Laugh test: Democrats claim high ground on defending Ukraine

Published January 25, 2020 5:00am ET



“America has an abiding interest in stemming Russian expansionism and resisting any nation’s efforts to remake the map of Europe by dint of military force, even as we have tens of thousands of troops stationed there,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in the Democrats’ opening statement during the Senate impeachment trial. “Moreover, as one witness put it during our impeachment inquiry, the United States aids Ukraine and her people so that we can fight Russia over there and we don’t have to fight Russia here.”

Schiff did not elaborate on how providing lethal aid to Ukraine would prevent a Russian Red Dawn-style invasion of America, although we don’t expect one soon. But his hyperbole raises a broader problem for his party. When it comes to prosecuting President Trump’s impeachment on the basis that Trump’s Ukraine policy has undermined American security, Democrats have no credibility.

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