseas.
“I don't think he wants to be a loser,” McCaul said of Trump on the sidelines of the National Republican Convention. “To Trump, that's a big thing. And if Putin takes over Ukraine, the United States loses.”
McCaul has been a steadfast supporter of aiding U.S. allies against growing threats from Russia, China and Iran, including Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel. He is part of a dwindling generation of pro-defense Republicans who used to dominate Texas’ influence on national politics, from former House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger to former President George W. Bush.
McCaul made appeals to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, to support the Ukraine aid package. Johnson eventually backed the package despite having past misgivings about continuing aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Vance said at the Munich Security Conference this year that Europe should prepare for the U.S. moving to “pivot” away from the continent.
“The American security blanket has allowed European security to atrophy,” Vance said.
“I believed in the propaganda of the George W. Bush administration that we needed to invade Iraq, that it was a war for freedom and democracy,” Vance said on the Senate floor in April. “The promises of the foreign-policy establishment of this country were a complete joke.”
Vance said on a 2022 podcast that "I gotta be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”
Trump has bemoaned that NATO allies don’t spend more on their common defense. But he also acknowledged that Ukraine’s survival is important for U.S. interests.
“As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us!” Trump posted on social media in April. “GET MOVING EUROPE!”
McCaul acknowledged that “it’s not popular to look outside the United States” and recognized Vance’s position as “trying to stand for the common man, the working man. That's always what Trump has done.”
“I think their overall messaging is, we're tired of paying for it. And I think that resonates,” McCaul said. “What they want is assurances we're not gonna be footing the bill for everybody's conflict, but it is getting more dangerous.”
McCaul advised Trump on his 2016 presidential campaign on foreign policy. Prior to leading the Foreign Affairs Committee, McCaul served as the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee.
He said he is still in touch with members of Trump’s team and that there are several of Trump’s top advisers who feel that a strong American presence is necessary. He named former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served with McCaul in the House, former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and former National Security Adviser to the Vice President Keith Kellogg.
“It really depends who the president puts around himself,” McCaul said. “He likes to have differences of opinion and likes to throw them in the ring and let them fight it out.”
