Tom Nichols, a staff writer for The Atlantic, knocked Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Wednesday over the Alabama Republican’s claims in opposition to sending military aid to Ukraine for its war against Russia.
“This is one of the oldest false choices in American politics, this is something that happens every four years. ‘If only we weren’t spending the money here, we’d be spending the money there,’” Nichols said in an appearance on MSNBC.
He later added, “First of all, Americans need to understand that foreign aid is actually money spent in the United States.”
MSNBC’s Katy Tur, in her interview with Nichols, noted that President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have claimed that the U.S. should focus on “problems at home” instead of funding wars like the one in Ukraine.
She went on to ask if the U.S. would redirect money to welfare programs, Social Security, Medicaid, a child tax credit or paid parental leave should it not provide aid to Ukraine or Israel.
Nichols, who appeared on MSNBC after Trump tapped retired Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia on Wednesday, referred to Tuberville’s recent comment complaining about aid to Ukraine, where he seemingly confused the U.S. with Russia.
“[He’s] apparently unaware that many of the weapons that are bought and sent to Ukraine are made in Alabama,” Nichols said.
“People don’t realize that most of American foreign aid, which is less than 1% of our budget, is spent in the United States on American workers for American products,” he continued. “And the idea that you can simply say, ‘Well, things happening in other parts of the world will never affect us,’ is foolish and shortsighted.”
Nichols said one of the “myths” about the war is that the U.S. “can’t afford to keep” sending weapons and money to Ukraine.
He noted that about 5% of the U.S. defense budget has “destroyed about half” of Russia’s military capability in the war.
“This isn’t costing us that much money, that’s an old saw,” Nichols said, adding that conservatives used to argue that the U.S. has “plenty of money for guns and butter.”