In a recent interview, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — an ardent opponent of U.S. assistance for Ukraine — deemed the Eastern European nation “a country that no one can find on a map, hardly.” She’s incorrect.
“So you don’t know where Ukraine is & can’t find it on a map?” attorney and activist Paula Cobia wrote on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter, addressing Greene. “Here are a few hints: Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. Stop talking.”
Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), which is Republicans’ main party organization at the national level, also replied to Greene.
“Let me help because you apparently need it,” Steele wrote, addressing Greene and including a map outlining governmental travel advisories for various regions of Ukraine. “Don’t travel to the red parts and be careful in the yellow parts (they may have tried to brief you in your day job). By the way, the star doesn’t mean it’s like Texas. And please don’t get upset because it touches the Black Sea.”
Greene’s corner of the Republican Party has been relatively consistent in its opposition to U.S. security assistance for Ukraine, which is facing an ongoing Russian invasion. The United States’ assistance has most prominently been in the form of weapons deliveries, the preparation of which has provided economic boosts in the U.S. itself. No U.S. troops are directly involved, and there is no indication of that status changing in the future.
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) has resisted a foreign aid package already passed by the Senate that includes help for Ukraine, saying the GOP-controlled House under his leadership will chart its own course. “We will also take the necessary steps to address the supplemental funding request,” Johnson recently said, referring to the foreign aid ambitions. “We have done important work discussing options with members — such as the REPO Act, loans, additional sanctions, and energy exports, among other measures — and are preparing to complete our plan for action.”
