Governor Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., decried President Joe Biden\u2019s Wednesday promise of a blank check given to Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida\u2019s governor declared the People\u2019s Republic of China constitutes a greater threat to values held by the U.S. and its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Epoch Times further reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeSantis was speaking to hosts of Fox News\u2019s \u201cFox and Friends,\u201d which aired around the time the governor spoke at a pro-law enforcement event held in a catering hall in Staten Island, New York, this morning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey have effectively a blank-check policy with no clear, strategic objective identified, and these things can escalate, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s in our interests to be getting into a proxy war with China, getting involved over things like the borderlands or over Crimea,\u201d DeSantis said, referring to Biden\u2019s\u00a0exchange with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which the U.S. president pledged an additional half-billion dollars.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo I think it would behoove them to identify what is the strategic objective that they\u2019re trying to achieve, but just saying it\u2019s an open-ended blank check, that is not acceptable,\u201d he continued.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a January report<\/a> by the non-profit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the U.S. Congress approved more than $113 billion of military and non-military assistance<\/a> to Ukraine in 2022\u2014more than half of Ukraine\u2019s Gross Domestic Product before the war. This amount included $67 billion for defense-related items and $46 billion for humanitarian and economic aid.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The governor added that the scenario of Russia \u201csteamrolling\u201d into NATO countries \u201chas not even come close to happening,\u201d adding that Russia has shown itself to be a \u201cthird-rate military power.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think they\u2019ve suffered tremendous, tremendous losses,\u201d DeSantis said, referring to Russia.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The governor added that he believes a major factor causing the war in Ukraine was Russia\u2019s perception of the Biden administration\u2019s \u201cweakness,\u201d and took a swipe at the administration\u2019s handling<\/a> of the border crisis and its response to China\u2019s surveillance balloon that flew over the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think any of this would have happened, but for the weakness that the president showed during his first year in office, culminating, of course, in the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan,\u201d the governor said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo I think while he\u2019s over there, I think I and many Americans are thinking to ourselves, okay, \u2018He\u2019s very concerned about those borders halfway around the world. He\u2019s not done anything to secure our own border here at home.\u2019 We\u2019ve had millions and millions of people pour in, tens of thousands of Americans dead because of fentanyl, and then, of course, we just suffered a national humiliation of having China fly a spy balloon clear across the continental United States,\u201d DeSantis added.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think any of this would have happened, but for the weakness that the president showed during his first year in office, culminating, of course, in the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan,\u201d the governor said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo I think while he\u2019s over there, I think I and many Americans are thinking to ourselves, okay, \u2018He\u2019s very concerned about those borders halfway around the world. He\u2019s not done anything to secure our own border here at home.\u2019 We\u2019ve had millions and millions of people pour in, tens of thousands of Americans dead because of fentanyl, and then, of course, we just suffered a national humiliation of having China fly a spy balloon clear across the continental United States,\u201d DeSantis added.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n