Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine seems an unlikely trigger to awaken long-dormant strains of isolationism within the Republican Party. The worst conflict in Europe (and the largest refugee flows) since World War II — endangering bordering NATO members, threatening global economic disruption and hardship, and involving rogue states such as Iran and North Korea to support the Kremlin — obviously implicates vital U.S. interests.

While outright Republican opposition to U.S. aid to Ukraine is insignificant, recent comments by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have rattled many U.S. allies. Democratic support for negotiations with Russia will rattle them more, notwithstanding the progressives’ embarrassing reversal for being caught at the wrong time saying what they actually believe. As with any national security issue, delineating what is at stake for America is the critical first step. Ukraine presents a powerful and straightforward case for the United States to provide material assistance for Ukraine to defend its freedom and independence. This is not “a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing,” in Neville Chamberlain’s words. Nor are the consequences of American inaction confined to Ukraine. Were Moscow to prevail (or even maintain the status quo ante bellum), further Kremlin aggression against other former Soviet states and perhaps even NATO members would be more likely. Communist China would see a failure of American resolve in Europe as an open invitation to belligerence in the Indo-Pacific.