Ramaswamy and Kilmeade clash on Ukraine funding: 'We have to play hardball'
Ramaswamy joins 'FOX & Friends' after GOP debate, calls for US to secure its own border
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and "FOX & Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade got into a heated exchange Thursday when debating the war in Ukraine.
Ramaswamy explained the need to be strategic when dealing with the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
"I think we have to play hardball there and make a hard deal that requires any reneging on that deal to have major consequences. The clear principles are this war doesn't advance U.S. interests," Ramaswamy said the morning after he sparred with rivals Nikki Haley and Chris Christie on the subject at a Republican primary debate in Alabama.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kilmeade responded that continued support of Ukraine does advance U.S. interests, arguing that if "you give up Eastern Europe," a world war could unfold.
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Republican presidential candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy holds up a handwritten sign referring to fellow candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as he speaks during the fourth Republican candidates' debate of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign hosted by NewsNation at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S. December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
"I think it is not in our interests to strengthen the Russia-China alliance," Ramaswamy shot back, and said that current policy is driving Russia further into China's arms.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kilmeade said the alliance will happen anyway and that "you cannot keep Russia from China."
"There are kinks in the armor of that relationship," Ramaswamy argued.
"Look at Russia sending weapons to India, into Vietnam after other meetings they've had. This is our opportunity. Nixon did this in 1972, and Brian, respectfully, people like you said the same thing, that Nixon couldn't do it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kilmeade cautioned that Russia could advance further if they are not stopped in Ukraine.
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin attending a meeting with President of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi on December 6, 2023. (Sergei SAVOSTYANOV / POOL / AFP )
"Are you comfortable giving up Eastern Europe? Because, you know, they're already taking Moldova, already making moves on the Baltic. Already they're taking more and more pieces of Georgia. … So what is going to be next?" Kilmeade asked.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We have no idea how Ukraine has spent $200 billion of our money. We're forking over more taxpayer money so some Ukrainian kleptocrat can buy a bigger house. That's corrupt and I'm not going to stand for that," Ramaswamy argued, criticizing Ukraine for not upholding democracy.
Kilmeade said Ramaswamy's position sounds "so naive" and stressed that Ukraine is fighting for its sovereignty after being invaded.
"I think it is offensive that people would sooner use $200 billion of our resources to protect some other nation's foreign border – that's not a democracy – when in fact we're not doing that effectively on our own border," said Ramaswamy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republican presidential candidates attend the fourth GOP presidential debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on December 6, 2023. From left to right: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. (Getty Images)
Kilmeade said the United States "can do both" and scoffed at Ramaswamy criticizing the "neocon wisdom" of Haley and others.
"The same people that took us to Iraq and Afghanistan are trying to do this again in Ukraine and it's already been a disaster," said Ramaswamy.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The two ended by disagreeing about the prospect of U.S. soldiers being sent to Ukraine if a new aid package is not authorized by Congress.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson informed the White House this week that Ukraine aid will be "dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation's border security laws."