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For example, during his Sunday panel discussion, Vance argued that the United States can’t continue to support Ukraine because the U.S. defense industry doesn’t produce enough munitions and the U.S. military must conserve resources for other regions. “You don’t win wars with GDP or euros or dollars. You win wars with weapons, and the West doesn’t make enough weapons,” he said.

In fact, the funding legislation Vance is opposing contains billions of dollars to increase U.S. weapons production capacity and to replenish U.S. weapons stocks. Vance is thwarting the solution to the very problem he is complaining about, then pointing back to that problem to justify his real objective: abandoning Ukraine.

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“If we appropriate this money, the capacity would ramp up, the supply lines would get hot and J.D. Vance would be proven wrong,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who attended the Munich meetings, told me.

Vance claimed the Ukrainians have no strategy to win, and, therefore, the United States should try to cut a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Russia has incentive to come to the table right now,” Vance said. Regarding the aid package, Vance said that even if it does go through, “that is not going to fundamentally change the reality on the battlefield.”

What is already changing the reality on the battlefield — in Russia’s favor — is politicians such as Vance blocking U.S. aid. The Ukrainian town of Avdiivka fell to Russian forces as the conference was ongoing. But if Vance had shown up to the meeting with Zelensky, he would have heard the Ukrainian leader’s strategy firsthand.

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“Zelensky pushed back pretty strongly against the assertion that this is an endless war,” Schatz told me. “He explained his theory of victory. It’s compelling. It just lacks ammunition.”

Zelensky told the Senate delegation how congressional delays were harming not only Ukrainian forces’ ability to fight but also their morale. “Ukrainian guys in muddy trenches, in between being shot at, are saying to each other, ‘Have you heard anything about the U.S. Congress? Is the money coming? What’s going on here?’” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told me.

The right-wing neo-isolationist crowd laments that the U.S. government no longer functions well enough to accomplish big things such as helping Ukraine. Meanwhile, they are doing everything possible to cause more dysfunction, Whitehouse told........

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