Remember back in 2019 when Donald Trump refused to sell Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine until President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to "do us a favor though" (i.e. dig up dirt on his political rival, Joe Biden)?
Well, the very same Republicans in Congress who are currently attacking President Biden for not arming Ukraine fast and furiously enough also vociferously defended Trump's bid to extort Ukraine in 2019 by withholding weaponry from the country.
In a new mashup contrasting Republican lawmakers' own words circa 2019/2020 with their posture toward Ukraine in 2022, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California praised Trump's actions as "the rightful thing to do." Yet just last month, McCarthy faulted Biden for not providing Ukraine “the armament earlier to deter Putin from ever making this decisions [sic]."
After rationalizing Trump's actions in 2019, Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas offered in February, "Much better lethal aide for Ukraine over the last decade would have really helped a lot here."
House GOP Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana said Trump was required by law to "ensure that corruption is being rooted out" before supplying arms to Ukraine. But in February, Scalise said the Biden administration "slow-walked the anti-tank missiles"—yes, the very same ones that Trump had withheld for dirt on Biden.
And of course, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina went on record saying he had "zero problems" with Trump's so-called "perfect" phone call with Zelenskyy before ticking through a list in February of all the "really lethal weapons" Biden needed to send to Ukraine STAT.
Here's the mashup of GOP hypocrisy then and now: