Senior Heritage officials had advocated for months in conversations with DeSantis’ team that he oppose policies that could move the U.S. toward direct confrontation with Russia, the people said.
While officials at Heritage have been in contact with almost every 2024 Republican presidential campaign, including that of former President Donald Trump, the think tank’s proximity to DeSantis is unique, eight people involved in the discussions said.
Not to defend Heritage but I’d like to see some evidence of the claim that “Senior Heritage officials had advocated for months in conversations with DeSantis’ team that he oppose policies that could move the U.S. toward direct confrontation with Russia.”
I went over to Heritage’s website and everything I found is almost direct conflict with what these anonymous “people familiar with the discussions” are saying. They’ve been advocating that the US assist Ukraine in their conflict with Russia from the beginning.
They pushed for Washington to engage better with NATO regarding Ukraine and deterrence after the War started in 2022 and then again in 2023.
There’s a whole bunch of other reports, articles, and interviews about Ukraine over there and I can’t find a single one where Heritage is calling for the US to stop helping or pushing politicians to withdraw support for Ukraine.
I’m open to the idea that they are saying one thing publicly and doing something different in private but there needs to be evidence besides “Trust me bro…” I’ve had all of that I can stomach over the past 6 years.