Hawley: $40B Ukraine Package ‘Not National Security — It’s Nation-Building’

Tuesday, during an appearance on FNC’s “The Ingraham Angle,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called for his party to take a more populist approach, which he said would prevail in the November midterm election.

According to the Missouri Senator, it was time for the establishment wing “to admit defeat.”

“I would just say, Laura, that I think you’ve got it right. And to all of those in the Republican Party, when it comes to the squabbles who have tried to gin up some kind of a war between the Trump or populist wing of the party and the establishment of Republicans, it’s time to admit defeat on that,” he said. “The voters in the Republican primaries have made very clear what they want. They want an agenda that is focused on their needs. There is no war in the Republican Party. The Republican voters have made it very clear. And now, it’s time to unite behind that populist agenda and drive it to victory in November.”

Hawley derided the $40 billion package authorized by Congress as “nation-building.”

“I would say that what I describe myself as, Laura, and I think where the American people are is, we’re nationalists,” he said. “And my concern with the Ukraine aid package, $40 billion to Ukraine, is that it’s not national security, it’s nation-building. I mean, this is right back to the failed policy in Afghanistan and Iraq, where we are literally funding the Ukrainian government. This aid package would write a check for $9 billion directly to the Ukrainian government. That’s in addition to all of the other money.”

“So listen, I’m not for nation-building,” Hawley added. “I’m for putting the national security of the American people first. That’s nationalism. That’s the best tradition of the Republican Party. And it’s time we got back to it.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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