Most Republicans trust Donald Trump more than the Pentagon or the news media for information about the war in Ukraine, a surprising CBS News poll revealed on Sunday.
Nearly 80% of Republicans take the criminally indicted former US president at his word on the conflict.
Meanwhile, 60% of Republicans trust the Pentagon, putting the military source a little ahead of Fox News and other conservative media, which came in at 56%. A mere 33% trusted journalists reporting from the war zone, while 27% put faith in the State Department.
The results indicate that Trump is winning the battle of public perception within his own party — at least in regard to Ukraine.
The presumptive Republican presidential candidate has repeatedly boasted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wouldn’t have happened if he were in office and that he could end the war within 24 hours if reelected.
His strategy to halt the two-plus years of fighting is, reportedly, to push Ukraine to surrender territory. It’s a concession that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pledged to resist. A Trump spokesperson dismissed the report as “speculation.”
President Joe Biden has asked Congress for $95 billion (£76 billion) in aid for allies that include Ukraine and Israel. Beleaguered House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican, Louisiana) said he will try to advance wartime aid this week.
Trump recently suggested that military funding for Ukraine should be in the form of a loan, not a gift.
Predictably, the CBS News poll also showed that 74% of Democrats support aid for Ukraine, compared to just 39% of Republicans.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has resulted in the deaths or serious injuries of more than 500,000 people, according to US intelligence estimates.