Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told FNC host Jesse Watters that he thought stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine was essential to stop him from advancing beyond Ukraine into other Eastern European nations.
Watters and Graham debated why assisting Ukraine was a priority for the United States while the country suffered from its own domestic woes.
“Why don’t we drill for oil and gas that we own?” he said. “Listen, we don’t have the Congress as Republicans. Everything you say I agree with. Listen, you understand the importance of getting Putin stopped in Ukraine because he’s going to keep going. China will take Taiwan. But if the Ukrainian military can stop them in the Ukraine without any American soldiers, that’s a great day for freedom. That’s a great day for America.”
“But I am with you,” Graham continued. “I wish we would do more on the energy front. Does it make any sense to shut down oil and gas drilling in America and be more dependent on Russia and Iran? It makes absolutely no sense. But here’s what I want to tell your listeners — if we can win in Ukraine, and I think we can, we can stop Putin, the world gets better overnight. If he takes Ukraine, he doesn’t get prosecuted as a war criminal. He’ll keep going. He wants to rewrite the map of Europe and China is just waiting to see what to do with Taiwan. All the chips in the world for our computer and high tech industry comes from Taiwan. So there’s a lot at stake here.”
“But I can’t argue with — I’m not trying to argue with you that we should be doing more here at home,” he added. “We should have rational border policies. We don’t.”
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