Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance of Ohio is seizing on the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine to blast Washington “elites,” even though he declared days ago that he cared little about what happened to the eastern European nation. Vance issued a lengthy statement Thursday decrying policy failures that have endured “for decades,” while praising former President Donald Trump. “Trump deserves an incredible amount of credit for the strength and diplomatic engagement that kept Putin in check—and Biden an equal amount of blame for his lack of leadership,” he said. (Vance notably omitted the gushing applause Trump heaped on Putin hours after the invasion.) The statement describing the invasion as “unquestionably a tragedy” was a dizzying change in tune from the message of indifference he shared on Steven Bannon’s podcast days earlier. “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” he said on Saturday. He doubled down in a subsequent statement saying, “spare me the performative affection for the Ukraine.”
