ORLANDO, Fla. — As Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday, Republicans at CPAC, the annual gathering of the nation’s top conservatives, were mostly silent on the rapidly worsening situation in Eastern Europe.
Instead, they wanted to talk about the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We are in the process of getting money from the legislature so that if Biden is dropping illegal aliens into Florida from the southern border, I’m rerouting them to Delaware,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom many see as a likely GOP candidate for president in 2024.
DeSantis, Thursday’s headliner, didn’t mention Ukraine once during his 20-minute speech, which took place in a huge convention hall as President Joe Biden addressed the nation on sanctions to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin. But DeSantis talked plenty about “woke” culture and critical race theory, all red meat tossed out liberally to a hungry GOP base.
He also complained that Biden “hates” Florida, a state he said represents freedom from coronavirus mandates.
“He is always criticizing us, always trying to take potshots at Florida. ... He doesn’t like Florida and he doesn’t like me because we stand up to him,” said DeSantis, who didn’t address his 2024 plans at the convention.
When Ukraine did come up, it was usually in comparison to undocumented immigration at the southern U.S. border, where former President Donald Trump directed national resources to building a fence. The focus on the border, even in the face of a more immediate and deadly crisis, shows that Republicans plan to make it an issue in the midterm elections.
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and radio host, told the audience that insecurity at the southern border is a bigger threat to the U.S. than Russian aggression in Europe.
“The southern border is a lot more important than the Ukraine border,” Kirk said, calling Russia’s assault on Ukraine, the most violence that Europe has seen in decades, “a dispute 5,000 miles away in cities we can’t pronounce and places we can’t find on a map.”
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, speaking on a panel about the “invasion” at the U.S.-Mexico border, said Biden hasn’t been effective on either that issue or Ukraine.
“Everybody is focused on the invasion of Ukraine, as they should be. That’s critical,” he said. “But as little as the administration has done to deter the invasion in Ukraine, they’ve done even less to deter the invasion of the southern border.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, was one of the only major officeholders to address the crisis — and it was just for a quick moment.
“Their foreign policy is a war zone,” Blackburn said, referring to Democrats. “Oh, how we pray for Ukraine and the people of Ukraine.”
While Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sidestepped Ukraine altogether, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) blasted Biden on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and blamed the president for projecting weakness on Russia.
“Now you look at what’s happening in Ukraine. Talk about the weakness of Joe Biden,” Hawley said. “He comes to office and what does he do? He shuts down American energy production and greenlights Russian energy production. ... Is it any wonder that Vladimir Putin feels emboldened to do whatever the heck it is he wants to do?”
Other Republicans in Congress have piled on Biden for supposedly setting the stage for Russia’s actions with his domestic energy measures and his purported “weakness” on the world stage.
On Thursday, Biden called Putin “the aggressor” in the war and pledged measures to punish Russia economically. The invasion of Ukraine killed at least 137 people in its first day. Russian forces also captured Chernobyl, the site of the deadly 1986 nuclear disaster.
Trump, who’s speaking at CPAC on Saturday, blamed Putin’s attack on supposed U.S. election fraud in 2020 — one falsehood on top of another. He also praised Putin as “smart” and a “genius” in comments this week.
“He sees the weakness and stupidity of this administration,” Trump said of Putin on Fox News Wednesday. “It happened because of a rigged election.”
The conference did dedicate a panel Thursday to foreign policy. It featured K.T. McFarland, who served as deputy national security adviser in the early months of the Trump administration.
McFarland said she was skeptical that Biden’s Russia sanctions weren’t just a “slap on the wrist” and that he is doing enough to advance U.S. oil and gas interests.
“Forty-eight hours from now will determine what happens in Ukraine,” McFarland said.
CPAC continues through Sunday.