Quote (Goomshill @ Jan 25 2020 12:12pm)
There's a pretty absurd back and forth about the javelins going on with the narratives and media coverage right now
democrats argue that Trump was holding aid that was necessary to protect Ukraine from Russia and that without the aid they'd be destroyed because they were so vulnerable.
republicans counter that lethal aid like javelins was not held, and question why the Democrats failed to mention this- the aid package being held up was the non-lethal one
democrats counter that the lethal aid was conditioned on ukraine being unable to use it against Russia in Crimea during the cold conflict
then goomshill, being a logical person, points out that restrictions on Ukraine being able to use javelins only matter in a scenario where Russia isn't destroying Ukraine, and serve as a protection against the threat of further invasion, which of course was the entire fucking point of sending them in the first place: We didn't want to escalate along the crimean conflict flashpoint but wanted to give Ukraine security against any further Russian aggression.
then republicans counter that Trump was providing lethal aid to Ukraine where Obama refused to do so
and democrats counter that it was really congress who voted for lethal aid and not Trump's decision
and then goomshill points out that congress authorized lethal aid in 2014 and it was permanently held up by Obama, the authorization was already there for 5 years, it was fully Trump's decision to send it.
Is this the central issue at this point?
The argument from the Democratic side seems to be cantered on Trump's motive, and less about whether or not he actually withheld aid and to what extent.