Editor’s note: Julian Zelizeris a political analyst for CNN and a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author and editor of his 25 books, including the New York Times bestseller “.American myths: Historians challenge the biggest legends and lies about our past” (Basic book). The views expressed in this commentary are his own.read more opinions On CNN.
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Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is the new boss in town. The congressman is known for his reactionary statements and references to conspiracy theories, but he is currently strongly suggesting that he will force a vote to remove Republican Chairman Mike Johnson from office if he moves forward with the Ukraine support package.
Johnson is caught in the middle because the Republican majority in the House is so narrow that any single lawmaker can call a vote to oust him. Mr. Greene is keen to block funding to Ukraine, which would be a major blow to both NATO and the United States’ own commitment to the post-World War II international order.
One option aimed at placating the party’s far-right wing would include structuring the funding for Ukraine as a loan rather than outright aid. But that did little to satisfy Green, who fired back with a furious response, calling it “a mountain of steaming bullshit.”
“This person is not the current Republican speaker. Democratic Party “This is a very misleading comment, given that Mr. Johnson is perhaps the most conservative speaker of our time,” Green said.
The conflict shows how far the Republican Party has come from the days of Ronald Reagan. The party that once called on Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” is now fast becoming America First, effectively telling Russian President Vladimir Putin to “do whatever you want, we Please leave me alone.”
How did we get here?
Long before Greene, a growing number of Republicans began expressing growing skepticism toward international organizations like the United Nations.
In the 1940s, the internationalist wing of the party won over the neo-isolationists, but by the mid-1960s the Republican platform included the phrase “America’s responsibility for sovereignty will never be surrendered to any international group.” Ta. ”
By the time Ronald Reagan entered the White House, a new generation of Republicans eager for unilateral military action was gaining strength. These Republicans did not want the United States to withdraw from the world, but they were becoming increasingly critical of institutions such as the United Nations and alliances like NATO.
In 1994, neoconservative and Republican foreign policy expert John Bolton famously said that the United Nations building in New York could “lose 10 stories and it wouldn’t make any difference.” Jesse Helms of North Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001, once characterized foreign aid as “throwing money down foreign rat holes.”
This Republican skepticism became even more evident when George W. Bush became president. He began his term in 2001 by withdrawing the United States from the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at curbing carbon dioxide emissions. Two years later, he launched a war against Iraq based on suspicions (factually untrue) of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction program. Despite warnings from many key leaders, including Francis’s Jacques Chirac, that this would be a big mistake and a distraction from the war against al-Qaeda, Mr. progressed with the support of
President Donald Trump has taken up this line of attack, using President Bush’s failed war in Iraq as evidence that the United States should abandon many of the international alliances that have defined our policy since World War II.
He said war proves that involvement with foreign countries is not in the national interest and should be avoided. Instead, he touted “America First,” taking up a mantra long associated with isolationism, xenophobia, and reactionary domestic politics. Trump not only elevated these arguments in the national debate, he also pushed the party as a whole, and the House caucus in particular, in new extreme directions. In doing so, he shattered his own party’s promise to stand up to authoritarian enemies like President Putin.
It is worth noting that in 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of being soft on Russia. After Romney’s election loss, Trump’s 2016 campaign marked a major shift in the party’s foreign policy stance.
As president, Trump stood next to Putin in 2018, defended him at the Helsinki summit, and questioned America’s own intelligence agencies. Republican lawmakers barely batted an eye earlier this year when President Trump said he would encourage Russia to attack NATO allies that don’t pay their dues as part of the alliance.
The Republican revolution is all but complete, with Greene gaining ground with Johnson on aid to Ukraine. It is clear that Trump has reshaped the party and that the MAGA generation of Republicans is taking over.
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Mr. Johnson may still be able to squeeze out as many compromises as he can on a funding package without losing his job, but Republicans are moving in a clear direction on foreign policy. Unlike the Republican hawks of the past, the America First faction is gaining momentum, and its influence is immeasurable.
This is a political struggle far beyond the Republican character, one in which we have been fighting for decades to limit the possibility of war and push back against autocratic foreign leaders eager to expand dangerous regimes. This could rapidly undermine the international alliances on which we have relied for so long.
If Greene and her colleagues win now, or even in the next showdown with Ukraine, we will enter a new, uncertain, and even more dangerous era.
