In a move that feels more like a rushed fire sale than strategic governance, the Biden administration has announced yet another $500 million in military aid to Ukraine, just days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, playing the role of the world’s savior-in-chief, made the announcement during his farewell meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. As expected, Austin took the opportunity to lecture the world about the dangers of “autocrats” and “tyrants,” a lecture that conveniently ignores the state of America’s own borders and priorities.
“If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” Austin declared to an audience of coalition members. This coalition, responsible for funneling $122 billion in weapons and support to Ukraine, is increasingly looking like a bloated ATM for Europe’s defense concerns, funded, of course, by hardworking American taxpayers. Austin warned against flinching in the face of aggression, perhaps forgetting that Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was the textbook definition of flinching.
This latest package includes missiles, equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems, and enough small arms and ammunition to outfit a small army. All of this comes from U.S. stockpiles under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, meaning America’s own military readiness takes a hit while Europe and Ukraine get the goods. In total, the Biden administration has sent 74 such packages to Ukraine since August 2021. Seventy-four.
Zelenskyy, predictably, pleaded for continued U.S. support under Trump’s administration. “We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now,” he said. Crazy for whom, Mr. Zelenskyy? Certainly not for American taxpayers who have funded this proxy war while struggling to afford groceries, gas, and rent.
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The Biden administration’s generosity has left $3.85 billion available in future funding for Ukraine—money that Trump, thankfully, will now decide how to allocate. Unlike his predecessor, Trump understands that charity begins at home. While Democrats and their globalist cheerleaders fret about Ukraine’s survival, Trump has made it clear that America’s survival—and sovereignty—will always come first.
This final act of Biden’s foreign policy sums up his presidency perfectly: reactive, shortsighted, and utterly dismissive of America’s core interests. Under Trump, the message to the world will be simple: Europe can defend Europe, Ukraine can defend Ukraine, and America will defend America. Democrats can clutch their pearls all they want, but this is what leadership looks like.
