with defensive and offensive weapons so they can defend themselves i think putin would make different calculations and have a reaganesque policy of strength i think you d see people like putin not want to mess with us. that was how ron desantis used to talk about russia and ukraine. during russia s 2014 invasion of i mian desantis was still a member of congress sitting on the house foreign affairs committee and used his position at the time to do what most republicans did back then which was stake out hawkish positions against russian aggression and blame the obama white house for being weak and not doing enough to arm ukrainians in that fight. but that was then. and now ron desantis is a potential contender in the republican nomination for president. he is running in a party whose base has all but embraced vladimir putin and abandoned its support for ukraine. so now when ron desantis gets asked about russia s illegal invasion of ukraine, he says things like this. i don t think it