The National Pulse reported last week that “CA, Struggling With Massive Wildfires, Sent ‘Surplus’ Firefighting Equipment to Ukraine”. Their article drew attention to how Los Angeles and nearby counties sent such supplies abroad, which could in hindsight have been better used at home to fight against the wildfires that are threatening the US’ second-largest city. They’ve already killed several people and private forecaster AccuWeather estimated that they’ll cause between $135-150 billion in total damages.
To put that into context, that amount is almost as much as what the US gave to Ukraine since 2022, which is nearly $183 billion according to the Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve.
That’s the official name of the US’ proxy war on Russia through Ukraine that it dishonestly claims is only an aid campaign in defense of that recipient state. Another set of relevant facts concerns the difference between the aid that the US gave Ukraine and what it gave the survivors of last year’s Maui wildfires.
Famous podcaster Joe Rogan talked about this over the summer around that catastrophe’s one-year anniversary during an episode that was reported on by Forbes. Rogan condemned the government for only giving survivors a one-time $700 payment at the same time as giving Zelensky $100 million. Even more insulting is how the Pentagon over-appropriated $6 billion to Ukraine when Rogan’s calculations showed that it would cost less than that, $5 billion, to rebuild every house that was destroyed.
Famous podcaster Joe Rogan talked about this over the summer around that catastrophe’s one-year anniversary during an episode that was reported on by Forbes. Rogan condemned the government for only giving survivors a one-time $700 payment at the same time as giving Zelensky $100 million. Even more insulting is how the Pentagon over-appropriated $6 billion to Ukraine when Rogan’s calculations showed that it would cost less than that, $5 billion, to rebuild every house that was destroyed.
Protests in the United States against aid to Ukraine
Rogan’s podcast last summer and The National Pulse’s latest report raised awareness among Americans about how their government prioritizes Ukraine’s subjective interests over its citizens’ objective ones. While the firefighting equipment that California gave to Ukraine might not have been enough to stop the latest wildfires, they could still have helped to save lives and protect property. Likewise, the Pentagon’s over-appropriation of funds could have been redirected towards Maui, not ultimately given to Ukraine.
Returning US President Donald Trump earlier announced his plans to appoint businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) presidential advisory commission that’ll be tasked with eliminating unnecessary budgetary expenditures. The American leader’s stated desire to end his country’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine and his documented opposition to excessive Ukrainian aid could lead to a reversal of Biden-era policies.
In practice, this could take the form of prohibiting local governments from sending supposedly “surplus” equipment of any sort abroad together with either drastically curtailing the federal government’s aid to Ukraine, which would align with his “America First” policy and prioritization of peace with Russia. Republicans now control both chambers of Congress so it’s likely that aid to Ukraine will never reach the same levels as before. The latest California-Ukraine scandal can also increase public support for this.
Returning US President Donald Trump earlier announced his plans to appoint businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) presidential advisory commission that’ll be tasked with eliminating unnecessary budgetary expenditures. The American leader’s stated desire to end his country’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine and his documented opposition to excessive Ukrainian aid could lead to a reversal of Biden-era policies.
In practice, this could take the form of prohibiting local governments from sending supposedly “surplus” equipment of any sort abroad together with either drastically curtailing the federal government’s aid to Ukraine, which would align with his “America First” policy and prioritization of peace with Russia. Republicans now control both chambers of Congress so it’s likely that aid to Ukraine will never reach the same levels as before. The latest California-Ukraine scandal can also increase public support for this.
It’s immoral for any government to prioritize a foreign one’s interests over those of their own people, not to mention when this occurs at their citizens’ expense like in the Maui and California cases as explained.
This is also a violation of their social contract. The problem though is that people were unable to stop the Biden Administration’s policy of taking from Americans to give to Ukrainians. Practically no one protested this, and those that did accomplished nothing. This made them feel powerless and angry.
Their only hope rested in democratically changing their leadership by returning Trump to the White House and giving him a Republican-controlled legislative branch. To be sure, the Ukrainian Conflict and associated local scandals like the Maui-Pentagon one weren’t the main reason why people voted for change, but they were still important supplementary factors behind why they wanted Biden and the Democrats gone. The fact of the matter is that the outgoing government didn’t meet their needs.
Trump’s promise to radically reform the government’s relationship with its people and slash federal budgetary waste were regarded by voters as the most effective means for ensuring their local and economic interests, thus explaining why he won. Returning to the latest wildfires, they accordingly expect him to do what’s needed to make sure that local disaster-related equipment is never given to a foreign country no matter what pretext and that the victims of this disaster are properly compensated.
Trump’s promise to radically reform the government’s relationship with its people and slash federal budgetary waste were regarded by voters as the most effective means for ensuring their local and economic interests, thus explaining why he won. Returning to the latest wildfires, they accordingly expect him to do what’s needed to make sure that local disaster-related equipment is never given to a foreign country no matter what pretext and that the victims of this disaster are properly compensated.
This will necessitate changes in the US’ policy that directly affect Ukraine. Regarding the first, the federal government could prohibit local governments from sending “surplus” equipment abroad or tighten the conditions in order to make it almost impossible to approve, while the second could be done by diverting funds that would have otherwise gone to Ukraine under President Kamala Harris and a Democrat-controlled Congress to a California disaster relief program instead. Most Americans would welcome this.
