Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 26. Then-President Donald Trump was withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Ukraine's defense as he was asking its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to investigate Trump's potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden., and he dismissed the controversy as a politically motivated hit job — and his base went along.
Trump has shifted his positions on the war in Ukraine. Shortly before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, Trump"smart" and"savvy" because Putin had declared portions of Ukraine"independent," something Putin had no right to do. As scenes of war and death in Ukraine at the hands of Russia have played out for the world to see on television screens all day for days on end, Trump has changed his tune.what's happening there a"holocaust"; said many times over that the war would never have happened if he were still president; and even called for the U.S. to attack Russia but make it look like it was actually China — by flying American planes with a Chinese flag on the side.
Unlike other issues, from Medicare to trade, in which Trump has brought Republicans to his view, he has struggled to lead on his position on Putin and Ukraine. The culture wars, tax cuts and wanting government to do less really appear to be the unifying axis right now for the Republican Party. But if Ukraine continues to get the kind of attention it's getting, that could change things, Hayes said.
Or another way to say it: Tucker Carlson and other neo-fascist Right Wing media have found an ally in Trump on this issue, but some in GOP haven’t been convinced yet.