Welcome to Beg to Defer, the Bullworks Weekly Roundtable discussion featuring civil conversation across the political spectrum.

We range from center left to center right.

I'm Mona Charens, indicated columnist and Policy Editor at the Bullwork, and I am joined by our regulars,

Bill Galston of the Wall Street Journal and the Brookings Institution.

Damon Linker, who writes the sub-stack newsletter notes from the middle ground,

and Linda Chavez of the Niskanin Center.

Our special guest this week is Corey Schake, director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at

the American Enterprise Institute. Welcome one and all. We live in a crazy new world in which the death in prison of the chief rival of the Russian,

I almost said Soviet leader, because there's scarcely any difference these days,

was not commented upon by Donald Trump for the longest time.

In fact, he does now have an unbroken record of never saying a harsh word about Putin.

And Aid for Ukraine is hanging in the balance.

Bill Galston had a piece this week describing all this.

But, Corey, I'm going to start with you.

If you can set the stage for us about the battle over funding for Ukraine,

there are lots of people now in the Republican Party

who are not only unconvinced that this war is winnable or that it's in our

interest but actively rooting for Putin.

Yeah, it's both a moral and a strategic collapse by my fellow

Republicans to believe that we should no longer assist people desperately fighting for their freedom and the

sovereignty of their self-determination.

I think there are two lines of Republicans.

...